Effective 25 January, 2010, the International Ballistics Society (IBS) was founded to promote the science of ballistics internationally.   One of its main responsibilities will be to ensure that the International Symposium on Ballistics (ISB) will be organized regularly.  The IBS assumes this responsibility as a hereditary of the International Ballistics Committee, active since 1993. The ISB owes its origins to the American Ordnance Association (AOA), which in turn evolved via the American Defense Preparedness Association (ADPA) into the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). NDIA’s Bomb & Warhead Division’s long-held and still continuing annual meetings were concerned with ballistics but were classified, since they also included program overviews and weapons performance. The US forerunner to the ISB was therefore created to provide an opportunity for US scientists and engineers from universities, industry and government laboratories to meet together in an open forum to present their current research work, discuss the implications of their work and identify future lines of research.

The first International Symposium on Ballistics was held in Orlando, Florida in 1974.  The team of scientific pioneers in ballistics responsible for founding the conference included both US and European experts. The US side included Dr. Robert Eichelberger, Dr. Louis Zernow, Dr Pei Chi Chou (Drexel University), Dick Dowd (Martin Marietta Corp.) and Martin Summerfeld of Princeton University. The European side included Dr Gustav-Adolf Schröder (EMI - Germany), Prof R.E. Kutterer (ISL Director, France/Germany), Neil Griffiths OBE, (RARDE – UK), Prof. Rudolf Thomanek (MBB/Germany) and Dr. Hans Pasman (TNO – Netherlands). A primary objective of the symposium was to compare and contrast the state of the art in ballistics in North America and Europe and foster collaboration.

University and industry attendance has been encouraged at every symposium so that scientists and engineers in these organizations might participate in creating, developing, and studying the sciences and technologies that were previously restricted to limited venues of NATO and bi-lateral exchange agreements.  Only NATO member states and other select friendly state attendance was encouraged in light of the "Cold War" within which the world was at that time enveloped. This remained the case until 1989.  Since that time, the number of countries represented has continued to expand.  Symposia have been organized in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Belgium, Sweden, Canada, South Africa, Israel, Australia, and Spain.  The upcoming symposium will be held in China.In 2007, during the symposium in Tarragona, Spain, a survey of the attendees was conducted by Dr. Bo Janzon, Chairman of the International Ballistics Committee.  As a result of this survey, the International Ballistics Committee made a decision to form the International Ballistics Society.  The creation of the IBS is the culmination of those efforts.

The founding officers of the society are John (Jack) P. Riegel, III, President of R3 Technology, Inc,  Dr. Sidney Chocron, Southwest Research Institute, and Dr. Dennis Baum, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  Other members of the founding board of directors include:  Dr. Ian Cullis, QinetiQ; Prof. Zhongyuan Wang, Nanjing University of Science and Technology; Dr. Roxan Cayzac, GIAT Industries; Dr. Michael Murphy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Prof. Bo Janzon, SECRAB Security Research, and Dr. Meir Mayseless, IMI.  Mr. Riegel expressed his sincere gratitude to the founding board members for their efforts.  “The founding members of the board have dedicated themselves to producing a society that will provide great benefits to the international ballistics community.  I want to commend all of them for committing their expertise and time to making this a success.  It has not been an easy task, but they have diligently worked though every issue, starting with being spread across 15 time zones.    I am proud to be part of this board of directors.”