By Carolanne Sacry Feiste, TID

“A pint of sweat saves a gallon of blood.” General George S. Patton

China Lake’s Ordnance Hazards Evaluation Board lives the principle stated by General Patton. Demanding strict adherence to stringent guidelines, this board has become the undisputed technical authority in evaluating and judging the overall safety of weapons systems.

There are two Navy ordnance hazards boards, one on each coast, tasked to serve Insensitive Munitions Test Rating needs. The Ordnance Hazards Evaluation Board (OHEB) resides at NAVAIR China Lake, California. The Insensitive Munitions Review Board at Dahlgren, Virginia, is the similar board on the East Coast.

China Lake’s OHEB consists of a command-designated chairperson and a member each from the Systems Safety Division, Propulsion and Energetic Systems Division, Ordnance Systems Division, Ordnance Test and Evaluation Division, and Weapons Department. The Explosive Safety Officer is an official observer to OHEB and actively participates in all reviews, but is not a voting member.

The Official NAVAIR position

The OHEB, with approval from the Associate for Energetic Systems, Weapons and Targets Department, currently Steven Fowler, provides the official Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) position to the Naval Ordnance Safety and Security Activity, The Insensitive Munitions Office, and the Weapon System Explosive Safety Review Board (WSESRB).

Fowler, stated, “The OHEB is a very good group of experts. The results recorded for tests are rarely challenged. Our unified voice in our testing results does not leave a lot of room for interpretation. Because of their confidence in us, WSESRB has sent customers to the OHEB. We have developed a long history of credibility with NAVAIR.”

The Making of OHEB

Bill Durvin, systems safety engineer, has been involved with the OHEB from the beginning and explained the origin of the OHEB. "In the Vietnam era the Navy experienced heavy losses due to fuel fires on flight decks. We began to discover that our own ordnance was 'cooking off' due to these fires," he said. "These accidental fires were doing more damage to our equipment than the enemy was, so to speak."

In 1984, The Ordnance Hazard Evaluation Board was formed at China Lake. “It was locally and unofficially known as the ‘Cook Off Committee’,” Durvin laughed. “The board began to organize reports and to form a structure of reporting to the higher authorities. This board was set up to review the fast cookoff tests and to present a single, uniform, balanced position to Washington, D.C. on the reaction of these cookoff tests that would be directly speaking for and supported by China Lake,” he continued.

Evolution of the OHEB

The OHEB grew from a single purpose, department-level committee to a center-wide board tasked to review all IM tests for China Lake and some non-Navy programs at other locations as it merged with the IM program.

Jeff Roquemore, OHEB chairman, explained that currently, “when it is time for a weapon program—any weapon used on board a Navy platform— to undergo Insensitive Munitions testing, they come to the OHEB to obtain approval of their test plan and once testing is complete, have a rating assigned to the reaction.”

The OHEB also performs courtesy reviews for the Air Force, Army, anbd international or foreign programs.

Normally the first step in the development of a new weapon is preparation of an Ordnance Safety Test Plan. In development of the test plan, the OHEB reviews a Threat Hazard Assessment (THA) for the life cycle of the weapon under evaluation. Threat assessment includes fast and slow cookoff, bullet and fragment impact, and sympathetic detonation.

Durvin explained, “In a hazard assessment, all viable threats to the weapon are examined. Then an IM test plan is developed for that particular weapon.” Once the test plan gets OHEB approval to proceed, it is subjected to a NAVAIR System Safety review, followed by WSESRB approval or rejection.

Following the tests, the program office submits a test report package to the OHEB which reviews, evaluates, and assigns a rating to the tests.

Ordnance safety tests

Durvin explained, “A rating is assigned on a scale of I to V: a burning reaction is a type V and a detonation reaction is a type I. Various degrees of these reactions fall in between. Right now the requirement for passing most tests is a burning reaction.”

Durvin added, “We look to judge the reaction on the scale of I to V rather than on a pass/fail.”

The OHEB’s rating is included in the System Safety Results and submitted to NAVAIR System Safety Review for WSESRB approval. Once WSESRB approves the rating, the sponsor receives a recommendation. WSESRB concurs with the OHEB on most occasions—further validating the expertise and thoroughness of the members on the OHEB.

Roquemore said, “WSESRB trusts and relies on the OHEB’s technical review. Once a test has been rated by the OHEB, the rating stands.”

WSESRB Chairman Edward Kratovil added, “The WSESRB has long considered the OHEB the Navy's technical authority for evaluating the reactions of weapons when subjected to IM testing, and relies on their expert technical evaluations and judgment when evaluating the overall safety of a weapon system. Their work is extremely important to overall Fleet ordnance safety.”