HERO testing is used to determine that the ordnance safety margins required are met when the unit under test is exposed to the high levels of electric fields required by MIL-STD-464. This requires that the test method measures the current induced into the unit's bridgewire and compares the measurements to the pre-determined mean no-fire current (MNFC) of the bridgewire.
NTS teams in Massachusetts and Arkansas jointly developed the NTS test procedure and method in response to a customer request for testing on two 25 mm rounds typically fired from an M242 cannon. One round contained a piston actuator detonator and the other contained an Electro-Explosive Device (EED) detonator.
NTS investigated various methods and chose to utilize a system manufactured by Opsens of Quebec City to measure the current on the bridgewire. The NTS Test Procedure was based upon limits in MIL-STD-464, the Army's TOP 1-2-511, and MIL-HDBK-240.
