WBIs Tech Sprint Expertise Offers New Solutions for Disposal of Unexploded Ordnance

02.03.23 08:19 PM By Jennie Hempstead

Explosives are tested before a training exercise at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Photo by Lance Cpl. Tyler Andrews

By: Laura Dempsey


For three intensive days, personnel from Wright Brothers Institute, AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate (AFRL/RX) and Junior Force Warfighter Operations in RX (JFWORX) studied one of the Air Force’s most precarious problems: disposal of unexploded ordnance.


The current process for EMUD, or Expedient Multiple UXO (unexploded explosive ordnance) Disposal, is time- and manpower-intensive, requiring highly skilled Airmen to perform the job safely. When faced with an after-strike base recovery effort, those critical elements are in short supply. AFRL/RX’s JFWORX was took on the challenge of developing ideas to improve the process and tools required, aiming for a reduction of execution time from hours to less than 60 minutes.

U.S. Marines conduct rapid explosive hazard mitigation (REHM) training during Valiant Shield 2022 at Andersen AFB< Guam. Photo by Lance Cpl. Tyler Andrews

WBI’s Technical Sprint process was a perfect mechanism to tackle this challenge. WBI’s Rapid Innovation team has years of experience in this facilitation practice, which serves to bring experts together for an intensive series of workshops and solution development in a predefined timeframe. Sprints performed both in-person and virtually, yield outcomes for AFRL such as potential licensing opportunities, proof of concept for a developing technology, and problem deconstruction to avoid research pitfalls.  WBI utilized this process to help AFRL quickly determine technology investment pathways, manufacturing options, and concepts for further testing.


WBI’s first step was to assemble the players: subject matter experts from AFRL/RX and AFMC 788th Civil Engineering Squadron EOD unit and facilitation experts to keep things on track and on time.

Next, participants set about deconstructing the problem, another of WBI’s specialties that is integrated into the Sprint process. Among the problem areas identified were the use of legacy equipment, issues with UXO clearing assemblies in both production and storage/preparation limitations, and training and retention of augmentees to the EOD specialists.

The end-users then took front and center, discussing and recording the processes and zeroing in on “pain points” and “attack vectors,” known to civilians as opportunities for potential solutions.

Then the fun really began, with sky-is-the-limit solutions that ranged from improving igniters by using $12 push-button models from grill giant Weber to simply asking the enemy to stop – an obvious tongue-in-cheek entry that serves to illustrate the range of ideas and freedom given the participant in this Sprint.

Numerous whiteboards, both real-world and online (Miro’s online collaboration tool) were pressed into service, offering a permanent record of ideations in manpower, design concepts, and experimentation.

WBI’s extensive knowledge of the commercial landscape offers invaluable information going forward, as JFWORX prepares the prototyping phase.


Jennie Hempstead