Calspan Systems Engineering Group

Ballistics Testing
Ordnance Testing

Overview

Calspan can provide a wide range of ballistics and ordnance research, design, and testing services. A 1000-inch underground range located at Calspan's Headquarters in Buffalo, NY is complemented by a laboratory and experimental machine shop for preparing and modifying guns, test fixtures, and projectiles. The Ballistics / Ordnance Testing Facility, collocated with Calspan's Unmanned Vehicle Proving Ground is the site of the outdoor firing ranges and is located in a remote 700-acre facility in Ashford, NY.

Calspan Ballistics Lab - Buffalo NY

Covered Round Configuration for Caseless Ammunition

Augmented Lateral Effects Projectile

Ballistics Testing

Types of Programs and Research:

Large-caliber gun tests that do not require long-range projectile overflight
Penetration of foliage and tree cover by small fragments or submunitions under a wide variety of seasonal conditions
Soil penetration by small munitions or fragments in a wide variety of soils
Assessment of large and small guns under controlled conditions
Instrumentation development
Weapons concept generation, development, and testing
Impartial performance evaluations
Erosion studies
Optimization of fragmentation munitions

Ordnance Testing

Types of Programs and Research:

Outdoor testing of smokes, incendiaries, small firearms, and small explosive charges
Fuzing studies
Bomblet dispersal experiments
Incendiary performance tests against natural and man-made targets
Terminal effects studies over a wide variety of targets
Instrumentation development
Impartial performance evaluations
Investigation of basic incendiary mechanisms
Aerosol dissemination/decomposition studies