Expanding Testing Capabilities
Our North Alabama Range was settled intentionally in the remote region between the towns of Hackleburg and Hamilton, Alabama. At 3,500 acres, we are IS4S’s largest test range and have enabled capabilities for larger-scale tests including munitions up to 500 pounds, and our sophisticated facility assets allow for high-velocity impact and radiation survivability testing.
The site leads for the North Alabama Range and the Opelika office, our sister site, work closely together to perform advanced engineering and testing for our customers and partners across a wide range of technology areas.
We are a creative group with interdisciplinary expertise in electromagnetics, direct energy weapons, high power microwave, pulse power, energetics, radiation, munitions, and electronic warfare, and we are deeply motivated to try innovative methods to solve the most challenging of problems.
Integrated Solutions
-
Radiation Survivability Testing
Large Pulse Power System Design & Testing
Electronic Warfare
High Power Microwave
Directed Energy Weapons
-
Largest IS4S Test Range
8,000 Foot Inhabited Building Distance (IBD)
Large Scale Arena Testing
Flash X-Ray
-
Testing & Development
Counter UAS
UAV & Antenna Open Air Test Facility
-
Testing & Development
Counter UAS
Large Scale Arena Testing
Flash X-Ray
-
Radiation Survivability Hardening & Testing
Hypervelocity Impact Testing
Space Aging Due to Micrometeor
Micrometeor Impact
-
Vehicle & Vessel Stopping
Electronics Hardening & Testing
Our Work
-
![An explosion fire blast inside an area defined with various poles and shields.]()
Test Range
At 3,400 acres and with an inhabited building distance (IBD) of over 8,000 feet, our test range is capable of supporting large scale energetic testing events. We have a 140-foot pit with a 4-acre floor deep blast suitable for arena test, a hardened fire control, and flash x-ray capability from 150keV to 2.3MeV as test diagnostics.
-
![A large tube-shaped piece of equipment with "TITAN PSI" printed on the side.]()
Survivability Testing
We have procured two survivability assets from college research facilities: a TriMeV machine from Idaho State University and a Pulse Rad 112A from the Naval Postgraduate School. These two sources together allow us to perform a wide range of large flash x-ray electronic and coupon survivability tests for various materials and components.
-
![Digital rendering of what appears to be an office and lab space building that includes multiple rooms and various technical equipment.]()
Pulse Power
The North Alabama Range is the home for IS4S’s large pulse power system development, including large flash x-ray systems development, capacitive discharge unit development, and high-current low-inductance firesets for detonator developments.
-
![Two tall poles similar to electric poles in a grassy field with a covered trailer.]()
High Power Microwave, Electronic Warfare, & Directed Energy Weapons
Our facility will include an open-air range for the testing of high-power microwave, electronic warfare (EW), and directed energy weapons (DEW) systems. Our capabilities include a counter-UAS range as well.
-
![A digital rendering of a piece of equipment with various components, pipes, and chambers.]()
Hypervelocity Impact Testing
Our facility is the future home of the Auburn/NASA plasma drag gun, an electromagnetically driven particle accelerator with the capability to launch dust particles at velocities up to 20 kilometers per second. This allows us to complete simulated space testing and study a variety of impact-generated phenomena on a wide range of surfaces.
-
![A shot down the barrel of a long cylindrical gas gun.]()
Light Gas Gun
As another example of the cutting-edge equipment we utilize at our facility, we have a two-stage light gas gun which uses gunpowder and highly compressed hydrogen to accelerate projectiles at speeds up to 7.5 kilometers per second to simulate orbital debris impacts on spacecraft, satellite materials, and components.
North Alabama Range Leadership
Zac Shotts
Vice President
-
Zac Shotts is an expert in pulse power and directed energy weapons, with 22 years of experience in research, design, and testing of these advanced systems. Throughout his career, Zac has specialized in the development and testing of a wide range of pulse power systems and directed energy weapons (DEW) for both offensive and defensive applications. His contributions have led to five patents, a Tibbets Award, and two SBIR Awards of Excellence. He has also authored over 30 papers in peer-reviewed journals focused on pulse power and directed energy weapons.
Zac has served as principal or co-principal investigator on over 38 Phase I, II, and III SBIR projects, focusing on pulse power systems, RF, high-power microwave, DEW sources, explosively driven pulse power, as well as alternative power and energy systems. He is currently a vice president and technical fellow in electromagnetics at IS4S and is the founder of the North Alabama Range—a 3,400-acre test range featuring two radiation survivability test assets, one of the world's fastest guns for hypervelocity impact testing, and a light gas gun for projectile testing.
Zac holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University and previously spent 14 years at Radiance Technologies before joining IS4S.
Ryan Hill
Vice President
-
Ryan Hill is a research mechanical engineer with 13 years of multi-disciplinary experience in the development, integration, operational testing, and evaluation of novel energetics and prototype concepts. He focuses on several DoD research thrusts including energetics, explosives, ballistics, navigation, robotics, projectiles, munitions, and chemical/biological agent defeat. Ryan has designed, executed, and overseen thousands of incendiary, explosive, and ballistics tests over the years and specializes in incendiary composition development and rapid prototype development and fabrication with an emphasis on low-cost systems.
During his tenure with IS4S, the Opelika site has grown from a few highly motivated and skilled individuals running small programs to a team of talented and creative engineers executing numerous high-end R&D and testing programs spanning areas such as munitions development, UAV munitions, advanced explosive formulation, explosives testing, warhead qualification, novel 3D printing, explosive 3D printing, and more. The Opelika test and engineering center has grown from a single building into a multi-site, multi-range facility providing ultra-fast, creative, and unique solutions to both the DoD and commercial partners.
Ryan is the site lead for Opelika and supports energetic operations at the North Alabama Range site.
Frank Rose, Ph.D.
Senior Technical Fellow
-
Dr. Frank Rose has 60 years of experience in performing and managing basic and applied research in the physical sciences and advanced technologies. He currently is an SME in the field of high power electromagnetics.
Dr. Rose has served as the chief technical officer for Radiance Technologies, director of the science directorate of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and a professor of electrical engineering at Auburn University. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from University of Virginia and a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics from Pennsylvania State University. He is a Life Fellow at IEEE, an Associate Fellow at AIAA, and a National Associate of the National Academies.
He has served the scientific community through advisory panels and assessments for many agencies and organizations. He served as associate editor of the AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power, chairman/co-chairman of the 1983 and 1985 International IEEE Pulsed Power Conferences, a member of the National Research Council’s oversight boards for both the National Institute of Standards and the Board on Army Science and Technology, and on the Science and Technology External Advisory Board for the SANDIA National Laboratory.
Dr. Rose is a contributing author or editor for four books, has published over 200 papers, has 21 patents dealing with energy systems and processes, and has international recognition as an expert in high power pulsed electrical systems.
North Alabama Range Careers
Join us in our mission to solve complex problems of national importance in an environment where doing the right thing is more important than profit, and in a company fully owned and operated by ethical, motivated employees.
Check out our active job openings to apply!
Contact Us
Please do not submit any Personally Identifiable Information (PII), sensitive personal data, or confidential government information through this message box. This communication channel is not authorized for the transmission of personal, classified, proprietary, or controlled unclassified information (CUI). For your privacy and security, keep all communications general.
North Alabama Range Site Addresses
OFFICE SITE
26914 State Hwy 253
Hackleburg, AL 35564
TEST RANGE
4681 Chalkmine Rd
Hackleburg, AL 35564