Purpose

The Air Force Research Lab Munitions Directorate (AFRL/RW) Energetic Materials Branch, in collaboration with Doolittle Institute, is hosting an Industry Day to showcase upcoming partnership opportunities within the Advanced Munitions Technology Complex (AMTC) located at the High Explosives Research & Development (HERD) Facility at Eglin AFB.

Overview

This event intends to share recent AFRL invention disclosures with industry stakeholders and SMEs with expertise in energetic materials to nurture research collaboration and partnerships for new ordnance discovery, testing, characterization, processing, and prototyping. We are seeking industry partners that can assist in the commercialization, production, and transition of newly developed energetic materials that exceed state-of-the-art in performance. Collaborations will range from examining and producing energetic material ingredients, scaling formulations fabrication, and producing material for subsequent component and system level performance and qualification testing utilizing the novel formulations.

The morning will be a plenary forum with the government presenting information on current and upcoming projects that seek to leverage external partnerships. One-on-one meetings with companies will follow in the afternoon. The one-on-one meetings will be by invite only, however, ongoing discussion after the event will be encouraged.

Attendance at this event is limited, and interested parties are required to submit a request to attend via the following link: Industry Day Registration Form. Those selected to attend will be notified no later than June 16, 2023, and we recommend not making travel plans until you receive notification that your attendance is approved. All non-government attendees to this event are required to sign an NDA and much of the information being discussed will be protected under ITAR. Attendees are responsible for submitting a completed, signed NDA no later than July 19, 2023. 

***If selected to attend, the registrants are responsible for returning a signed NDA at least two days prior to the event date.***

How to Participate

1. Review the Overview: Listed above

**NOTE: Companies are encouraged to register multiple participants; please complete a separate registration for each anticipated attendee.

2. Submit an Application for Invitation. [Application Closed]

Questions?

If you have any questions, concerns, and/or comments, please contact Doolittle Institute, at techtransfer@doolittleinstitute.org.

Meet the Presenters

BENJAMIN R. WILDE
Dr. Ben Wilde is a Senior Research Engineer at the Energetic Materials Branch, Ordnance Division, Munitions Directorate, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, FL. In this role, he conducts experiments to characterize and model the detonation performance of new and existing military explosives of interest to the U.S. Air Force. A significant focus of his research is related to the need for improved understanding of the detonation physics and reaction dynamics in non-ideal and metallized explosives.

C. MICHAEL LINDSAY
Dr. C. Michael Lindsay is the Science and Technology Advisor of the Energetic Materials Branch, Ordnance Division, Munitions Directorate, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, FL. In this position, he leads the overall technical program of approximately 60 scientists, engineers, and technicians conducting in-house research to develop energetic materials for air delivered weapons applications.

TOM KRAWIETZ
Dr. Tom Krawietz has been working with the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate since 1999. Originally trained as an analytical chemist, he is well-versed in chemical instrumentation and enjoys developing analysis methods. Over the years he has worked in a variety of explosive formulation development efforts most notably wax-based melt castable explosives, thermally stable materials, and more recently, high-performance Combined Effects Explosives.

BRIAN K. LITTLE
Dr. Brian Little has been working with the Air Force Research Laboratory/Munitions Directorate since 2010. A graduate from Auburn University where he conducted research in photochemical kinetics, polymer chemistry and smart light-responsive materials, Dr. Little is well versed in a variety of characterization methods for which he enjoys implementing into his research studies. Over the years he has worked with a variety of novel energetic material systems focusing on optimization of chemical reactions with metal fuels and novel oxidizers. Most recently, Dr. Little has been co-leading an effort to stand up a new formulation capability at AFRL/RWTE that led to the development of a class of high-performance metallized formulations called “Combined Effects Explosives” (CEX). He has published about 30 papers and is responsible, at least in part, for the development of a high-performance cast cured explosive and several Air Force CEX. Dr. Little is a co-inventor on three patents, two of which are for SOTA CEX.