Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division’s (NSWC IHEODTD) Dr. Vasant Joshi, senior materials scientist; and Dr. Greg Young, propulsion engineer and program lead; received the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development, and Acquisition), Dr. Delores M. Etter Award for Top Scientists and Engineers for 2014, during a ceremony held at the Pentagon, June 12.
Established in 2006, the award is named for Dr. Delores Etter, former assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, and recognizes Navy civilian and military personnel for exceptional science and engineering achievements. Since 2010, NSWC IHEODTD scientists and engineers have earned nine of the awards.
Young and Joshi were recognized for development of a hybrid rocket fuel that performs as well as solid rockets while creating a safer system that is throttleable and has the ability to be stopped and restarted in flight. The new boronbased system overcomes traditional difficulty of inefficient combustion with boron by elimination of hydrogen in the composition. The increased performance was demonstrated in fiscal year 2014 using a sub-scale rocket motor test stand constructed at the command.
"We’re extremely proud of Dr. Joshi and Dr. Young,” said NSWC IHEODTD Technical Director Ashley Johnson. “Their work on Hybrid Rocket Propulsion represents a significant advancement in technology by introducing the possibility of throttling a rocket motor that allows for greater mission flexibility. This could provide missiles the ability to loiter then accelerate to engage once the target is acquired. Their accomplishment required exceptional technical rigor and a strong understanding of combustion, rocket propulsion and the underlying sciences. It also represents this command’s commitment to develop and transition new products and services that increase warfighting capabilities.”
NSWC IHEODTD – a field activity of the Naval Sea Systems Command and part of the Navy's Science and Engineering Enterprise – is a leader in ordnance, energetics, and EOD solutions. The Division focuses on energetics and ordnance 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.