The annual Research and Development (R&D) Industry Day for the Defence WOME (Weapons, Ordnance, Munitions and Explosives) Engineering School (DWES) took place on Friday 22 March.
Hosted in the Defence Academy’s Ammunition Hall – part of the Defence College for Military Capability Integration (DCMCI), the event was attended by military, academic, professional body, and industry partners. It marked the culmination of extensive R&D work undertaken by those on the Explosive Ordnance Engineering Masters of Science, and the Ammunition Technical Officers.
At the start of the academic year, course members were given a R&D related question that had been generated by industry and partners across government. The students then had two academic terms to conduct their literature review, and design and conduct the experiments needed to answer the question.
This year the standard was exceptional, with questions submitted to course members by:
- Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S)
- Naval Authority & Technology Group
- Defence Intelligence
- National Protective Security Authority
- 8 Engineer Brigade
Representing the integral relationship between DWES, industry partners, academia, and the Institute of Explosive Engineers (IExpE), themes explored included:
- Investigation of Helmet Test Methods and Structural Testing Rigidity
- Kinetic Defeat of small Un-crewed Arial Systems
- Dual-Lined Explosively Formed Projectiles and Terminal Penetrative Effects
- Effect of Additional Fragmentation on Device Lethality
- Subterranean Blast Modelling
Following an informative morning of feedback to the sponsors, students were rewarded with a networking lunch sponsored by the IExpE. During this, the staff of Cranfield University and DWES had the difficult job of selecting the year’s best presentation. The award, presented by the IExpE was subsequently presented to the group investigating Dual-Lined Explosively Formed Projectiles – noted for having “pushed the bounds of defence understanding.”