Reactive nanofoil coatings of magnetron-sputtered aluminum and nickel/vanadium bilayers were characterized for reliable debonding of segmented carbon composite or metallic structures to be used in future Army applications. We determined the initiation energies of multilayer stacks by discharging an electric spark from a fixed capacitor bank and varying DC voltage before and after low temperature annealing, which resulted in varying amounts of interfacial interdiffusion observable by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The propagation velocity of the reaction was also measured using high speed video photography. Significant increases in initiation energy and decreasing propagation velocities were observed with increasing anneal times and temperatures, in agreement with the RBS results and existing literature discussion of reaction mechanisms. Initiation sensitivity and propagation velocity were both impacted by varying the stoichiometric ratio of Al and Ni/V, and the propagation rate was also affected by the nature of the substrate. These results allow for the optimization of both reliable initiation and long term, low temperature storage stability of the final reactive coatings for debonding applications.