Message Received: Congress Adds Energetics, Critical Chemical Provisions to Defense Bill.

• Author: Carberry, Sean

While the Defense Department continues to field new missiles, rockets and other munitions loaded with precision technologies, the chemicals that provide the thrust and explosive punch have remained the same for decades.

Meanwhile, China has continued to experiment with more powerful energetic materials--chemicals used in explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics--which experts claim has led to China having munitions that can travel longer distances or destroy larger targets.

That's why the energetics community has been hammering Congress and the Defense Department for years to invest in research, development and production of advanced energetic materials.

Based on language in the House and Senate drafts of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, the message has finally been received.

"What you see in the legislation is also a reflection of the fact that the world marches on, and that exogenous variables weigh heavily on legislators' and staffers' minds," said a senior advisor to the Energetics Technology Center, who spoke on background due to an affiliation with another organization.

"With what was an awareness before of China as a pacing, competitive military threat, even in two years that threat is understood to be... far more highly developed and arguably more urgent than was understood or appreciated two years ago," the advisor said.

Plus, Russia's invasion of Ukraine is putting stress on the U.S. industrial base--which relies heavily on China for energetic chemicals--as manufacturers scramble to crank out munitions, the advisor added.

"So, that's a driving consideration and what you see in the legislation, specifically the supply chain related aspects of it, which are quite explicit about the importance of isolating U.S. supply network reliance on sources other than those which originated in China," the advisor said.

Both chambers drafted provisions that align closely with the May 2023 National Energetics Plan issued by the Defense Department's Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and start with the creation of a Joint Energetics Transition Office, the head of which would report directly to the deputy secretary of defense. The office would be responsible for evaluating the current regulatory and acquisitions environment and speeding the process of developing, prototyping, demonstrating and transitioning advanced energetic materials.

The office would be tasked with promoting the use of artificial...