Laboratory Information:
AFRL - Munitions Directorate
AFRL/RW
101 West Eglin Blvd. #140
Eglin AFB, FL 32542-6810
Website: http://www.eglin.af.mil/units/afrlmunitionsdirectorate/index.asp
Technology Transfer Website: http://www.wpafb.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=6026
Agency/Department: Dept. of Defense - Air Force
Region: Southeast
FLC Laboratory Representative:
Ms. Jill Barfield
Phone: (850) 225-9825
Fax: 850-882-8594
Email: jill.barfield2@eglin.af.mil
Background/History of the Laboratory:
The roots of the
Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate (AFRL/RW)
can be traced to air armament efforts initiated at Eglin
Field during the early stages of World War II. Since this
early start, the development of high-speed jet aircraft has
outpaced the development of conventional air armament and
created a dilemma of using modern fighter bombers to deliver
World War II vintage munitions. Sparked by the heightening
Vietnam conflict, research and development activities for
non-nuclear armament were accelerated. On 1 March 1966, the
predecessor to the Munitions Directorate, the Air Force
Armament Laboratory (AFATL), was created to provide a
community of scientists, engineers, and infrastructure to
advance conventional weapons technology.
From the
unit's inception, the research and development efforts
have focused on user needs. The significance of applying
leading edge technology to provide the user with the
state-of-the-art weaponry makes a dramatic impact on the
outcome of any given strike mission. Technology endeavors
over recent years have manifested themselves in a variety of
non- nuclear air armament, some of which were employed in
effective surgical strike operations in Libya and Desert
Storm.
Today, the
Munitions Directorate is a part of the Air Force Research
Laboratory and continues to make technological breakthroughs
for future air armament. The Directorate's emphasis is on
the weapon's capability to operate with complete autonomy
and with high accuracy when delivered against ground targets
in all weather conditions, day or night, using long- or
short-range delivery tactics. Air-to-air missiles benefit
from this technology with increased single shot kills and
larger no-escape zones. Additionally, advances in hard target
penetrating warheads are supplying mission flexibility by
providing a conventional armament capability to defeat
hardened targets traditionally reserved for nuclear weapons.
In summary, paramount to every AFRL/MN technology decision is
the answer to the question, "What does it do for the
user?"
Mission of the Laboratory:
The primary role
of the Air Force/AFRL-Munitions Directorate is to develop,
integrate and transition science and technology for
air-launched munitions for defeating ground fixed,
mobile/relocatable, air and space targets to assure the
pre-eminence of U.S. air and space forces.
Facilities:
Facilities:
Technology Transfer Mechanisms:
- Contracting
- Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)
- Facility Sharing
- Grant Opportunities
- Patents and Licensing
- Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)
Technology Areas of Expertise:
- High explosive ranges
- Inertial measurement units
- Lethality and Vulnerability
- Advanced guidance
- Advanced guidance laws
- Air-to-air ordnance
- All-up round ordnance
- Anti-jam techniques
- Anti-materiel ordnance
- Assessment and Demonstrations
- Autopilots
- Computational Mechanics
- Explosives
- Flight Vehicles Integration
- Fuzes
- Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
- Guidance Navigation and Control
- Guidance Simulation
- Munitions deficiencies
- Munitions modifications
- Munitions sensors, algorithms, processors and control loops
- Ordnance technologies
- Penetrator structural integrity
- Seeker Image and Signal Processing
- State vector estimators
- Target penetration
- Warheads
