Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory

The Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) was established in 1968 in Chandigarh. Although the main laboratory is based in Chandigarh, its 5,000-acre firing range is located 22km away in Ramgarh (Haryana). The TBRL conducts research in the fields of “high explosives, detonics and shock waves, evolving data and design parameters for new armament stores, and assesses terminal effects” of both indigenous and imported ammunition. The laboratory’s areas of work include, “studies of ground shock, blast damage, fragmentation, and lethality, detonics of high explosives, studies of underwater detonics and pressure wave propagation, explosive forming, cladding, and welding, and preparation of safety templates for various weapons.” TBRL has developed “new high explosive compositions and filling techniques,” and undertaken projects to establish the “lethality of ammunition in terms of mean area of effect,” and generate “lethality design data for warheads/ammunition.” The laboratory has also developed “shaped charge warheads for different targets” and conducted “performance evaluation trials” of the Prithvi, Akash, and Trishul missile warheads. For these purposes, the TBRL uses sophisticated techniques in high-speed photography, oscillography, flash radiography, and shadowgraphy.