The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) established the Naval Ordnance Safety and Security Activity (NOSSA) on Oct. 1, 1999 to manage and administer Navy explosives safety programs. NOSSA is the NAVSEA technical authority for explosives safety. Our mission is to provide ordnance safety for our warfighters. We support Fleet operational readiness and national combat capability by effectively identifying and managing risks throughout the lifecycle of ammunition and explosives.

Weapons are typically vulnerable to static electricity, electromagnetic radiation, impact, extreme temperatures, and operator errors. The inadvertent launching or detonating of a weapon can result in a catastrophic event. Where we can not eliminate public risk, we minimize the probability and potential consequences of an unplanned event by the use of our regulatory authority, program guidance, and long-standing safety practices. NOSSA monitors and enforces high standards for system safety, software safety, insensitive munitions, electrostatic discharge, and other characteristics that provide safety and reliability for a weapon system.

A number of programs, such as the Gladiator Unmanned Ground Vehicle, Short Range Assault Weapon-Multipurpose Variant, VENOM tube-launched, robotic systems and numerous items that support Special Warfare and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal community, required urgent assessments before deployment. This has been essential during the global war on terror, which requires a different mode of fighting.

NOSSA provides technical and programmatic leadership not only to the Navy but also in joint-service and NATO engagements. Our areas of technical expertise include:

• Ammunition & Explosives Safety Security
• Weapons & Combat System
• Ordnance Environmental Support
• Insensitive Munitions
• Ordnance Quality Evaluation
• AA&E Physical Security

NOSSA is acknowledged by the State of Hawaii’s Kaho’olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) as arbitrator and reviewer of the actions taken to certify safe use of the former Naval Gunnery Range at Kaho’olawe Island. We stepped in to revise the cleanup plan in November 2001 and took into account the uses proposed by the KIRC in terms of traditional cultural needs. NOSSA has to balance the responsibility, to allow as much use as possible when the Navy is gone, against the residual explosives safety risk. In November 2005 NOSSA audited the unexploded ordnance cleanup to improve the clarity and accuracy of the Notice and Certification documents the Navy provided to the state of Hawaii. In addition, NOSSA provided advisement and counsel with regards to condition and risks associated with damages to explosives stored in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Through NOSSA’s leadership the warfighters and naval workforce have confidence that all approved ordnance and weapons systems will function in a safe manner throughout their life-cycle.

We are an Echelon 3 command reporting directly to the NAVSEA Deputy Commander for Ordnance Safety. NOSSA’s executive director is delegated by NAVSEA as the technical warrant holder for weapon systems safety and security. NOSSA’s executive director is the principal authority on all matters related to naval ordnance transportation, safety, and security worldwide.

For more information check our website: http:⁄⁄www.nossa.navsea.mil

Total Employees: 90
Civilian: 85 and Military: 5