Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technology Division Chief Technology Officer Dr. Kerry Clark has received the Technical Cooperation Program Team Award for creating data on environmental safety, occupational hazards and the toxicity of dinitroanisole and DNAN-based explosives.

As part of the Weapon Systems Group's Energetic Materials and Propulsion Technologies Technical Panel, Clark received the award Feb. 6 at a ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, along with her colleagues from Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

"It was an honor to work with both our international and U.S. joint service colleagues on a project that developed our knowledge regarding Dinitroanisole," Clark said. "I can't wait to see what impact our work will have on the Navy and our NATO allies."

DNAN-based explosives were developed in the U.S. to reduce the response of munitions to unplanned external stimuli, allowing them to maintain performance in unplanned situations. Due to the nature of DNAN's growth, concern arose that the material could get into fuze well threads and decrease shock sensitivity to explosives, effectively negating the benefit that DNAN-explosives possess.

Clark, in collaboration with the panel, created the most advanced set of data on DNAN and DNAN-based formulations and used them to address the thermal expansion concerns. As a result of their efforts, DNAN based explosives have been approved for use in U.S. mortars and artillery, and their efforts have led to an interest in DNAN explosives from NATO partners.

The efforts of Clark and her team netted several benefits to the U.S. Navy:

- A final report summarizing the work of the collaborative program;

- Published significant knowledge of DNAN polymorphism in open literature;

- A wealth of information about additives for DNAN and their effects;

- Data on toxicity of DNAN and on occupational health of the product.

The Technical Cooperation Program is an international organization that collaborates in defense scientific and technical information exchange; program harmonization and alignment; and shared research activities for the five participating nations: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

NSWC Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technology Division — a field activity of the Naval Sea Systems Command and part of the Navy's Science and Engineering Enterprise — is the leader in ordnance, energetics, and EOD solutions. The Division focuses on energetics research, development, testing, evaluation, in-service support, and disposal; and provides warfighters solutions to detect, locate, access, identify, render, safe, recover, exploit, and dispose of explosive ordnance threats.