This research unit has two main fields of activities:

• The chemical analysis of all samples found on Belgian territory which possibly contain energetic materials (explosives), in assistance of the Belgian Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) group, Police and the Department of Justice.
• The synthesis of (new) energetic materials and the determination of their physicochemical properties. This allows the laboratory to be up to date for current and future threats involving home-made explosives.

The laboratory infrastructure consists of the typical equipment for analysis and detection: thermogravimetric, calorimetric, spectroscopic and (liquid and gaseous) chromatographic instruments.