| Naval Support Facility Indian Head | |
|---|---|
| Part of Naval Support Activity South Potomac | |
| NearIndian Head, Maryland in the United States | |
 An aerial view of NSF Indian Head | |
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| Site information | |
| Type | Naval Support Facility andmilitary proving ground |
| Owner | Department of Defense |
| Operator | US Navy |
| Controlled by | Naval District Washington |
| Condition | Operational |
| Website | Official website |
| Location | |
  Indian Head Location in the United States Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates | 38°35′18.88″N77°10′9.12″W / 38.5885778°N 77.1692000°W /38.5885778; -77.1692000 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1890 (1890) |
| In use | 1890 – present |
| Garrison information | |
| Current commander | Captain Steve Duba |
| Garrison | Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division |
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD) is aUnited States Navy installation inCharles County,Maryland. Part of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), it is one of ten divisions of theNaval Surface Warfare Center (WFC). Its mission is to research, develop, test, evaluate, and produceenergetics (i.e., explosives, propellants,pyrotechnics, reactive materials, related chemicals and fuels and their application inpropulsion systems andordnance).
TheU.S. Navy's presence in Indian Head dates to 1890, when theBureau of Ordnance dispatchedRobert B. Dashiell to establish anaval ordnance center.[1] Dashiell served as Inspector in Charge of Ordnance there from 1890 to 1893.[2] During World War I, the facility served as Naval Proving Ground, Indian Head.
It is theUnited States Department of Defense (DoD)'s largest full-spectrum energetics facility. It employs more than 1,900 people,[3] including more than 850 are scientists, engineers, and technicians that develop and sustain explosives, propellants, pyrotechnics, high-energy chemicals, and their application to weapons. In addition, NSWC Indian Head has the WFC's largest concentration ofPh.Ds working in energetics, including the highest number ofsynthetic chemists, detonation physicists, and formulation scientists.[4]
The Division pursues basic research, applied technology, technology demonstration, prototyping, engineering development, acquisition, low-rate production, in-service engineering/mishaps and failure investigations, surveillance, anddemilitarization.[5]
As theU.S. Navy’s lead technical authority in the United States, NSWC Indian Head performs more than 60% of all Navy energetics workload, and has an unmatched record of 13 Navy-qualified explosives used in 47 Navy,Army,Air Force, andMarine Corps weapons. Seventy-five percent of all explosives deployed in U.S. weapons were developed by NSWC Indian Head.
The main site for NSWC IHD is at Naval Support Facility Indian Head, a 3,500-acrepeninsula along thePotomac River in southern Maryland, at the southern terminus of theIndian Head Highway. It also has operations inMcAlester, Oklahoma;Colts Neck, New Jersey;Ogden, Utah;Louisville, Kentucky, andPicatinny, New Jersey.
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