Conventional Weapons Technology

The Conventional Weapons Technology program, managed by the Air Force, focuses on developing and integrating advanced ordnance and guidance technologies for conventional weapons. It aims to enhance technologies related to warheads, fuzes, explosives, and munition guidance systems such as navigation and control systems. The program addresses challenges like blast effects, fragmentation, penetration capabilities, and minimizing collateral damage. Additionally, it seeks to improve precise guidance and develop high-performance explosives that are less sensitive to unintended detonation.

Within this program, the Weapon Technology Development project is dedicated to advancing ordnance and guidance component technologies. This project emphasizes the maturation of advanced explosives, fuzes, warheads, and weapon airframes. It also focuses on innovative munition seekers and navigation systems. The goal is to integrate these subsystems into high-speed strike weapon concepts while developing tools for accurate lethality modeling and simulation. The project supports Special Operations applications by conducting lethality analyses at various scales.

The Weapon Concept Development project concentrates on reducing risks associated with potential conventional weapons acquisitions. It covers both air-to-air and air-to-ground concept development efforts. For air-to-air concepts, the focus is on developing efficient propulsion systems, high agility missiles, and small form factor warheads suitable for future threats. Air-to-ground efforts involve risk reduction for hypersonic weapon concepts through scalable modeling ecosystems. This includes developing kinetic payloads and seeker technology for high-speed applications.

The Conventional Weapons Technology program aligns its efforts with broader Department of Defense strategies to ensure harmonization across various initiatives. By focusing on both technological advancements and risk reduction in weapon systems development, the program aims to enhance the capabilities of conventional munitions while ensuring safety and effectiveness in diverse operational environments.