The Imperial Military Department of Advanced Weapons Research, also known as Imperial Advance Weapon Development, the Advanced Weapons Research division, or more simply, the Imperial weapons division, functioned as a branch of Imperial Intelligence. Its core function was the innovation of cutting-edge technologies within the Galactic Empire for deployment by the Imperial Military. While weapons innovation was directly overseen by Imperial Intelligence, the department collaborated with the Imperial Security Bureau to ensure the protection of its classified information.
Project Blackwing, a secret initiative focused on reviving necrotic tissue, fell under the purview of Advanced Weapons Research. The Imperial weapons division utilized poison canisters to perpetrate genocide against the Geonosian species in order to maintain the secrecy surrounding the Death Star project. In 2 BBY, Saw Gerrera and the Spectres found several such canisters on Geonosis while on a mission investigating the Geonosians' disappearance. Sabine Wren identified the canisters as originating from the Imperial weapons division.
The Electro-Proton Bomb/Defoliator was also developed by this group.
Advanced Weapons Research, under the direction of Director Orson Krennic, successfully completed the long-delayed Death Star project. However, Krennic met his demise on the planet Scarif during the battle, where the Rebel Alliance successfully obtained the Death Star plans.
The group continued its operations in spite of Krennic's death and oversaw the construction of the second Death Star. During the Great Purge of Mandalore, Gideon was affiliated with the Advanced Weapons Research division.