Nuclear Test

The Nuclear Test (NT) project mission addresses national test capability gaps by providing accurate, robust, and efficient T&E solutions to successfully develop, validate, and inform the employment of a modernized nuclear enterprise. The Department is prioritizing investments to modernize the nuclear enterprise while sustaining and increasing the resiliency of legacy systems. Current developments focus on deploying capabilities and systems to validate new designs and new materials in a complex threat-representative environment. Current testing infrastructure and methodologies to assess nuclear enterprise systems and microelectronics resilience against emerging threats is limited. Many test capabilities used in the past for acquisition are no longer available, either stopped by policy decisions or dismantled for cost savings. The NT project addresses test technology needs for adequate assessment of nuclear enterprise resiliency and aligns with the Department’s S&T priority investments. The NT project is supporting the development of a strategic roadmap and investment strategy to establish nuclear test environments for microelectronics, ground test environments for system level testing, and flight test range enhancements for end-to-end testing needs. The NT project develops technologies to enable robust, accurate, and timely T&E of a modernized nuclear enterprise, and to ensure system suitability and survivability.