NSWC Indian Head Division Provides Modernization Update at Community Event

NSWC Indian Head Division Provides Modernization Update at Community Event

By NSWC IHD Public Affairs

Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD) leadership participated in the "State of the Station 2026" event hosted by the Charles County Military Alliance Council at the College of Southern Maryland Velocity Center in Indian Head, Maryland, Mar. 12. The event also included representatives from the Charles County Board of Commissioners, Naval Support Activity South Potomac, National Armament Consortium, Naval Ordnance Safety and Security Activity, Tri-County Council and the Town of Indian Head.

"Community matters, both within the fence line and outside the gate. Collaboration is the backstop of so much of what we do," said NSWC IHD Chief of Staff Erin Ferriter in her address. "All of you have contributed to the successes we are highlighting today."

NSWC IHD is the cornerstone in the Navy's Energetics Comprehensive Modernization Plan, a $2.7 billion, 15-year modernization plan to bolster its energetics organic Defense Industrial Base. Ferriter provided an update on the NSWC IHD's ECMP efforts at the event, noting that the command has completed 174 projects under the plan and has more than 400 projects planned for future years.

"We're getting into the heart and soul of ECMP and approaching peak execution levels," Ferriter said. "We are making sure that we have the appropriate footprint for modernization-all of which will put our munitions production capacity on a different level."

In addition to serving as a piece of the Department of War's national defense strategy, NSWC IHD plays a vital role in its regional, state and local economies. More than 130 businesses operating in technology, research and development and energetics are based out of the seven-and-a-half square mile area from Indian Head to Bryans Road-called the Western Charles County Technology Corridor.

As a leader in the energetics community, NSWC IHD is positioned to achieve sustained investments beyond current demand and ECMP, which will continue providing opportunities for traditional defense contractors, nontraditional partners-including small businesses, non-profit organizations, federally funded research and development centers, universities and colleges, other government agencies, foreign entities-and the civilian workforce.

"We need partnerships to accomplish our workload," said Ferriter, emphasizing the importance of the command's public-private partnerships and STEM programs in the NSWC IHD's future. "NSWC IHD and industry partnerships are strengthening the munitions industrial base."

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