Pentagon Running Out of U.S. Suppliers of Energetic Materials

I'm sure Tesla and others would be more than happy to step up. (Look what happened to petroleum in the US.)
 
This thread is about 'energetic materials' ie explosives. IMO rare earths are a separate issue, so would be better off in their own thread...
 
bobbymike said:
https://afresearchlab.com/technolog...VSD2lo-vMiJHTN4bcLObGAr72rpKz1rleMyqH7Gn2bJx8
Click to expand...

It took a while to separate the meat of this project from the buzzwords - the video is clear, but the webpage is awful.

They're proposing to create a rapid prototyping facility that can mix a solid propellant, use 3D printing to create motor segments and a nozzle, and carbon filament winding to wrap a casing around that motor.
All to fit in the space of 4 shipping containers.
The goal of this project is to produce and test AMRAAM 5 motors. A follow-on project would be to deploy these facilities so they can rapidly create custom motors for various missiles in-theater.
According to the video, it can currently take up to 10 years to produce prototype solid rocket motors, the goal is to reduce this.
 
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine...sGX6yYwMwSjTqtUVLEe8gcWBaqzn1w9XckKoj4E4kRIncFor example, China since 2011 has been building weapons with CL-20, an energetic material invented in the United States 35 years ago that produces less visible exhaust, but that we ourselves have not used operationally because of production and environmental challenges
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That paragraph just pis*** me off like you wouldn’t believe. :mad:
 
bobbymike said:
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine...sGX6yYwMwSjTqtUVLEe8gcWBaqzn1w9XckKoj4E4kRIncFor example, China since 2011 has been building weapons with CL-20, an energetic material invented in the United States 35 years ago that produces less visible exhaust, but that we ourselves have not used operationally because of production and environmental challenges
————————————————-
That paragraph just pis*** me off like you wouldn’t believe. :mad:
Click to expand...

Just because you haven’t heard of it being used operationally, doesn’t mean it is not being used.
 
Calphor said:
bobbymike said:
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine...sGX6yYwMwSjTqtUVLEe8gcWBaqzn1w9XckKoj4E4kRIncFor example, China since 2011 has been building weapons with CL-20, an energetic material invented in the United States 35 years ago that produces less visible exhaust, but that we ourselves have not used operationally because of production and environmental challenges
————————————————-
That paragraph just pis*** me off like you wouldn’t believe. :mad:
Click to expand...

Just because you haven’t heard of it being used operationally, doesn’t mean it is not being used.
Click to expand...
Occam's razor.
 
We’re running out. Russia’s running out from fires.

How about we do new things?
 
Have we got to the point where we can't see the forest for the trees. We should have learned
something when they started using tungsten in 5.56 rounds to make them earth friendly knowing
of our limited supply. Now we can't use our own energetic materials but other countries can.
 

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