MBAssociates Contracts

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All contracts with MBAssociates, a California corporation located in San Ramon, California.

Responsive documents are likely dated between 1961 (when MBAssociates was formed) and 1980. MBAssociates developed and manufactured unique firearms with small rockets as ammunition under the "Gyrojet" brand.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Ansel Halliburton

Thank you for the September 7, 2017 update. I had not received the earlier email with the response.

Below are two excerpts from an online post by Mel Carpenter, a researcher and author of an extensive book on MBAssociates (An Introduction to MBA Gyrojets and Other Ordnance). These excerpts mention two NASA contracts with MBAssociates. I believe these details provide a sufficient amount of Category I and Category II details to conduct a search.

"As requested in another thread, here are two pics of a .50-caliber, aluminum case 12.7x36.9mm Gyrojet developed by MBAssociates (MBA) under a NASA contract in the 1960s. The purpose of the rocket was for satellite defense, and the idea was that if a U.S. satellite detected an enemy satellite or warhead about to attack, the U.S. satellite would fire one or more of these rockets to destroy or disable it. During testing (on the ground), the rocket achieved 3,500 feet per second (fps)."

"Also of possible interest, MBA had another NASA contract in 1961 for a feasibility study of a hypervelocity gun that would fire small projectiles at up to 100,000 fps to simulate micrometeorites, which NASA thought would be dangerous to spacecraft. MBA used a 1.3-pound high explosive detonation to compress a magnetic field to very high flux and energy levels, and then as the field expanded (theoretically at the speed of light), it would accelerate particles to a very high velocity. By July 1962, MBA had achieved velocities of 32,800 fps, proving its hypervelocity gun was at least feasible."

Source: https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/gyrojet-for-space/6720 (archived: https://perma.cc/4N9X-Q6HN)

Thank you very much for the helpful follow-up letter. I will follow up with NARA.