Manufacturer catalog

NSWC Indian Head

NSWC Indian Head is the U.S. Navy warfare-center division at Indian Head, Maryland, focused on energetics, ordnance, and explosive ordnance disposal technology. NAVSEA identifies the command as a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command and part of the Navy's Science and Engineering Establishment; its public mission spans energetic-material research, applied technology, prototyping, acquisition engineering, low-rate production, in-service support, EOD technology, surveillance, and demilitarization.

2 weapons

Indian Head's role is closer to a government arsenal, laboratory, and production center than to a commercial prime contractor. Official Navy material describes it as the Department of Defense's largest full-spectrum energetics facility and the Navy's energetic enterprise leader, with a primarily Maryland-based workforce of nearly 2,700 and detachments or off-site work in locations such as Picatinny, McAlester, Rock Island, and Ogden.

The command's public capability set is broad: explosives, propellants, pyrotechnics, reactive materials, fuels, rocket motors, warheads, fuzing, safe-and-arm devices, CAD/PAD components, conventional ammunition, EOD technology, packaging and handling of energetics, insensitive munitions, and demilitarization. That makes NSWC Indian Head relevant to catalog records where public sources identify the division as an industry partner, production source, engineering authority, or energetic-systems support organization.

energeticsordnanceexplosive ordnance disposal technologyrocket motorspropellants and explosivespyrotechnicsCAD/PAD devicesconventional ammunitiondemilitarization

Notable Systems

M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge, Linear demolition charge, Munitions

M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge

Linear demolition charge

A U.S. Army MICLIC fact sheet identifies NSWC Indian Head, Indian Head, Maryland, as an industry partner for the Mine Clearing Line Charge system and describes the M58 linear demolition charge, MK22 rocket motor, and MK155 launcher arrangement.

Sources: miclic-fact-sheet
2.75-inch rockets, Unguided 2.75-inch air-launched rocket family, Munitions

2.75-inch rockets

Unguided 2.75-inch air-launched rocket family

An NSWC Indian Head command brief describes the command as the warfighter's source for 2.75-inch rocket production, including propellant manufacturing and warhead production.

Sources: nswc-command-brief-2022

Manufacturer History

  1. Naval proving work relocates to Indian Head

    NSWC command history places the start of Indian Head's naval ordnance role in 1890, when Ensign Robert Dashiell took over construction and supervision of the new Naval Proving Ground after its relocation to Indian Head.

    Sources: nswc-command-brief-2022

  2. Smokeless-powder production begins

    The command timeline states that Indian Head began producing smokeless powder in 1900 and brought Dr. George Patterson aboard as the station's first chief chemist.

    Sources: nswc-command-brief-2022

  3. Indian Head and Naval EOD Technology merge

    NAVSEA announced the merger of NSWC Indian Head Division and Naval EOD Technology in 2013, forming NSWC IHEODTD and tying energetics and EOD technology work under one command structure.

    Sources: nswc-command-brief-2022

  4. First Mk 70 solid rocket motor cast

    NAVSEA reported that NSWC Indian Head cast its first regrained Mk 70 solid rocket motor in Indian Head manufacturing facilities, part of a program to reclaim and regrain boosters from retired missile inventories.

    Sources: mk70-cast-2026

Predecessors
Naval Proving Ground, Indian Head
Website links
Official NAVSEA pageWho We AreWhat We Do

NSWC Indian Head is a U.S. Navy government warfare-center division, so public sources often describe it as a command, activity, division, facility, laboratory, or production source rather than as a commercial company.

Manufacturer Sources

  • nswc-who-we-arePublisher: Naval Sea Systems Command | Note: Official NAVSEA page supporting NSWC Indian Head's organizational status, mission, energetics definition, workforce, sites, capability scope, and low-rate production / in-service support role. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • nswc-official-pagePublisher: Naval Sea Systems Command | Note: Official command page supporting the public website, mailing address, current news context, and headquarters address at Indian Head, Maryland. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • nswc-command-brief-2022Publisher: Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division | Note: Command brief supporting the historical timeline, mission statement, technical areas, CAD/PAD work, 2.75-inch rocket production, and molecule-to-mission energetics role. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • maryland-nsf-indian-head-profilePublisher: Maryland Department of Commerce | Note: Government profile supporting NAVSEA command relationship, branch, address, DoD Energetics Center / EOD Technology Program lead description, and main-site context. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • miclic-fact-sheetPublisher: U.S. Army | Note: Official MICLIC fact sheet supporting NSWC Indian Head as an industry partner and the M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge notable-system connection. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • mk70-cast-2026Publisher: Naval Sea Systems Command | Note: Official NAVSEA article supporting the 2026 Mk 70 solid rocket motor manufacturing milestone and current solid-rocket-motor production context. | Accessed: 2026-07-11

Produced weapons

Category

Munitions

Standalone missiles, bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and guided or unguided explosive payloads.

2/2
M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge, Linear demolition charge, Munitions2001 War in Afghanistan, 2014 War Against the Islamic State +1 moreM58 Mine Clearing Line ChargeLinear demolition chargeBuilt in: United StatesThe M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge is the U.S. MICLIC rocket-projected linear demolition charge used by combat engineers to blast a vehicle-width lane through minefields, IED belts, and obstacles. It uses a MK22 5-inch rocket to pull a 350-foot C4 charge from a MICLIC launcher, and direct reporting documents combat or conflict-linked use in Afghanistan, Iraq under Operation Inherent Resolve, and Ukraine.
2.75-inch rockets, Unguided 2.75-inch air-launched rocket family, Munitions1955 Vietnam War, 1990 Gulf War +4 more2.75-inch rocketsUnguided 2.75-inch air-launched rocket familyBuilt in: United StatesThe 2.75-inch rocket family covers the U.S. 70 mm unguided aerial rocket line from early FFAR/Mk 4 and Mk 40 rockets through the modern Hydra-70/Mk 66 system. Army and GD-OTS sources describe a modular air-launched rocket used with multiple warheads from fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, while official U.S. military sources document 2.75-inch rocket use from Vietnam and Desert Storm through Iraq, Afghanistan, Operation Inherent Resolve, and U.S. aid to Ukraine.