A large testing arena with a lot of vehicle tracks in the dirt of the base and surrounded by rocky cliffs and trees.

Expanding Testing Capabilities 

Our North Alabama Range was settled intentionally in the remote region between the towns of Hackleburg and Hamilton, Alabama. At 3,400 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

North Alabama Range Leadership

Zac Shotts headshot.

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 headshot.

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 headshot.

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

North Alabama Range Site Addresses

OFFICE SITE
26914 State Hwy 253
Hackleburg, AL 35564

 

TEST RANGE
4681 Chalkmine Rd
Hackleburg, AL 35564