Emerging Defense Technologies

December 2009

Emerging Defense Technologies

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December 2009

Synopsis of global emerging defense technologies for the ground warrior

Special IED Focus

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Emerging Defense Technologies

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Emerging Defense Technologies

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December 2009

December 2009

What’s Inside

Synopsis of global emerging defense technologies for the ground warrior

Special IED Focus

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Countering the Global Challenge of IEDs Today and in the Future

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Warfighter Support (IED Suport)

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Emerging Defense Technologies

Emerging Defense Technologies is published monthly by Defense House Publishing, P.O. Box 236, Forest Hill, Maryland, 21050, USA. Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, duplicated or re-transmitted without the expressed written permission of the publisher.

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December 2009 Defense House Publishing P.O. Box 236 Forest Hill, Maryland 21050 USA

By Lieutenant General Thomas F. Metz

By Andrew Feickert

16 Landmine Follow the Leader 18 Small Business Technology Transfer Awards 21 US 2010.1 SBIR Projects 33 Vehicle Net System 34 Non-Lethal Clear-a-Space/Disable in Place

Before Entry

36 On Target—News Briefs 40 Professional Development (Publication Reviews) 42 Calendar of Events 43 Technology Briefs

Ammunition & Munitions Artillery Communtions, Suvreillance & Sensors Ground Vehicles Infantry Weapons Soldier Survivability & Gear Unmanned Vehicles

Jeff McKaughan jeffm@defense-house.com 443-243-1710

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December 2009

Countering the Global Challenge of IEDs Today and in the Future

By Lieutenant General Thomas F. Metz Director Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization

In the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility the single most effective weapon employed by our enemies and the predominant killer in both Afghanistan and Iraq continues to be the IED.

To counter the potential strategic impact of this threat, the DoD established JIEDDO with a great sense of urgency in 2006.

Congress quickly followed suit by enacting special funding for JIEDDO operations in 2007. With these special operating authorities and our direct reporting chain to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, JIEDDO rapidly matured to accomplish its mission to focus DoD actions in support of all 10 United States’ combatant commands (COCOM) in their efforts to defeat IEDs as a weapon of strategic influence.

With four specified mission areas—

strategic planning; rapid acquisition; near real-time information fusion delivered to warfighters as knowledge; and operations and training support to the force— JIEDDO continues to make great strides in our evolution as an effective, high impact organization operating in support of warfighters. Though our challenges have been great, results during our short history have been dramatic, especially in CENTCOM.

Since September of 2008, there have been over 10,000 IED incidents in Iraq.

These incidents are diverse, consisting of the following: explosively formed projectiles commonly known as EFPs, underbelly devices, homemade explosives, suicide IEDs, victim-operated IEDs using pressure switches, and radio controlled anti-armor IEDs, among others. These devices employ a wide range of arming and firing switches, from relatively

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simple command wire to sophisticated radiocontrolled and passive infrared switches. Yet, in spite of this high volume and wide range of IED attacks over the past 12 months, the number of attacks that were effective against our forces continued to decline for the second straight year.

While I am pleased with our progress in Iraq, our work is not yet done. Our organization is poised to support our continuing diplomatic mission and United States’ forces as the drawdown proceeds in accordance with the security agreement. In addition, while we have learned an enormous amount from our experience in Iraq, not all of these lessons translate to our efforts in Afghanistan.

The environment and the enemy in Afghanistan pose an altogether different challenge. Although initially slower to develop in Afghanistan, the IED has now replaced direct fire weapons as the enemy’s weapon of choice. Our enemies in Afghanistan also use IEDs in combination with conventional direct and indirect fire weapons as a part of complex attacks.

Furthermore, Afghanistan local insurgents, tribal factions, and the Taliban

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4 enjoy a greater freedom of action to emplace large numbers of IEDs in movement corridors vital to our success. Our challenge is further compounded because these groups intimidate local populaces, preventing their cooperation with the often suspiciously viewed Afghan government and, in turn, with us.

To ensure the most comprehensive possible support to this complex theater, JIEDDO has undertaken an ongoing Afghanistan support planning process that has so far generated more than 100 counterIED initiatives for this theater. Continually refined as we move forward, this planning effort provides an ongoing assessment which guides department-level decision makers on critical counter-IED investments and resource allocations.

Lieutenant General Thomas F. Metz was commissioned as an infantry officer following his graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1971. He served in a series of positions of increased responsibility throughout a distinguished career as a leader and trainer of soldiers from Europe, to Korea, Iraq and the United States. From his start as a platoon leader in the 1st Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Mainz, Germany, Metz has commanded at every level from a rifle company up to III Corps and Fort Hood, Texas. Prior to becoming the Director, he served as the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command’s Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff.

General Metz has been a key player in laying the groundwork for the Army’s ongoing transformation as the director of the 4th Infantry Division’s experimental force 1995-1997, then as the assistant division commander for the same command the following year. From 1998-2001, he served as a deputy and vice director in the Joint Staff Force Structure, Resources, and Assessment Directorate, J-8.

Metz earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University and taught the subject at West Point and also holds a Professional Engineer’s License for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff and War Colleges, is an expert infantryman, and wears the Ranger Tab and senior parachutist wings. His awards include Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Legion of Merit (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters), Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), and Army Commendation Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters).

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Confronting a Global Threat

Outside of CENTCOM, nearly 300 IED incidents every month around the globe confirm that the dangers from this weapon also reach far beyond the borders of Afghanistan and Iraq. Since September 2008 there have been over 3,500 total IED incidents and the number is growing. Enabled by the ability to rapidly exploit readily available commercial technology, violent extremists can easily share the results of their efforts across realtime global communications networks.

This toxic mix allows potential enemies to forge international relationships and to migrate IED technology and techniques accordingly. As a result, we see a growing and dangerous global IED threat beyond CENTCOM, especially in Africa Command, Pacific Command, and Southern Command.

You may be familiar with some recent incidents.

On July 17, 2009, Islamic extremists linked to a faction of the Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiya conducted two successful person-borne IED suicide attacks against two Western hotels in Jakarta, killing nine and wounding dozens more. The incident illustrates the ability of al-Qaeda to successfully inspire IED attacks by likeminded groups around the globe.

On September 17, 2009 in Somalia, al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab insurgents detonated two suicide vehicle-borne IEDs inside the African Union Mission in Somalia headquarters compound in Mogadishu.

The attack claimed the lives of 14 African Union soldiers, including the former deputy commander of that mission.

As recently as September 29, 2009, two American military personnel attached

December 2009

to Joint Special Operations Task ForcePhilippines were killed by an IED on Jolo Island as they traveled in an armored high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle with Philippine military personnel to support a humanitarian project. The attack is attributed to local Islamist militants. Though likely not specifically targeting United States personnel, this incident highlights the global IED threat faced by American forces when operating with foreign partners. These were the first United States military fatalities in the Philippines since 2002.

There have been two recent high-profile arrests highlighting the fact that the IED threat is not just a distant problem, but one that sits on our doorstep:

On September 21, 2009, the FBI arrested a 24-year old Afghan immigrant, Najibullah Zazi, for plotting to emplace IEDs at New York Fashion Week venues and at sports stadiums.

Zazi received training in the construction of IEDs from al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and had enlisted the assistance of several others, including his father, a shuttle bus driver at a New York airport, in the plot.

On September 25, 2009, the FBI arrested 19-year old Hosam Maher Husein Smadai, a Jordanian national, for attempting to destroy a 60-story glass office building in downtown Dallas, Texas. During an undercover operation, the FBI provided Smadai with an inert IED, which he then placed in a vehicle that he parked near the structure. His intent was to bring the fight back to United States soil and further the Islamic extremist agenda.

Our allies in the war against extremism continue to face the IED threat on a daily basis. Pakistan has been rocked on a nearly continuously by a Pakistani Taliban IED campaign waged against governmental and security infrastructures. This campaign of terror has led the government of Pakistan to commit nearly 30,000 troops to regain control of the Taliban safe havens in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Northwest Frontier Province.

JIEDDO’s Lines of Operations JIEDDO organizes all of its efforts across three lines of operations (LOOs)—defeating IEDs in whatever form they take; enabling attacks on IED networks wherever they arise; and training our warfighters to survive and succeed against both.

Defeat the Device. During our first two years of operations we were in a race against time to defeat the effects of IEDs on the battlefield.

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December 2009

5 day or night, to defeat IED emplacers along routes with significant IED activity. JIEDDO has also funded a nonmateriel counter-IED capability that actively geo-locates and targets communications devices, allowing our forces to find, fix, and finish IED-related command and control nodes. Finally, JIEDDO continues to lead efforts in developing change detection capabilities with proofs-of-concepts currently underway in CENTCOM.

As casualties mounted we quickly learned that we must innovate faster than a ruthless, agile enemy capable of rapidly adapting commercial off-the-shelf technologies and IED tactics an estimated three times inside of one of our budget cycles. With Congressionally-directed funding we were able to counter these rapid innovation cycles by creating a unique, transparent, and analytically driven rapid acquisition process that allows us to deliver risk-tolerant solutions to warfighters in months versus the years associated with the conventional acquisition system that manages force modernization programs.

This process, called the Joint IED Defeat Capability Approval and Acquisition Management Process (JCAAMP), accommodates a high degree of uncertainty.

Operating within a 0-24 month window, as opposed to the much longer DoD budget process that cannot respond to the current urgency of warfighter needs, JIEDDO has quickly evolved as DoD’s premiere agency for rapid invention, and rapid development and delivery of those inventions into the hands of warfighters. Highlights of our current efforts include: the suite of technical forensics programs known as weapons technical intelligence, counter radio-controller electronic warfare commonly referred to as CREW, various signatures programs, and more than 90 other enduring counter-IED capabilities, that resulted from 240 materiel solutions delivered to warfighters during the past three years.

JCAAMP also manages the counterIED technology development portfolio. In conjunction with the services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, JIEDDO is

responsible for integrating all of DoD’s counter-IED technology efforts. Efforts that show promise include potential new sensors, data exploitation, sensor and information fusion to detect IEDs, blasting cap neutralization, and formal collaboration with the medical community to prevent and mitigate traumatic injuries.

JCAAMP is not perfect, but it is valuable because it allows us to bypass existing cumbersome, risk-adverse processes in order to respond to warfighters in time to have an impact. As we continue to refine JCAAMP and the services more fully participate in their roles within the process, the natural friction that currently exists between us will continue to diminish. What is most important is that JIEDDO continues to demonstrate every day that DoD can respond to urgent warfighter needs in a collaborative process with transparency and comprehensive oversight.

Attack the Network. Despite our technology successes we know that defeating devices is not enough and that we need to better enable offensive operations by developing capabilities to support attacks against IED networks. We must exploit the use of information as one of our greatest asymmetric advantages. To that end, JIEDDO created the Counter-IED Operations Integration Center (COIC) in 2006. The COIC gives warfighters unprecedented capability to attack enemy networks by delivering near real-time fused information, especially for forces at brigade, or regimental, through corps level.

Key attack the network efforts include support to sniper teams by enabling observation and targeting in all weather,

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Train the Force. None of these efforts will generate the desired impact without providing the best possible counter-IED training support to our warfighters. JIEDDO constantly strives to raise the bar by rapidly adapting and infusing our cutting edge programs, such as signatures and social dynamics, into counterIED training programs across DoD.

Additionally, JIEDDO headquarters, in conjunction with our Joint Center of Excellence at Fort Irwin, California, rapidly incorporates feedback from JIEDDO-deployed field teams, unit debrief teams, and in-theater surveys into Service training programs. By funding substantial modifications to combat training centers and home station training programs, JIEDDO has enabled world-class counterIED training for warfighters and units at the tactical level.

Our contributions to predeployment battle staff training for brigade and regimental combat teams, as well as division and corps headquarters is equally impressive.

This leader training has been significantly enhanced with the development of the Joint Training Counter-IED Operations Integration Center (JTCOIC) located in Norfolk, Virginia.

Within the past year, the JTCOIC has built both physical and virtual partnerships of government, industry, and academic experts who focus on predeployment training that replicates the most complex and difficult circumstances that our leaders and their units will face on battlefield. In 2008 and early 2009, JTCOIC constructed its physical facility, expanded its architecture, acquired access to critical databases, and developed relationships with the training communities across all of the services.

JIEDDO is currently working closely with the commander, United States Joint Forces Command, to publish capstone counter-IED doctrine for joint forces. Once published, this doctrine will bridge the gap in what our forces have learned at the tactical level over the past seven years. Our goal is to provide both the tactical and operational level commanders with the requisite knowledge to train, organize, and resource their forces for

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the counter-IED fight.

The key to our success has been, and always will be, world-class training.

Unfortunately, no one could have anticipated the sheer amount and complexity of the training required to successfully counter IEDs. JEDDO’s mission is to grab those emerging, hard training problems and find ways for the services and our partners to overcome them.

To guarantee our continued success in this area, we are in the process of developing a comprehensive DoD-wide counter-IED training architecture that will give us an evolutionary jump forward by federating all ongoing counter-IED training across the services the interagency, and our partner nations. By sharing our resources, insights, and best of breed practices we plan to achieve a level of training synergy never seen before.

Collaboration and Partnerships

In recent testimony to Congress, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen, indicated that, absent a broader international and interagency approach to the problems there, no amount of troops in no amount of time can ever achieve the objectives we seek in Afghanistan. This is certainly true in the fight against IEDs.

JIEDDO was designed to function as a catalyst working across DoD, interagency, international, and commercial domains in order to identify and leverage the best resources we can bring to bear against IEDs. As a result, JIEDDO has developed a vast array of collaborative relationships.

Our unimpeded access to the COCOMs, services, the interagency, and allies, coupled with our National Capitol Region presence, has allowed us to leverage large networks comprised of industry, academia, laboratories, federally funded research and development corporations, and government agencies to pursue solutions to the IED challenge.

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Stewardship of Resources

Living in an Era of Persistent Conflict

JIEDDO operates with special authorities as outlined in DoD Directive 2000.19E. These authorities and special Congressional funding enable us to operate efficiently and effectively in ways that other DoD entities cannot. We have been fortunate to operate with the confidence of the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Congress, both of whom have given us tremendous support and guidance as we have grown in capability and in our role of bringing together the entire enterprise to rapidly develop counter-IED capabilities.

JCAAMP is our capstone process to make this happen. Sensitive to our mandate to be good stewards, JCAAMP is designed to bring the department’s most senior stakeholders, including the services, together in a validation and funding decision process. The formal collaboration directed by JCAAMP helps us avoid unnecessary duplicative efforts and provides early visibility to the services on initiatives that will transition or transfer to them in the future.

We’re able to accomplish these objectives while ensuring we can respond rapidly to support the COCOMs. JIEDDO continues to improve and refine our JCAAMP processes and will publish a revised version of the JCAAMP governing instruction in November 2009.

The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization is making steady progress in establishing internal control processes to provide assurance that managers execute effective stewardship of resources.

Based on our own internal review and with the help of the Government Accountability Office we determined the need to increase our government workforce to provide better control procedures. Over the past year, JIEDDO has been actively recruiting and hiring top-notch government civil servants to address this need.

I am more convinced than ever that we live in an era of persistent conflict. To echo Secretary Gates, the clear lines that distinguished conventional and irregular warfare have blurred. We now confront a complex, hybrid form of conflict ranging from near-peer competitors who will use irregular or asymmetric tactics, to non-state or rogue state actors capable of generating violence across a broad spectrum of weapons ranging from IEDs to weapons of mass destruction.

Whether we choose to call it a global war on terror, a long war, or an era of persistent conflict makes no difference. We have been at it for eight years and I believe this enemy will continue to fight us for the foreseeable future; certainly for the rest of my lifetime, and probably beyond. Violent extremists will continue to wage conflict against human targets and the weapon of choice will continue to be the IED—we can never be satisfied with the results we achieve.

We must further diminish the strategic effects of IEDs, reducing their appeal for increased global employment. We must strive for an ever greater impact through the continued aggressive development of new, innovative ways to make this weapon too costly to produce and too risky to employ.

While we will never completely chase this weapon off the battlefield, we must continue to eliminate its ability to affect us strategically.

JIEDDO’s Vision for the Future

The enemy we face for the foreseeable future knows how to exploit our vulnerabilities. Possessing a very long view, time is unimportant to this enemy—they don’t need it, and they hope we will waste it.

They believe our resolve will weaken with the passage of years. Now, more than ever, we must understand that and stay the course.

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December 2009

Looking forward, JIEDDO is on the cusp of some potentially game changing developments in the areas of command wire, signatures, weapons technical intelligence, and biometrics. Unfortunately, we have already harvested most of the mature technologies available to us. As we move forward, our technology development may require longer term commitments of both time and money.

We also have several long-term collaborative efforts underway that will greatly inform our evolving approach to IED networks and how to defeat them. In addition to a robust interagency working group focused on the social dynamics of human networks, we have also initiated a series of red team and competitive strategies gaming efforts that will hopefully allow us to leap frog the enemy and break the endless cycles of IED measures, counter measures, and countercountermeasures that have characterized this conflict.

We have not yet completed the necessary, difficult work of developing a common counter-IED military doctrine or defining the requirements for the establishment of comprehensive, coherent expeditionary counter-IED units. We also have a long way to go in building the standards and scope for counter-IED training, both for specialized units and across the joint force.

We have barely paved a path of formal partnerships with our allies. These relationships are vitally important to our success but remain fragile in execution. We have made some inroads but still need to remove the many obstacles that hobble our

7 ability to conduct information sharing critical to our success. We need to strengthen our commitment and forge the bonds necessary to beat this enemy.

A long-term commitment on the part of our nation’s most senior leaders is required to win this fight. JIEDDO sits at the center of that commitment. A permanent JIEDDO— funded in the base budget—is the clear signal that we understand what we are up against for the foreseeable future and that we are willing to invest the money, the time, the energy, and the talent to make sure we win. I recognize this will not be easy, but I believe it is necessary.

I have proudly worn the uniform of the United States Army for over 43 years. As I near retirement, I could not have asked to be in a better assignment, and I could not be more proud of the men and women who are helping me defeat the IED as a weapon of strategic influence. They are passionate about our mission, and they display daily a sense of urgency as they work to defeat the device, to attack the networks and to train the force to do both. We can count the numbers of those killed in action and wounded in action, but we will never know the number of lives, limbs, and eyesight that have been saved by our actions. However, I know they have been and will continue to be saved by the efforts of the wonderful men and women who work for the Joint IED Defeat Organization. Countering the IED is at the heart of the war we now find ourselves fighting. My experience tells me to be optimistic because of soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen and civilians who sacrifice daily to accomplish the missions we give

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Newly Nominated Director of JIEDDO

Army Major General Michael L. Oates has been nominated for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as director, Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, Arlington, VA. Oates was serving as the commanding general, 10th Mountain Division (Light) and Fort Drum, Fort Drum, NY.

them.

Lieutenant General Metz recently testified before the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. These were his remarks.

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Warfighter Support

December 2009

Challenges confronting DoD’s ability to coordinate

and oversee its counter-improvised explosive devices efforts.

By William M. Solis

I am pleased to discuss DoD management and oversight of its effort to defeat improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Such devices continue to be the number-one threat to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. During 2008, IEDs accounted for almost 40 percent of the attacks on coalition forces in Iraq. In 2009, insurgents’ use of IEDs against U.S. forces in Iraq declined for the second straight year since 2003, while in Afghanistan the number of monthly IED incidents reached more than 800 in July 2009.

Due to the magnitude of the IED threat, DoD created the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) in January 2006 in an effort to focus its counter-IED efforts. JIEDDO is responsible for leading, advocating, and coordinating all DoD efforts to defeat IEDs. A primary role for JIEDDO is to provide funding to the military services and DoD agencies to rapidly develop and field counter-IED solutions. Through fiscal year 2009, Congress has appropriated over $16 billion to JIEDDO to address the IED threat.

In addition, other DoD components, including the military services, have devoted at least $1.5 billion to the counter-IED effort, not including $22.7 billion for mine resistant ambush protected vehicles. Along with the escalation in Afghanistan, the IED threat is increasingly expanding throughout the globe with over 300 IED events per month worldwide outside of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to JIEDDO. There is widespread consensus that this threat will not go away and that the IED will continue to be a weapon of strategic influence in future conflicts.

In response to congressional direction, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a series of reports on

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JIEDDO. This work has examined a broad spectrum of JIEDDO’s operations including its ability to lead, advocate, and coordinate counter-IED efforts across DoD as well as establish itself as an accountable organization that can effectively manage billions of dollars in funding. As DoD looks to the future in deciding the appropriate role, organizational placement, and degree of Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) oversight for JIEDDO, addressing these types of issues will be critical.

My discussion here on the GAO’s observations are in two main areas. First, I will describe the steps that JIEDDO and DoD have taken to manage counter-IED efforts.

Second, I will highlight the challenges that affect DoD’s ability to oversee JIEDDO.

In preparing this report, we [GAO] relied on the report we are issuing regarding actions needed to improve visibility and coordination of DoD’s counter-IED efforts.

We met with officials from several DoD organizations including JIEDDO, the Army Asymmetric Warfare Office, the Army National Training Center, the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, the Training Counter-IED Operations Integration Center, Joint Forces Command, the JIEDDO Joint Center of Excellence, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the Technical Support Working Group, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. We also examined documentation including DOD Directive 2000.19E, which established JIEDDO, other documentation and briefings relating to JIEDDO’s evolution, and JIEDDO Instruction 5000.01, which established JIEDDO’s rapid acquisition process, as well as other documents and briefings from JIEDDO, the services, and other DoD entities.

Background

With the escalation of the IED threat in Iraq dating back to 2003, DoD began identifying several counter-IED capability

gaps including shortcomings in the areas of counter-IED technologies, qualified personnel with expertise in counter-IED tactics, training, dedicated funding, and the lack of an expedited acquisition process for developing new solutions to address emerging IED threats.

Prior DoD efforts to defeat IEDs included various process teams and task forces. For example, DoD established the Joint IED Defeat Task Force in June 2005, which replaced three temporary organizations—the Army IED Task Force; the Joint IED Task Force; and the Under Secretary of Defense, Force Protection Working Group. To further focus DoD’s efforts and minimize duplication, DoD published a new directive in February 2006, which changed the name of the Joint IED Defeat Task Force to JIEDDO. This directive established JIEDDO as a joint entity and jointly manned organization within DoD, directly under the authority, direction, and control of the Deputy Secretary of Defense, rather than subjecting JIEDDO to more traditional review under an Under Secretary of Defense within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

DoD’s directive further states that JIEDDO shall focus all DoD actions in support of the combatant commanders’ and their respective Joint Task Forces’ efforts to defeat IEDs as weapons of strategic influence.

Specifically JIEDDO is directed to identify, assess, and fund initiatives that provide specific counter-IED solutions, and is granted the authority to approve joint IED defeat initiatives valued up to $25 million and make recommendations to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for initiatives valued over that amount. Beginning in fiscal year 2007, Congress, has provided JIEDDO with its own separate appropriation, averaging $4 billion a year. JIEDDO may then transfer funds to the military service that is designated to sponsor a specific initiative. After JIEDDO provides funding authority to a military service, the designated service program manager, not

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December 2009 JIEDDO, is responsible for managing the initiatives for which JIEDDO has provided funds.

Improving Management

Since its creation, JIEDDO has taken several steps to improve its management and operation of counter-IED efforts in response to our past work as well as to address congressional concerns. For example, in our ongoing work, we have noted that JIEDDO has been improving its strategic planning.

In March 2007, observing that JIEDDO did not have a formal written strategic plan, we recommended that it develop such a plan based on the Government Performance and Results Act requirement implemented by the OMB circular A-11 requirement that government entities develop and implement a strategic plan for managing their efforts.

Further, in 2007, Congress initially appropriated only a portion of JIEDDO’s requested fiscal year 2008 funding, and a Senate Appropriations Committee report directed JIEDDO to provide a comprehensive and detailed strategic plan so that additional

9 funding could be considered. In response, JIEDDO, in November 2007, issued a strategic plan that provided an overarching framework for departmentwide counter-IED efforts.

Additionally, JIEDDO continues to invest considerable effort to develop and manage JIEDDO-specific plans for countering IEDs. For example, during the second half of 2008, the JIEDDO director undertook a detailed analysis of three issues. The director looked at JIEDDO’s mission as defined in DoD guidance, the implicit and explicit functions associated with its mission, and the organizational structure needed to support and accomplish its mission.

The effort resulted in JIEDDO publishing its JIEDDO Organization and Functions Guide in December 2008, within which JIEDDO formally established strategic planning as one of four mission areas. Actions taken in 2009 included developing and publishing a JIEDDO-specific strategic plan for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, reviewing JIEDDO’s existing performance measures to determine whether additional or alternative metrics might be needed, and engaging other government agencies and services involved in addressing the IED threat at a JIEDDO semiannual conference. As a result of these actions, JIEDDO is steadily improving its understanding of counter-IED challenges.

Additionally, as we note in our report being issued today, JIEDDO and the services have taken some steps to improve visibility over their counter-IED efforts. For example, JIEDDO, the services, and several other DoD organizations compile some information on the wide range of IED defeat initiatives existing throughout the department.

JIEDDO also promotes visibility by giving representatives from the Army’s and Marine Corps’ counter-IED coordination offices the opportunity to assist in the evaluation of IED defeat proposals.

Additionally, JIEDDO maintains a network of liaison officers to facilitate counter-IED information sharing throughout the department. It also hosts a semiannual conference covering counter-IED topics such as agency roles and responsibilities, key issues, and current challenges. JIEDDO also hosts a technology outreach conference with industry, academia, and other DoD components to discuss the latest requirements and trends in the counter-IED effort. Lastly, the services provide some visibility over their own counter-IED initiatives by submitting information to JIEDDO for the quarterly reports that it submits to Congress.

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Challenges

While JIEDDO has taken some steps toward improving its management of counterIED efforts, several significant challenges remain that affect DOD’s ability to oversee JIEDDO. Some of these challenges are identified in the report we are issuing today and include a lack of full visibility by JIEDDO and the services over counter-IED initiatives throughout DoD, difficulties coordinating the transition of funding responsibility for joint IED defeat initiatives to the military services once counter-IED solutions have been developed, and a lack of clear criteria for defining what counter-IED training initiatives it will fund.

Additionally, our ongoing work has identified other challenges including a lack of a means to gauge the effectiveness of its counter-IED efforts, a lack of consistent application of its counter-IED initiative acquisition process, and a lack of adequate internal controls required to provide DoD assurance that it is achieving its objectives. I will discuss each of these challenges in more detail.

DoD’s ability to manage JIEDDO is hindered by its lack of full visibility over counter-IED initiatives throughout DOD. Although JIEDDO and various service organizations are developing and maintaining their own counter-IED initiative databases, JIEDDO and the services lack a comprehensive database of all existing counter-IED initiatives, which limits their visibility over counter-IED efforts across the department. JIEDDO is required to lead, advocate, and coordinate all DOD actions to defeat IEDs.

Also, JIEDDO is required to maintain the current status of program execution, operational fielding, and performance of approved Joint IED Defeat initiatives.

Despite the creation of JIEDDO, most of the organizations engaged in the IED defeat effort in existence prior to JIEDDO have continued to develop, maintain, and in many cases, expand their own IED defeat capabilities.

For example, the Army continues to address the IED threat through such organizations as the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, which provides training support and doctrinal formation for counterIED activities, and the Research, Development & Engineering Command, which conducts counter-IED technology assessments and studies for Army leadership. Furthermore, an Army official stated that the Center for Army Lessons Learned continues to maintain an

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10 IED cell to collect and analyze counter-IED information. The Marine Corps’ Training and Education Command and the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned have also continued counter-IED efforts beyond the creation of JIEDDO. At the interagency level, the technical support working group continues its research and development of counter-IED technologies.

Despite these ongoing efforts and JIEDDO’s mission to coordinate all DoD actions to defeat improvised explosive devices, JIEDDO does not maintain a comprehensive database of all IED defeat initiatives across the department. JIEDDO is currently focusing on developing a management system that will track its initiatives as they move through its own acquisition process.

Although this system will help JIEDDO manage its counter-IED initiatives, it will track only JIEDDO-funded initiatives, not those being independently developed and procured by the services and other DoD components.

Without incorporating service and other DoD components’ counter-IED initiatives, JIEDDO’s efforts to develop a counter-IED initiative database will not capture all efforts to defeat IEDs throughout DoD.

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In addition, the services do not have a central source of information for their own counter-IED efforts because there is currently no requirement that each service develop its own comprehensive database of all of its counter-IED initiatives. Without centralized counter-IED initiative databases, the services are limited in their ability to provide JIEDDO with a timely and comprehensive summary of all their existing initiatives. For example, the U.S. Army Research and Development and Engineering Command’s Counter-IED Task Force and the service counter-IED focal points—the Army Asymmetric Warfare Office’s Adaptive Networks, Threats and Solutions Division; and the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab—maintain databases of counter-IED initiatives.

However, according to Army and Marine Corps officials, these databases are not comprehensive in covering all efforts within their respective service. Additionally, of these three databases, only the U.S. Army Research and Development and Engineering Command’s database is available for external use. Since the services are able to act independently to develop and procure their own counter-IED solutions, several service

December 2009

and Joint officials told us that a centralized counter-IED database would be of great benefit in coordinating and managing the department’s counter-IED programs.

Furthermore, although JIEDDO involves the services in its process to select initiatives, the services lack full visibility over those JIEDDO-funded initiatives that bypass JIEDDO’s acquisition process, called the JIEDDO Capability Approval and Acquisition Management Process (JCAAMP). In this process, JIEDDO brings in representatives from the service to participate on several boards—such as a requirements, resources, and acquisition board—to evaluate counterIED initiatives, and various integrated process teams.

However, in its process to select counterIED initiatives, JIEDDO has approved some counter-IED initiatives without vetting them through the appropriate service counter-IED focal points, because the process allows JIEDDO to make exceptions if deemed necessary and appropriate. For example, at least three counter-IED training initiatives sponsored by JIEDDO’s counter-IED joint training center were not vetted through the Army Asymmetric Warfare Office’s Adaptive Networks, Threats, and Solutions Branch— the Army’s focal point for its counter-IED effort—before being approved for JIEDDO funding.

Service officials have said that not incorporating their views on initiatives limits their visibility of JIEDDO actions and could result in approved initiatives that are inconsistent with service needs. JIEDDO officials acknowledged that while it may be beneficial for some JIEDDO-funded initiatives to bypass its acquisition process in cases where an urgent requirement with limited time to field is identified, these cases do limit service visibility over all JIEDDOfunded initiatives.

In response to these issues, we recommended in our report that is being issued today that the military services create their own comprehensive IED defeat initiative databases and work with JIEDDO to develop a DoD-wide database for all counter-IED initiatives. In response to this recommendation, DoD concurred and noted steps currently being taken to develop a DoDwide database of counter-IED initiatives.

While we recognize that this ongoing effort is a step in the right direction, these steps did not address the need for the services to develop databases of their initiatives as we also recommended. Until all of the services and other DoD components gain full awareness of

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December 2009 their own individual counter-IED efforts and provide this input into a central database, any effort to establish a DoD-wide database of all counter-IED initiatives will be incomplete.

We are also recommending that, in cases where initiatives bypass JIEDDO’s rapid acquisition process, JIEDDO develop a mechanism to notify the appropriate service counter-IED focal points of each initiative prior to its funding. In regard to this recommendation, DoD also concurred and noted steps it plans to take such as notifying stakeholders of all JIEDDO efforts or initiatives, whether or not JCAAMP processing is required. We agree that, if implemented, these actions would satisfy our recommendation.

Although JIEDDO has recently taken several steps to improve its process to transition IED defeat initiatives to the military services following the development of new capabilities, JIEDDO still faces difficulties in this area.

JIEDDO’s transitions of initiatives to the services are hindered by funding gaps between JIEDDO’s transition timeline and DoD’s budget cycle as well as by instances when service requirements are not fully considered during JIEDDO’s acquisition process. JIEDDO obtains funding for its acquisition and development programs through congressional appropriations for overseas contingency operations. JIEDDO typically remains responsible for funding counter-IED initiatives until they have been developed, fielded, and tested as proven capabilities.

According to DoD’s directive, JIEDDO is then required to develop plans for transitioning proven joint IED defeat initiatives into DoD base budget programs of record for sustainment and further integration into existing service programs once those initiatives have been developed. As described in its instruction, JIEDDO plans to fund initiatives for two fiscal years of sustainment.

However, service officials have stated that JIEDDO’s 2-year transition timeline may not allow the services enough time to request and receive funding through DoD’s base budgeting process, causing DoD to rely on service overseas contingency operations funding to sustain joint-funded counterIED initiatives following JIEDDO’s 2-year transition timeline.

According to JIEDDO’s latest transition brief for fiscal year 2010, the organization recommended the transfer of 19 initiatives totaling $233 million to the services for funding through overseas contingency

11 operations appropriations and the transition of only three totaling $4.5 million into service base budget programs. The potential need for increased transition funds will continue given the large number of current initiatives funded

by JIEDDO.

For example, as of March 30, 2009, JIEDDO’s initiative management system listed 497 ongoing initiatives. In addition to the small number of transitions and transfers that have occurred within DoD to date, the services often decide to indefinitely defer assuming fundinresponsibility for JIEDDO initiatives following JIEDDO’s intended 2-year transition or transfer point. According to JIEDDO’s fiscal year 2011 transition list, the Army and Navy have deferred or rejected the acceptance of 16 initiatives that JIEDDO had recommended for transition or transfer, totaling at least $16 million. Deferred or rejected initiatives are either sustained

by JIEDDO indefinitely, transitioned or transferred during a future year, or terminated.

When the services defer or reject the transition of initiatives, JIEDDO remains responsible for them beyond the intended 2-year transition or transfer point, a delay that could diminish its ability to fund new initiatives and leads to uncertainty about when or if the services will assume funding responsibility in the future.

Furthermore, JIEDDO’s initiative transitions are hindered when service requirements are not fully considered during the development and integration of jointfunded counter-IED initiatives, as evidenced by two counter-IED radio jamming systems.

In the first example, CENTCOM, whose area of responsibility includes both Iraq and Afghanistan, responded to an urgent operational need by publishing a requirement in 2006 for a man-portable IED jamming system for use in theater. In 2007, JIEDDO funded and delivered to theater a near-term solution to meet this capability gap. However, Army officials stated that the fielded system was underutilized by troops in Iraq, who thought the system was too heavy to carry, especially given the weight of their body armor. Since then, the joint counter-IED radio jamming program board has devised a plan to field a newer man-portable jamming system called CREW 3.1.

According to JIEDDO, CREW 3.1 systems were developed by a joint technical requirements board that aimed to balance specific service requirements for man-portable systems. While CENTCOM maintains that CREW 3.1 is a requirement in-theater, and revalidated the need in September 2009, officials from the Army and Marine Corps

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have both stated that they do not have a formal requirement for the system. Nevertheless, DoD plans to field the equipment to each of the services in response to CENTCOM’s stated operational need. It remains unclear, however, which DoD organizations will be required to pay for procurement and sustainment costs for the CREW 3.1, since DoD has yet to identify the source of funding to procure additional quantities.

In the second example, Army officials stated that they were not involved to the fullest extent possible in the evaluation and improvement process for a JIEDDO-funded vehicle-mounted jamming system, even though the Army was DoD’s primary user in terms of total number of systems fielded.

The system, called the CREW vehicle receiver/jammer (CVRJ), was initiated in response to an urgent warfighter need in November 2006 for a high-powered system to jam radio frequencies used to detonate IEDs. The development of this technology ultimately required at least 20 proposals for configuration changes to correct flaws found in its design after contract award. Two of the changes involved modifying the jammer so it could function properly at high temperatures.

Another change was needed to prevent the jammer from interfering with vehicle global positioning systems.

Army officials stated that had they had a more direct role on the Navy-led control board that managed configuration changes to the CVRJ, the system may have been more quickly integrated into the Army’s operations.

As this transpired, the Army continued to use another jamming system, DUKE, as its principal counter-IED electronic warfare system.

Not ensuring that service requirements are fully taken into account when evaluating counter-IED initiatives creates the potential for fielding equipment that is inconsistent with service requirements. This could later delay the transition of JIEDDO-funded initiatives to the services following JIEDDO’s 2-year transition timeline.

To facilitate the transition of JIEDDO funded initiatives, our report issued today recommended that the military services work with JIEDDO to develop a comprehensive plan to guide the transition of each JIEDDOfunded initiative, including expected costs, identified funding sources, and a timeline including milestones for inclusion into the DoD base budget cycle.

We also recommended that JIEDDO coordinate with the services prior to funding an initiative to ensure that service requirements

Emerging Defense Technologies

12 are fully taken into account when making counter-IED investment decisions. In response to these recommendations, DoD concurred with our recommendation to develop a comprehensive plan and noted steps to be taken to address this issue. DoD partially concurred with our recommendation that JIEDDO coordinate with the services prior to funding an initiative, noting the department’s concern over the need for a rapid response to urgent warfighter needs.

While we recognize the need to respond quickly to support warfighter needs, we continue to support our recommendation and reiterate the need for the integration of service requirements and full coordination prior to funding an initiative to ensure that these efforts are fully vetted throughout DoD before significant resources are committed.

Choosing Training Initiatives

JIEDDO’s lack of clear criteria for the counter-IED training initiatives it will fund affects its counter-IED training investment decisions. JIEDDO devoted $454 million in fiscal year 2008 to support service counterIED training requirements through such activities as constructing a network of realistic counter-IED training courses at 57 locations throughout the United States, Europe, and Korea. DoD’s directive defines a counter-IED initiative as a materiel or nonmateriel solution that addresses Joint IED Defeat capability gaps.

Since our last report on this issue in March 2007, JIEDDO has attempted to clarify

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what types of counter-IED training it will fund in support of theater-urgent, counter-IED requirements. In its comments to our previous report, JIEDDO stated that it would fund an urgent theater counter-IED requirement if it “enables training support, including training aids and exercises.” JIEDDO also stated in its comments that it would fund an urgenttheater, counter-IED requirement only if it has a primary counter-IED application.

Although JIEDDO has published criteria for determining what joint counter-IED urgent training requirements to fund and has supported service counter-IED training, it has not developed similar criteria for the funding of joint training initiatives not based on urgent requirements. For example, since fiscal year 2007, JIEDDO has spent $70.7 million on role players in an effort to simulate Iraqi social, political, and religious groups at DoD’s training centers. JIEDDO also spent $24.1 million on simulated villages at DoD’s training centers in an effort to make steel shipping containers resemble Iraqi buildings.

According to Army officials, these role players and simulated villages funded by JIEDDO to support counter-IED training are also utilized in training not related to countering IEDs.

As a result, JIEDDO has funded training initiatives that may have primary uses other than defeating IEDs, such as role players and simulated villages to replicate Iraqi conditions at various service combat training centers. Without criteria specifying which counter-IED training initiatives it will fund, JIEDDO may diminish its ability to fund future initiatives more directly related to the

December 2009

counter-IED mission.

DoD also could hinder coordination in managing its resources, as decision makers at both the joint and service level operate under unclear selection guidelines for which types of training initiatives should be funded and by whom. We have therefore recommended in the report being issued today that JIEDDO evaluate counter-IED training initiatives using the same criteria it uses to evaluate theaterbased joint counter-IED urgent requirements, and incorporate this new guidance into an instruction.

In commenting on our recommendation, DoD partially concurred and expressed concerns regarding our recommendation noting that JIEDDO’s JCAAMP and the development of new DoD-wide guidance would address the issues we note in our report. In response, while we recognize the steps taken by DoD to identify counter-IED training gaps and guide counter-IED training, these actions do not establish criteria by which JIEDDO will fund counter-IED training.

Measuring Effectiveness

JIEDDO has not yet developed a means for reliably measuring the effectiveness of its efforts and investments in combating IEDs. The OMB circular A-11 notes that performance goals and measures are important components of a strategic plan and that it is essential to assess actual performance based on these goals and measures. JIEDDO officials attribute difficulty in determining the effectiveness of its initiatives to isolating their

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December 2009 effect on key IED threat indicators from the effect of other activities occurring in-theater at the same time, such as a surge in troops, changes in equipment in use by coalition forces, local observation of holidays, or changes in weather such as intense dust storms, which may cause a decrease in the number of IED incidents.

JIEDDO has pursued performance measures since its inception to gauge whether its initiatives and internal operations and activities are operating effectively and efficiently, and achieving desired results.

In December 2008 JIEDDO published a set of 78 specific performance measures for its organization. The list included, for example, metrics to evaluate JIEDDO’s response time in satisfying urgent theater requirements, the quality and relevance of counter-IED proposals JIEDDO solicits and receives in response to its solicitations, and the ratio of initiatives for which JIEDDO completes operational assessments. However, JIEDDO has not yet established baselines for these measures or specific goals and time frames for collecting, measuring, and analyzing the relevant data.

Further, we have found several limitations with the data JIEDDO collects and relies upon to evaluate its performance.

Our ongoing work has identified three areas in which the data JIEDDO uses to measure effectiveness and progress is unreliable or is inconsistently collected.

First, data on effectiveness of initiatives based on feedback from warfighters in-theater is not consistently collected because JIEDDO does not routinely establish data-collection mechanisms or processes to obtain useful, relevant information needed to adequately assess the effectiveness of its initiatives.

JIEDDO officials also said that data collection from soldiers operating in-theater is limited because the process of providing feedback may detract from higher priorities for warfighters. In response to this data shortfall, JIEDDO managers began an initiative in fiscal year 2009 to embed JIEDDO-funded teams within each brigade combat team to provide JIEDDO with an in-theater ability to collect needed data for evaluating initiatives.

However, because this effort is just beginning, JIEDDO officials stated that they have not yet been able to assess its effectiveness.

Second, data on the management of individual initiatives, such as data recording activities that take place throughout the development of an initiative, are not consistently recorded and maintained at JIEDDO. Officials attribute the poor data

13

quality to the limited amount of time that JIEDDO staff are able to spend on this activity.

JIEDDO staff are aware that documentation of management actions is needed to conduct counter-IED initiative evaluations and told us that they plan to make improvements. However, needed changes— such as routinely recording discussions, analysis, determinations, and findings occurring in key meetings involving JIEDDO and external parties and coding their activities in more detail to allow differentiation and deeper analysis of activities and initiatives— are yet to be developed and implemented.

Third, JIEDDO does not collect or fully analyze data on unexpected outcomes, such as initiatives that may result in an increase in the occurrence or lethality of IEDs.

However, we believe that such data can provide useful information that can be used to improve initiatives. For example, in response to a general officer request in Iraq, the Institute for Defense Analysis collected and analyzed IED incident data before and after a certain initiative to determine its effect on the rate of IED incidents. JIEDDO officials intended the initiative in question to result in the reduction in IED attacks. However, the data collected contradicted the intended result because the number of IED incidents increased in areas where the initiative was implemented. These data could provide lessons learned to fix the initiative or take another approach.

We expect to provide further information

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and recommendations, if appropriate, on JIEDDO’s efforts to gauge the effectiveness of its counter-IED efforts—including issues involving data collection and reliability—in the report we will be issuing in early 2010.

JIEDDO Consistently

Although JIEDDO has established JCAAMP as its process to review and approve proposals for counter-IED initiatives, JIEDDO excludes some initiatives from that process. JCAAMP was established in response to DoD’s directive, which stated that all of JIEDDO’s initiatives are to go through a review and approval process. This requirement is consistent with government internal control standards, which identify properly segregating key duties and responsibilities—including responsibility for authorizing and processing transactions—as a fundamental control activity. In reviewing 56 initiatives for case studies, we found that JIEDDO excluded 26 of the 56 counter-IED initiatives from JCAAMP.

For example, JIEDDO excluded one initiative to enhance the counter-IED training experience by funding role players who are to help create a realistic war environment.

However, another initiative with similar purpose and objective was included in the JCAAMP process. As a result, when initiatives are excluded from JCAAMP, internal and external stakeholders do not have the opportunity to review, comment

Emerging Defense Technologies

14 on, and potentially change the course of the initiative in coordination with competing or complementary efforts.

Additionally, although the remaining 30 of 56 initiatives we reviewed went through JCAAMP, according to JIEDDO officials, we found that 22 of those 30 initiatives did not comply with some of the steps required by applicable DoD guidance.Applicable guidance includes JIEDDO’s directive, instruction, and standard operating procedures, which together identify a set of various decision points and actions, collectively intended to control JIEDDO’s use of resources.

For example, we found that, for 16 initiatives among the 22, JIEDDO released funding to the services without obtaining required funding approval from either the Deputy Secretary of Defense—as is required for initiatives over $25 million—or from the JIEDDO Director, for initiatives up to $25 million.

The exclusion of initiatives from JCAAMP, coupled with noncompliance with steps of the process required by applicable guidance, reduces transparency and

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accountability of JIEDDO’s actions within JIEDDO, as well as to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the services, and other DoD components. Without management oversight at important milestones in the approval and acquisition process, some funds appropriated for JIEDDO may be used to support efforts that do not clearly advance the goal of countering IEDs.

According to JIEDDO officials, systematic compliance with its process and documentation has been a weakness that JIEDDO has attempted to correct, and it continues to pursue improvements in this regard.

During the course of our work, officials from different JIEDDO divisions—including its accounting and budgeting, acquisition oversight, and internal review divisions— said they saw significant improvement in discipline and compliance with JIEDDO’s process for managing counter-IED initiatives beginning in the last quarter of fiscal year 2009. As JIEDDO officials point out, the improvements they cite have occurred relatively recently and have not had time to

December 2009

demonstrate their full effect.

Nonetheless, the findings in our ongoing review, and in prior GAO reports, confirm that JIEDDO has not had a systematic process in place to manage or document its activities and operations for the majority of its operating life.

In the report we plan to issue in early 2010, we will present a more detailed assessment of JIEDDO’s review and approval process and will make recommendations as appropriate.

Internal Controls While JIEDDO has affirmed the importance of addressing shortcomings in its internal control system and is taking action to this end, it still lacks adequate internal controls to ensure that it is achieving its objectives.

An adequate system of internal controls supports performance-based management with the procedures, plans, and methods to meet the agency’s missions, goals, and objectives. Internal controls serve as the first line of defense in safeguarding assets and preventing and detecting errors and fraud, and they help program managers achieve

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December 2009 desired results through effective stewardship of public resources.

However, in July 2009 JIEDDO reported to the OSD Comptroller that a material weakness exists in JIEDDO’s internal control system and has existed since it was established in January 2006. OMB defines a material weakness as a deficiency or combination of deficiencies that could adversely affect the organization’s ability to meet its objectives and that the agency head determines to be significant enough to be reported outside the agency.

For example, in our ongoing work we have identified, and JIEDDO officials have confirmed, that JIEDDO’s internal controls system has not: (1) provided for the identification and analysis of the risks JIEDDO faces in achieving its objectives from both external and internal sources; and (2) assessed its performance over time and ensured that the findings of audits and other reviews have been promptly resolved.

Consequently, JIEDDO has not developed a set of control activities that ensure its directives—and ultimately its objectives— are carried out effectively. Without assurance from JIEDDO that it has identified and addressed its control weaknesses, OSD does not monitor JIEDDO’s progress and effectiveness and therefore is unable to detect the extent to which JIEDDO has weaknesses.

Given the longstanding weaknesses in JIEDDO’s system of internal controls, it is unable to assure the DoD Comptroller that the program is achieving its objectives.

The DoD Comptroller is responsible for the development and oversight of DoD’s internal control program. In carrying out its responsibilities, DoD Comptroller officials told us that they relied solely on JIEDDO to internally develop and implement effective internal control systems that address key program performance risks and monitor effectiveness and compliance, and to report deficiencies or weaknesses in its internal control system through a report called the annual assurance statement, which is provided each year to the OSD Office of the Director of Administration and Management.

DoD uses additional techniques in its general oversight of JIEDDO, such as the Deputy Secretary of Defense’s review and approval of certain high-dollar counterIED initiatives. However, JIEDDO’s annual assurance statement is the key mechanism DoD relies upon to comprehensively and uniformly summarize and monitor internal control system status within its organizations— including JIEDDO—and, more importantly,

15 to report and elevate unresolved deficiencies to higher levels within and outside of DoD for awareness and action.

However, DoD’s limited oversight system for JIEDDO has not fully addressed control weaknesses present at JIEDDO since its first year of operation. Further, JIEDDO did not detail these control weaknesses in either of its first two annual statements of assurance in 2007 and 2008 or in its third and most recent statement of assurance completed in July 2009.

The 2009 assurance statement established a 3-year timeline with incremental milestones to develop and implement a complete internal management control program by the end of fiscal year 2012. In our report we plan to issue in early 2010, we will present a fuller assessment of JIEDDO’s management control processes, and will make recommendations as appropriate.

Observations

In conclusion, while JIEDDO has taken important steps to improve its management of DoD’s counter-IED efforts, DOD continues to face a number of challenges in its effort to gain full visibility over all counter-IED activities, coordinate the transition of JIEDDO initiatives, and clearly define the types of training initiatives it will fund. Additionally, JIEDDO’s approval process for counter-IED initiatives poses significant challenges to its ability to provide full transparency and accountability over its operations.

All of these challenges highlight the need for DoD to evaluate the effectiveness of its current oversight of all counterIED efforts across the department, yet the consistent collection of reliable performance data is one of JIEDDO’s greatest challenges.

With improved internal controls, JIEDDO will be in a better position to ensure that it is in compliance with applicable law and its resources are safeguarded against waste.

If these issues are not resolved, DoD’s various efforts to counter IEDs, including JIEDDO, face the potential for duplication of effort, unaddressed capability gaps, integration issues, and inefficient use of resources in an already fiscally challenged environment, and the department will lack a basis for confidence that it has retained the necessary capabilities to address the IED threat for the long term.

William M. Solis is the GAO’s director, Defense Capabilities and Management.

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16

December 2009

Landmine Follow the A TARDEC program seeks a new Leader mine detection system

US TARDEC is conducting market survey to identify potential sources with the expertise necessary to research, develop, and integrate advanced multi-vehicle robotic control technologies into current and future military vehicles.

This request for information is intended to assess the state-of-the-art in the development and integration of semi-autonomous behaviors for a leader-follower vehicle set, based on a small utility platform, the John Deere Gator vehicle or similar platform.

This system addresses the Operation Enduring Freedom requirement to provide narrow (1.6 meter) and wide pass (up to 3.2m) route clearance using unmanned teleoperated and semi-autonomous vehicles with state of the art ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems to detect threat targets located on and buried in roads and trails.

The system is referred to as the Gator Mounted Detection System (GMDS), and involves the use of ground penetrating radars along with marking systems and other

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hardware for performing the threat detection and marking mission. The goal of this system is to provide a cheaper, smaller, and more widely available route clearance solution, where a normal suite of route clearance vehicles (Husky, Buffalo) cannot operate or are not available. The system will operate remotely outside the electronic countermeasure (ECM) bubble to prevent interference with the GPR. The GPR array will be used to detect both high metallic through low metallic content targets—all detections are made automatically and physically marked.

The proposed system will consist of two identical vehicles: the lead vehicle will be tele-operated at speeds up to 15 kph, while the follower vehicle will autonomously follow the leader. Either vehicle can be configured as the lead, or as the follower. The path of the follower vehicle will be offset from the path of the lead vehicle as much as possible, while remaining in the road, path, or trail, with the objective being to operate up to a maximum lateral offset of as much as 1.4 meters (0.8

meters threshold).

The desired coverage provided by the vehicle pair is 3 meters. The offset is not specified to the full 1.6 meters, as this could allow for “gaps� in the coverage due to lateral control accuracy limits. Therefore, the offset must not exceed 1.4 meters under any and all conditions. The offset will be dynamic, utilizing either sensor based road/path edge detection or user input to dynamically set the coverage which the leader-follower pair looks to provide.

The longitudinal control will allow the follower vehicle to follow the lead at a distance of 5 to 10 meters and at a speed of up to 15 kph. It is desired that the route guidance methodology will build upon and extend the waypoint following capabilities provided by TARDEC Intelligent Ground Systems group.

It is also desired to develop an operator control unit (OCU) that can be used in both a dismounted and in-vehicle scenario. The system must be compatible with bandwidth requirements and EM specs in theater. The intent for this RFI is to assess the capability and effort required to complete the autonomy package based on available TARDEC knowledge and previous work.

The RFI assumes an XUV-chassis based John Deere R-Gator as the target platform, and a NIITEK ground penetrating radar sensor system (GPR). The R-Gator is a commercially available tele-operated platform. The NIITEK, Inc. GPR consists of two panels, each 0.8 meters in width, giving a total detection width of 1.6m. Each panel has twelve individual channels; a virtual channel is created where the two panels meet for a total of 25 channels across the entire array. Maximum scanning speed is 12 km/h. The array, together with the deployment mechanism that is being designed specifically for the John Deere R-Gator, will weigh between 600 and 700 lbs.

The array itself weighs 88 lbs. The array currently operates at 26 cm above the surface it is scanning and will maintain that height via the active height control built into the deployment mechanism.

A marking system consisting of seven

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December 2009 spray nozzles, spaced 9 inches apart, will allow for detections to be marked. The marking medium will be a dye-based liquid stored in a ten gallon tank.

NIITEK will integrate the R-Gator remote control hardware with a new data link. The new data link must be CREWcompatible and must operate outside of the bandwidth of the radar (200 Mhz to 7 GHz).

The data link currently under consideration is manufactured by BAE Systems and is capable of operating at 14.795 GHz (uplink) and 15.3 GHz (downlink).

The lead vehicle will be tele-operated or semi-autonomously driven, while the second identical (follower) vehicle will follow it autonomously at a distance of 5 to 10 meters, but with a variable offset, based on road conditions and obstacles. Both vehicles will incorporate an identical sensor suite consisting of sensors such as laser detection and ranging (LADAR), cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Navigation System (INS), Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) positioning system, and other sensors that will allow the follower to follow the path of the lead vehicle. There will be two modes of operation: Inline Mode, where the follower follows directly behind (same path, offset = 0 +.2 m) the lead vehicle in narrow paths or in presence of obstacles, and Offset Mode, where the follower follows with some offset path (parallel path, offset up to 1.4 meters) to the lead vehicle, as measured from vehicle centerline to centerline. Both modes also must allow reverse operation, as well as the ability to interchange Leader and Follower vehicle roles dynamically. Reverse operation for both vehicles may be implemented with teleoperation (non-autonomous, but unmanned).

The lead vehicle and the OCU must both support three modes of vehicle control— standard tele-operation, waypoint driving, and point-and-click navigation. Standard teleoperation is simply a human operator having full control over the vehicle and driving it by utilizing a video feed, non-line of sight.

Waypoint driving may be GPS waypoints, but is more likely beneficial as local (to the vehicle) waypoints or waypoints defined on the video feed from the lead vehicle. Pointand-click navigation entails pointing to a location on the video feed and having the lead vehicle autonomously go to that location. In all control modes, the follower should follow the lead vehicle the same way.

In addition, the OCU must also interface with the GPR sensor package. This may also require a second operator to perform sensorrelated functions. The OCU must show the

17 road area cleared from mission beginning to end, either by shading and scrolling through the mission history, or by other display means.

Leader-Follower Subsystem

The primary focus of the RFI will be to solicit potential technologies that will provide the desired leader-follower capability in kit form and at minimum cost and modification to the target platform. The leader follower technology used on the R-Gators will target the use of a low-cost sensor and software suite to allow one vehicle to follow the other. The solutions can utilize sensors such as LADAR, cameras, radar, UWB, etc. The leaderfollower system will function at a speed of up to 15 km/h. The remote operator will teleoperate the lead vehicle and also provide the primary obstacle detection and avoidance for both vehicles.

However, both vehicles must also have object detection and avoidance (ODA) capability and stop autonomously for obstacles when the operator is distracted or otherwise unable to perform. Both vehicles must also be capable of being E-Stopped via on-vehicle switches or via OCU E-Stop. There will be two modes for the leader-follower capability.

The first mode is to follow directly behind the leader on the same path (i.e. following as close to center of the leader as possible).

This is useful to allow both vehicles to proceed down a narrow path, or to have the follower act as a backup for the lead vehicle.

This mode will also be the fall back mode in case the follower vehicle cannot safely continue along its path. The second mode will move the follower vehicle to follow the lead vehicle up to the maximum offset (1.4m) allowed by the roadway or path. The offset can be on either side of the lead vehicle, and

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will be set up by the lead vehicle tele-operator.

These modes are illustrated in figure 1.

Several versions of the leader-follower technology are fairly mature (approximately TRL 6) and have been tested in relevant CONUS environments, but have still not been fielded. Utilizing the operator as the main source of obstacle avoidance that drives the path of both vehicles reduces the risk of undesired performance from the vehicles.

Obstacle Detection and Limited Avoidance Behavior

The same sensor suite used to perform the leader-follower task is desired to be utilized to provide obstacle detection and limited obstacle avoidance. The combination of LADAR, vision, and other sensors can be used to detect objects along the path of both vehicles. Obstacle detection information will be displayed to the operator to assist with tele-operation and to help plot waypoints.

The vehicles will only take action automatically based on obstacle detection information in limited cases, such as preventing the vehicle from running into an object. In the case of an obstacle, the vehicle designated as the follower will either stop or collapse in upon the path of the lead vehicle if it encounters an obstacle. In the case of the lead vehicle encountering an obstacle, the follower will be placed in Inline mode until the obstacle has been cleared. (Figure 2.)

Obstacles are defined as (positive, negative, walls, ditches, etc). Obstacle detection and avoidance in the lead vehicle will be used to augment the operator’s ability to detect and avoid obstacles.

Techniques for preventing the lead or follower vehicle from performing potentially catastrophic actions like rolling into a ditch should also be investigated.

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Small Business Technology Transfer Awards

December 2009

The DoD small business technology transfer program, funded at approximately $132 million in FY 2008, is made up of 6 participating components: Army, Navy, Air Force, Missile Defense Agency, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Office of Secretary of Defense. In 1992, Congress established the STTR pilot program. STTR is similar in structure to SBIR but funds cooperative R&D projects involving a small business and a research institution (i.e., university, federally-funded R&D center, or nonprofit research institution). The purpose of STTR is to create, for the first time, an effective vehicle for moving ideas from our nation’s research institutions to the market, where they can benefit both private sector and military customers.

To participate in the STTR program: • a firm must be a U.S. for-profit small business of 500 or fewer employees; there is no size limit on the research institution • research institution must be a U.S. college or university, FFRDC or non-profit research institution • work must be performed in the United States • the small business must perform a minimum of 40% of the work and the research institution a minimum of 30% of the work in both Phase I and Phase II • the small business must manage and control the STTR funding agreement • the principal investigator may be employed at the small business or research institution

Integration of 360-Retrodirective Noise Correlating Radar with Panoramic Camera for Real-Time Detection and Imaging of Ballistic Threats Army Physical Domains Fordham University

Retrodirective pseudorandom-noise-correlating radar has already been demonstrated on small ballistic targets, such as sniper bullets. And detection occurs with enough range (a few tens of meters) to acquire bearing information (range, azimuth, and elevation) and therefore develop a track in near-real-time.

What is lacking is the connection between such radar performance on warfighter situational awareness and force protection. The proposed effort will investigate the design of a 360 degree-FOV (in azimuth) retrodirective radar and its integration with a panoramic camera to provide the warfighter real-time display of bullet tracks overlaid on an image of the local environment. This entails many issues in radar design, and in sensor and data fusion.

The proposal teams an expert organization in retrodirective noise-correlating radar (Physical Domains) with experts on data and

Emerging Defense Technologies

sensor fusion from the Academic (Fordham University) and commercial (Altrus Networks) sectors. The overall STTR Phase-I effort will be a virtual integration of the radar and a panoramic camera with deliverables that include an optimal design for the retrodirective radar, drivers and interfaces between the hardware and software components, and algorithms for the high-data-rate (up to 1 GBit/s) radar-camera data fusion. The preferred human interface and system controller will be a customized PDA. Incremental Learning for Robot Sensing and Control Army SET Associates Corporation Carnegie Mellon University

SET Corporation, together with Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center, will develop a system that leverages state-of-the-art sensing, perception, and machine learning to provide trafficability assessments for UGVs for agricultural, security and military applications. It will consist of a set of proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensors that provide rich data about

the UGV’s environment in conjunction with a learning system that supports a combined experiential and imitative learning regime.

The contracted parties propose a sixmonth Phase I effort to 1) develop the underlying algorithms for a combined incremental experiential and imitative learning system, 2) investigate the appropriate sensor modalities, 3) design the general architecture of the integrated system, and 4) evaluate the methods on real data for real-time feasibility and performance over state-of-the-art.

The contracted parties bring to the table an already existing database of data collected from UGVs with many state-of-the-art sensors, ready-made platforms for integrating any additional sensors identified by the sensor study and collecting data, complementary expertise in sensor technology, a software base of cutting-edge perception methods for the competitive analysis, and the machine learning experience and knowledge in the area of online and semi-supervised learning.

Development of Multi-layer Aluminum Alloys for Armor Army Touchstone Research Laboratory, Ltd.

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December 2009 North Carolina State University

The proposed STTR Phase I study is aimed at exploring lightweight and multi-layer materials towards enhancing their armor performance. Different Al alloys will be assembled into a two-layer configuration with good metallic bond between inter-layers.

2139-T8 Al alloy evolved by efforts of Alcan and the Army Research Laboratory will be selected as one of the layers in the laminated assembly. 5083, 7xxx and 3003 will be the second layer alloys for trials.

Different two-layer plates will be processed by hot rolling, and the resulting roll-bonded laminates will be suitably heat treated. In addition to their quasi-static and dynamic testing, ballistic tests of each of the laminates will be performed to obtain their V50 properties. For each plate, ballistic tests will be conducted such that the striking side of the projectile successively includes each of the two sides of plate. Following testing, the microstructural damage will be assessed to understand the structure-property correlations.

Computational analysis of the layered materials will be carried out, and the experimental results will be compared with the predictions of computer modeling. Finally, the feasibility of this layered material approach towards improving ballistic response will be determined by this study.

Lightweight Structures for Roadside Blast Protection Navy Ablaze Development Corp Villanova University

The key technical objective of the Phase I effort will be the successful development of lightweight compact structures that can be applied to vehicles, either as add-on structures or as an integral part of the vehicle.

This will be accomplished through analysis, simulation, practical experience, intuition and experimentation, with the aid of artificial intelligence, primarily in the form of genetic algorithms, to help refine the concepts.

The general approach will be to develop blast protection materials and structures that defocus and redirect the blast impulse so that the negative effects on the vehicle passengers and the vehicle itself are minimized. In order to examine and refine the concepts, we plan to perform dynamic simulations, coupled with genetic algorithms. The simulations will have both numeric and graphical animation outputs. To validate the simulations, lab tests

19 and field tests will be conducted.

Lightweight Structures for Roadside Blast Protection Navy Agile Nanotech, Inc. University of California San Diego

Agilenano, the University of California San Diego, DuPontÂŽ and Gentex Corporation propose a Phase I demonstration of a volumetric and mass-efficient armor system having an areal density less than 10 lbs/ft2 which reduces blast energy transmitted to the crew compartment from a STANAG 4569 Level 1 grenade or mine blast by at least 30 percent.

This team will design and manufacture 2�x2� armor panels, develop and conduct quantitative explosive blast test methods, and measure V50 performance versus 0.30cal. FSP and 0.30-cal. APM2. Our proposed armor is structured around AgileZorb a revolutionary nanotechnology-based blast energy absorbing material recently shown by the Navy to reduce transmitted blast pressures by 75 percent to 95 percen t and to be orders of magnitude faster than conventional materials. The remainder of the structure consists of high hardness steel, flame resistant Kevlar, and Nomex honeycomb filled with the AgileZorb. The steel begins fragmenting the projectiles and protects against environmental elements. The Kevlar layers provide spall and additional fragment and projectile barriers in addition to excellent flame resistance.

The combined layers provide protection against the primary shock front (a primary cause of traumatic brain and blast lung injury), the tertiary blast wind and ballistic penetration.

Lightweight Roadside Blast Protection Navy Kennon Products, Inc Auburn University

One of the greatest threats to American armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is the damage caused by mines, roadside bombs, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The wide variety of device types, and increasing sophistication of these weapons, presents a growing challenge to protecting U.S. warfighters. Currently, personnel vehicles are protected with thick, heavy armor that severely limits maneuverability, and makes transport by sea or airlift much more

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difficult.

In this Phase I effort, Kennon Products, Inc., Auburn University, and the University of Wyoming propose to develop an advanced composite armor system to protect lightweight tactical vehicles from the previously mentioned explosive devices. This armor system will outperform current monolithic structures by at least 30 percent, and weigh less than 10 lbs/sq ft. It will also be able to address the multiple threats presented by next generation IEDs. Lightweight Structures for Roadside Blast Protection Navy Texas Research Institute Austin, Inc. Southwest Research Institute

Explosions from landmines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have been used in both Iraq and Afghanistan as the primary methods of the insurgent forces to engage lightly armored tactical vehicles. These explosive devices place our military troops and civilian personnel in constant peril, exposed to significant injury or death. Protection of the occupants of military and civilian vehicles from IED and mine blasts currently relies on a heavy armor retrofit which affects fuel efficiency and both tactical and strategic maneuverability.

Therefore, based on the need for a more effective armor system that does not limit maneuver nor overburdens the logistical support system, the objective of the proposed work is to develop suitable, light weight, volumetrically efficient blast mitigation materials and concomitant designs that can be integrated with legacy technologies to achieve synergistic reduction in blast threats. The blast threats include over-pressure, impulse, and ballistic fragments.

The resultant design will provide a blast shield that is designed to deflect blast energy away from the vehicle while incorporating innovative materials and construction to limit damage and fragmentation. Phase I will involve preliminary material investigations, prototype development and blast testing to obtain initial confirmation of utility.

Lightweight Structures Roadside Blast Protection Navy ArmorWorks, Inc. UCSD Jacobs, School of Engineering

Emerging Defense Technologies

20

The goal of this STTR Phase I program is to develop lightweight and volumetricallyefficient structures that can be applied to the underbody and sides of lightweight tactical vehicles such as the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) or MineResistant Ambush Vehicle (MRAP).

The design will meet the weight goal to be less than 10 lb/ft2, and to reduce the amount of blast impulse or blast energy transmitted to the crew compartment by at least 30 percent compared to a monolithic metallic armor plate with the same areal density. The design success will be proved through laboratory blast tests.

Structural Blast Energy Absorber Navy Cornerstone Research Group, Inc. NM Institute of Mining & Technology

Light, maneuverable, fast and fully protected vehicles are needed on today’’s battlefields. In a field of operations, US military vehicles often encounter landmines, improvised explosive devises (IEDs), and other explosive threats towards the underside and sides of the vehicle. These threats, unfortunately, can contribute to warfighter casualties. Military vehicles, therefore, require adequate protection in these activities.

Current technologies do not afford the exceptional level of blast protection that the Navy desires. Steel armor plates are inexpensive, but extremely heavy, adding thousands of pounds to light vehicles. The extra load makes the vehicles heavy, difficult to maneuver and difficult to transport by sea or airlift.

The extra weight also wears heavily on these vehicles, causing premature engine and transmission failures, as well as suspension and brake problems. The desired solution must provide structural load support and mitigate the blast energy, while at the same time contribute less weight and/or space.

In Phase I CRG will demonstrate the technical feasibility of a high-performance, light-weight structural blast energy absorber made from CRG’s blast-resistant materials.

The effort will design and test the structural blast energy absorber and develop processing techniques to fabricate the proof-of-concept device.

U-BASE: Fully Autonomous Basing Platform for Unmanned Systems Navy

Emerging Defense Technologies

Infoscitex Corporation Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Infoscitex proposes to develop U-BASE, a platform enabling fully autonomous operation of unmanned systems for multiple missions and extended durations. U-BASE integrates autonomous recovery, refuel and launch of UAV’s into a single system. The technologies employed by U-BASE are applicable to a range of unmanned systems, making it a highly versatile enabler of unmanned operations.

The recovery mechanism is based on demonstrated technology to recover UAV’s directly onto a ground platform. The automated refueling system will be designed by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). RPI will adapt automation technologies that it has successfully inserted into industrial manufacturing lines, using a sensing and control system specially designed to handle the greater uncertainty inherent in the military environment. The launch system will use existing pneumatic launch technology adapted for platform integration.

In Phase I, the launch, recovery and refueling components will be designed, and an integrated system architecture will be defined.

In Phase II, field testing of functional subsystems will occur, with progression to a flight demonstration of full turn-around. The system design is capable of integration into many platforms of interest, including trailers, ground vehicles and sea platforms.

Blast Protection Panels Optimized for Automated Production Navy

December 2009

KaZaK Composites Incorporated University of Denver Research Institute

KaZaK will develop blast protection panels optimized for automated production.

Sandwich construction allows stable crushing under pressure to mitigate transferred impulse and acceleration spectra to a vehicle exposed to a landmine or IED blast.

There are many types of sandwich core materials and constructions that could be used, several options for face sheet materials, several methods of combining these materials, and attaching this assembly to a vehicle.

The KaZaK team will use their experience in designing blast protection panels, developing analytical design tools, experience in large scale low-cost automated manufacturing, and experience in blast testing, to design a cost- and weight-efficient panel that can be efficiently produced in quantity for various vehicles.

The university partners will assist in developing and applying cost-effective testing techniques to rapidly evaluate prototype panels, and will assist in enhancing current design tools to include effects of changing shock-wave/structure interaction during the crushing process (which changes the net force applied to the exterior of the panel).

This team effort will result in a test procedure, a design tool, and two or three panel designs that will be tested and shown to meet weight goals, reduce impulse and acceleration-spectra transfer to the vehicle, and be cost effective in reasonable scale production.

Subscriber copies of Emerging Defense Technologies include contact details for each project in this article including contact individual and phone number. www.defense-house.com

December 2009

US 2010.1 SBIR Projects

21

The purpose of DoD’s small business innovation research program is to harness the innovative talents of US small technology companies for US military and economic strength. The DoD SBIR program, funded approximately $1.14 billion in FY 2008, is made up of 12 participating components: Army, Navy, Air Force, MDA, DARPA, CBD, USSOCOM, DTRA, NGA, DLA, Defense Microelectronics Activity and OSD. The SBIR program funds early-stage R&D at small technology companies.

ARMY PROJECTS Innovative Method to Correlate Sub-Scale to Full-Scale Insensitive Munition Tests PEO Missiles and Space

All munitions that contain energetic materials, such as propellants and warheads, are required to pass relevant Insensitive Munitions tests or obtain waivers from the Department of Defense Insensitive Munitions Board. These tests require full-up systems and are very expensive. A number of subscale tests, such as critical diameter, card gap, and burn-to-violent reaction tests, have been developed to screen energetic material that are being considered for application into a new system or as an upgrade to an existing munition. These tests are sometimes required to obtain an interim hazard classification and, eventually, a full Department of Transportation approval.

There has been little effort to correlate the results of these subscale tests, either using modeling or experiments, to full-scale tests.

Often, tests like critical diameter tests are required for safety or transportation purposes in a government publication without explaining how the results are used to approve or deny the request. This a high risk program because the subscale tests do not simulate large scale testing. The small scale tests only address one of a number of parameters that control sensitivity and safety. For instance, the Burn-to-Violent Reaction test is performed by shooting a bullet or fragment at a test device composed of two square samples with a propellant bonded to a missile’s case material and the propellant sides facing each other.

This determines the sensitivity to impact and shock, but does not represent a full-up missile motor that is circular, with a complex center perforation shape, and can allow pressure to increase.

A method to correlate the subscale and full-scale test results is needed to reduce cost and schedule for meeting insensitive munition requirements. Similarly, the other subscale tests only address one specific parameter and

not the motor as a whole. In addition, there has not been a large number of full-scale tests because of the huge expense; therefore, an empirical correlation is not practical. Teaming with a solid propellant motor manufacturer is recommended because of their experience and capabilities with sub-scale and full-scale tests. Such teaming, however, is not required. Contract Security Classification Specifications, DD Form 254 is required.

PHASE I: The physics that control IM test response will be studied and a set the key parameters that affect these tests will be proposed. The subscale tests be analyzed to determine which of these parameters they address, and then to determine if there is a fatal flaw in these subscale tests that prevent a correlation or a modification to a test that will eliminate or minimize that flaw. Data from the full-scale and subscale tests will be compared using the identified key parameters.

Phase I will require significant innovative and creative thinking.

A number of key issues will be identified that cannot be determined by standard tests and will be identified as technology gaps.

Phase I should be focused on minimum signature, Class 1.1 propellants. The Phase I deliverable will be a report that describes the physics that controls the IM tests, which parameters are being adequately addressed by the current subscale tests, and which need to have new tests developed.

PHASE II: New subscale tests will be developed to address the technology gaps identified in Phase I. The small business has the flexibility to delete a current test if it does not adequately address a parameter and will need creative thinking to develop these innovative new tests.

Current and newly developed subscale tests will be performed on currently deployed tactical missile systems and the resulting data will be used to assure that all of the critical parameters are fully characterized. The final task is to determine correlations between the subscale test results and those from full-scale tests. Phase II should address both Class 1.1 and 1.3 solid propellants.

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PHASE III: All Department of Defense Services should be very interested in this capability once it is demonstrated to be reliable, as would solid propellant manufacturers. This method will apply to propulsion, warhead, and other explosive applications. Other potential marketing targets would be the mine and road construction industries. To commercialize the results of this program, the method could be sold or leased to interested organizations (DoD, industry, mining/construction industries) or the small business could sell their services as a consultant to the same organization to aid in the development of new energetic systems.

Controllable Spectrum Infrared Source PEO Missiles and Space

Many of today’s most sophisticated missile sensors operate in environments with complex irradiance contributions. These contributions manifest themselves as either direct source illumination or diffuse background illumination. Missile systems are often required to handle all aspects of these optical effects, including stray light rejection, raised background levels and additional background noise contributions. Select sensor systems even require nominal operation while the solar disk is within the operational field-of-view.

State-of-the-art scene projector systems have historically addressed only the target/objects infrared thermal emissions. Direct and indirect irradiance of the unit-under-test have not been addressed outside of optical modeling codes. Efficient controllable infrared sources are needed to cover all IR contributions in a realistic spectral environment. The desired IR source should be efficient IR emitter that can cover many gaps that exist in IR emitter sources. The emitter intensity should be controllable with the minimum dynamic range of 8 bits, and center wavelength should be stable to less than 0.01 microns and the spectral width of less than 0.1 microns. The desired power output is greater than 200mW per 0.1 micron spectral width.

Emerging Defense Technologies

22 PHASE I: Explore the feasibility of developing a set of efficient NIR to LWIR sources that can be controlled in amplitude. Evaluate innovative approaches which may be used to build an integrated solution and perform trade-off analysis to determine the best approach. Develop a preliminary design for the NIR to LWIR simulator test set. Perform modeling and analysis to establish the proofof-principle and predict the performance specifications for the final system. Phase I report shall detail theoretical performance limits and possible methods to achieve desired performances.

PHASE II: Perform detailed design of the concept selected in Phase I, and fabricate one of more prototype NIR to LWIR IR sources for the simulator test set. Demonstrate an integrated solution and characterize its performance in an actual HWIL environment. Government furnished equipment items, such as stand-alone NIR pulsed laser projectors, can be used in the evaluation and testing of the proposed test set. Prototype emitters shall be developed under this effort which are compatible with HWIL facility use in size, energy consumption and safety.

PHASE III: Commercial applications for this technology are found in the medical, law enforcement, fire, automobile, security, and air craft industries. The select frequency, controllable IR sources developed under this topic would provide excellent sources for selectable frequency heating lamps, health and status monitor for medical imaging, and more efficient telecommunications transmitters.

Military applications for this technology include IR seeker testing, virtual training environment, and stealth IR illumination system.

Novel Propellant Formulations Containing Nano-particulates PEO Missiles and Space

There has been little recent success in formulating new propellants that have higher burning rates, and better physical and Insensitive Munition properties. One reason is that most of this work has been to vary the currently accepted propellant ingredients. Novel oxidizer, fuel, or binders are necessary to break out of this constraint. Nano-technology has been receiving significant attention in the last few years in all DoD components as well as other agencies because of their unique properties.

Emerging Defense Technologies

In past years, nano-sized ammonium perchlorate demonstrated a faster burning rate, but it also increased its sensitivity. Nanoparticulates have unique properties, such as huge surface area and potential attraction on a molecular level; therefore, they have the potential to increase burning rate, specific impulse, and/or physical properties. Ammonium perchlorate and ammonium nitrate are not of interest for this topic. No other restrictions are given on nano-particulate candidates. This topic relates to nitrocellulose/ nitramine minimum signature propellants; therefore, high concentrations of a metal would not be of interest because the resulting propellant would not meet minimum signature requirements. There have been problems with nano-particulates agglomerating and increasing viscosity during mixing processes in many applications; therefore, attention must be paid to how easily the nano-particulates are dispersed.

Also, nano-particulates can be health hazards, therefore, safe working practices are required. Creative approaches, both candidate nano-materials and/or their purpose)is desired, therefore, expamples of nano-particulates and how they are used are not given.

Due to the requirement to work with energetic materials, partnering with an established propulsion manufacturer is strongly suggested, but not required.

PHASE I: The list of potential candidate nano-particles identified in the proposal will be evaluated at a small scale to determine their compatibility with minimum signature propellant components. The cost of these materials is not an issue at this time because if a nano-particulate has promise, the price will decrease significantly when it is needed in large quantities. These nano-materials could be purchased commercially or synthesized by the proposer or their subcontractor.

These compatibility tests will be required as additional candidate materials are identified. Those candidates that are demonstrated to be compatible with the other propellant ingredients will be formulated on a small scale and characterized by Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Thermal Gravimetric Analysis, and burning rate. The results of these small scale tests will be evaluated and the burning rate exponent, n, obtained. Thermal chemical calculations will be performed to determine if the new formulations have the same or increased specific impulse. At least 4 nano-materials will be identified for further development and characterization in Phase II.

December 2009

PHASE II: The candidate formulations will be scaled up to sufficient size to determine stress, strain, and modulus of the propellants at temperatures between -40ºC and +65ºC. The temperature coefficient of burning rate at constant pressure, sp, and the temperature sensitivity of chamber pressure at constant area ratio, pk will be determined. Small motors, such as the Army standard 2” x 4” motors, that contain about a third of a pound of propellant, will be produced and tested to determine the pressure vs. time relationship.

Larger motors, which contain about 10 pounds of propellant will be produced and tested at temperatures between -40ºC and +65ºC to determine standard ballistic properties at larger size. The data from the candidate propellant formulation tests will be evaluated and one formulation will be selected to obtain thorough ballistic, mechanical, and physical property characterization.

PHASE III: A novel formulation with improved physical, mechanical, ballistic and safety properties will be of interest to all Department of Defense Services, the Missile Defense Agency, NASA, the Coast Guard, and private companies that provide satellite insertion and/or manned space flights. The commercialization of the product of this program will be greatly enhanced by partnering with a major solid propulsion company. Communication with missile prime contractors during Phase I and/or Phase II would also promote the insertion of this propellant into existing missile systems.

Missile Delivered UAV PEO Missiles and Space

ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) platforms delivered from missiles can potentially provide battlefield information that is only seconds old when transmitted from long ranges. This information is particularly valuable since it is so current. It provides the potential for striking a very mobile enemy before he has time to alter his position. In addition, it also offers the possibility of a deep strike by the platform itself.

Among the potential ISR platforms that have recently been proposed/developed/built are a large number of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and LAM (loiter-attack missile) concepts. Some of these concepts have the potential of being packaged in a missile and carried for long distances from their launch point. Obviously, the quicker the missile ar-

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December 2009 rives in the vicinity of the targets, the more valuable the information being transmitted to the war fighter for use in targeting the enemy and/or providing situational awareness and/ or providing battle damage information. The use of any existing components for this system obviously is important since the cost of the system is directly affected.

PHASE I: This solicitation seeks innovative concepts to deliver an ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) platform that reports back in near real-time and provides the possibility of a long-range strike mission at the end of the ISR mission. Technical approaches formulated in Phase-I shall place emphasis on minimization of the delay in providing battle field information and attacking the enemy target complex. Phase-I concept development shall include simulated fly-outs of the system to determine flight parameters of interest (area-time coverage, maximum and minimum range, dispense altitude, operational altitude, etc.) and, thus, establish the potential for Phase-II success.

PHASE II: The technical approach formulated in Phase-I will be developed and refined for full-scale flight simulation. The contractor shall pay particular attention to the dispense of the ISR platform from the missile accounting for any aero-propulsion interference between the platform and missile. The contractor will also pay particular attention to the missile proposed for delivery of the ISR system to insure there are no incompatibilities between the delivery mission and the original operational requirements of the missile (center-of-gravity, angle-of-attack, flight velocity, etc.). The critical flight phase of the concept shall be refined and the dispense of the ISR platform planned for a test in a full scale, Government owned ground test facility using instrumented tunnel models at a fidelity level deemed appropriate at that time. Tunnel time will be provided as GFE; tunnel models will be developed under Phase-II. PHASE III: If successful, the end result of this Phase-I/Phase-II research effort will be a validated concept and set of validated research tools for the dispense, by AMRDEC, of a ISR platform from a tactical missile. The transition of this product will require additional upgrades of the software tool set for a user-friendly environment along with the concurrent development of application specific data bases to include the required input parameters such as vehicle geometries, aerodynamic and aero-propulsion properties, and

23 performance parameters.

For military applications, this technology is directly applicable to the battle field awareness provided from UAVs and other ISR platforms. Currently, this information is near real-time and is not provided for any long range battle field situations. There are no known commercial applications for this technology at this time; however, it is conceivable that search/rescue and wild fire control operations that have a very short time line could benefit directly from this technology product.

The most likely customer and source of Government funding for Phase-III will be those service project offices responsible for the development of battle field situational awareness specifically using UAV ISR platforms. Indeed, the expansion of UAV capabilities and missions throughout the armed services continues as one of the most promising areas of research as evident in Reference 1 which forecasts a combined service and industry near term investment of over $20 billion.

tions have proven inadequate to the task as a predictive tool for these flows without the added complications of coupled jet-interaction and base flowfields.

Coupled Jet-Interaction Base Flow Simulation PEO Missiles and Space

Missile length = 1.55 m Missile diameter = 0.17778 m Hemispherical nose Jet centered at 0.0508 m from the aft end

Positioning jet-interaction control thrusters near the aft end of a missile for pitch control offers an inviting configuration for missile designs; however, experience has shown that the performance of such configurations may be disappointing in that the resultant pitching moment during flight may be considerably less than the moment calculated using static jet-interaction thrust. Intuition would suggest coupling of the jet-interaction and base flowfields in these situations but the flowfield physics of the phenomena are unknown along with those parameters—flight Mach number, jet-interaction thrust, base diameter, dynamic pressure, missile thrust to name but a few— which could limit the effect.

Both missile base flows and jet-interaction flowfields have proven difficult areas for computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technicques. The flow region, in each case, contains most of the complications of aerothermo-chemical problems including flow separation, two-phase gas/particle non-equilibrium, chemical kinetics, turbulent flow, and complex geometry. Often enough the stateof-the-art hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes/Large eddy simulation (RANS/LES) computational fluid dynamic (CFD) formula-

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PHASE I: Innovative solutions techniques are sought which can advance the state-ofthe-art for the prediction of the flowfield of a missile flying at low altitude (turbulent flow) during a guidance event in which a lateral jetinteration thruster flowfield located near the missile base couples with the missile base flowfield while accounting for the effects of incoming boundary layer, asymmetric body flows, arbitrary particle size/number densities at the combustor exit, and three-dimensional arbitrary geometry. The model shall be able to predict the flow separation environment, particle distribution fields, and resultant body forces/moments.

One meaningful demonstration will then be executed and a flow field solution produced with this advanced computational model during Phase-I. This demonstration shall model the simple case of a Mach 1.05, sea level, air flow over an axisymmetric cylindrical bodybase with jet-interaction thruster as follows:

With jet-interaction thruster properties as follows: H2 gas Constant specific heat ratio exhaust = 1.41 Constant molecular weight exhaust = 2.016 Stagnation temperature = 300 K Stagnation pressure = 17.0 MPa Exit radius = 7.985 mm Throat radius = 3.665 mm Conical nozzle with a 15 degree half-angle

The outcome of this test case will serve as a gauge to assess the potential for Phase-II success.

PHASE II: The physical model formulated in Phase I will be developed and refined using computational fluid dynamics to evaluate jet-interaction base flow coupling over a broad range of missile and thruster parameters of interest. Additionally, this advanced computational fluid dynamics model will be run blind for a supersonic jet-interaction test case for which detailed flowfield data will be available to demonstrate the advanced capabilities for analyzing and modeling coupled

Emerging Defense Technologies

24 jet-interaction base flow regions.

PHASE III: If successful, the end result of this Phase-I/Phase-II research effort will be a validated predictive model for the analysis of missile designs which employ jet-interaction control thrusters near the aft end for pitch control. The transition of this product, a validated research tool, to an operational capability will require additional upgrades of the software tool set for a user-friendly environment along with the concurrent development of application specific data bases to include the required input parameters such as missile geometries, solid rocket motor properties, jet-interaction thruster properties, and performance parameters.

For military applications, this technology is directly applicable to all rocket propulsion missile systems. The most likely customer and source of Government funding for Phase-III will be those service project offices responsible for the development of advanced missile concepts such as the KEAPS, KEI, and PAC-3 programs.

For commercial applications, this technology is directly applicable to all commercial launch systems such as the NASA Aries, and the Delta and Atlas families.

Synthesis of Sulfide Nanopowders for Durable Optical Ceramics PEO Missiles and Space

Multimode sensors are being employed on missiles to maximize their modes of operation and target engagement. The dome or window used to protect the internal components must be transparent to all sensed wavelengths of the internal sensors. Very few materials are sufficiently transparent at both the semi-active laser wavelengths and long-wave infrared wavelengths (8-12 microns). The current benchmark material is multispectral ZnS, but it lacks the physical durability to survive in severe rain, sand, or shock environments. It has been demonstrated that reducing the grain size in oxide ceramic materials can improve mechanical properties. Long-wave infrared transmitting materials also should greatly benefit from reduced grain size.

Optical nanomaterials enable a new way of optimizing the mechanical properties without sacrificing optical properties.

For long-wave infrared applications, sulfide based nanomaterials are required. The wavelengths of interest in these materials are

Emerging Defense Technologies

visible through LWIR. In order to fabricate nanocrystalline sulfide optical ceramics using suitable powder consolidation techniques, extremely fine, pure sulfide powders with narrow powder size distribution are required.

The powders must be minimally agglomerated, have an average particle diameter of 35 nm to 50 nm with no more that 10% less than 10 nm and no more than 10% greater than 70nm, and a maximum particle diameter of 100 nm.

Spherical powders are more desirable than powders having higher aspect ratios. The sintering characteristics and optical properties of ceramic powders are highly influenced by residual impurity levels. It is desirable to synthesize nanosized sulfide powders with minimum impurity content. The target sulfide purity is 99.99%. Impurities must be less than 10 ppm oxygen, less than 10 ppm carbon, and impurity transition metals less than detectable levels by GDMS. It is also desirable that the powders remains free flowing, resistant to agglomeration, and have good sintering kinetics.

The Army is seeking the following: (1) inexpensive, robust, and scalable method(s) for synthesizing nanosized (i.e., 10 – 100 nm) high purity sulfide powder with the characteristics described above; and (2) an inexpensive, robust, and scalable method to mass produce the nanosized sulfide powders.

The process must produce repeatable powder characteristics such as particle size, chemical properties, and physical characteristics.

The cost goal for this effort is less than $500/ kg. The Additionally, suitable doping and/or anti-agglomeration agent(s) that may be used to suppress excessive grain growth during powder consolidation processing and/or to prevent inter particle agglomeration prior to powder compacting process may be needed.

It is highly desirable that these agent(s) do not negatively affect the material properties of the densified ceramics.

PHASE I: Develop and/or demonstrate method(s) for synthesizing nanometer sized pure sulfide powders to include zinc sulfide and one other metal sulfide. Powders must meet the specifications described above. Develop an overall process design specification with particular attention to cost and scalability. The supplier must demonstrate the production of at least 1 kg of each material in a single batch and must show a path for reducing costs to the <$500/kg goal.

PHASE II: Build and demonstrate a prototype process to synthesize the nanometer sized

December 2009

pure sulfide powders developed in Phase I. Demonstrate synthesis rates between 2-10 kilograms per day at the prototype scale while meeting purity, particle size, and uniform size distribution goals described above. Refine the method(s) if required. Extend the synthesis process capability to other sulfide powder compositions.

PHASE III: Refine and scale the powder synthesis process developed in Phase II for use in a commercial ceramics processing environment while maintaining the desired purity, particle size, and size distribution. The ability to produce pure nanoparticle sulfide powders will lead to more durable materials for long-wave infrared dome and window applications. Commercial applications may include security and surveillance, rugged infrared imagers for police, firefighters and first responders, industrial inspection systems, and biomedical imaging including endoscopy. The Army, along with other branches of service, is interested in using these materials for missile and sensor window applications.

These materials could potentially be used by the military in surveillance, robotic vision, and medical applications as well.

Intelligent Agents for Improved Sensor Deployment and Surveillance

Increasingly complex operating areas such as fielded systems, and, the maritime domain, require an ever growing number and variety of sensors to provide adequate situational awareness in support of the detection of conventional and asymmetric threats. Intelligent agents have the potential to be applied to this mission, providing both analysis to optimize initial deployment, and, real-time monitoring to recommend changes in the sensors as a function of operational status, changing environmental conditions, or, updated mission priorities. Innovative approaches are sought for the design, development, and, employment, of intelligent agents in support of broad spectrum, multiple sensor systems that optimize sensor deployment and provide real-time recommendations for reconfiguration in response to changing conditions.

PHASE I: Perform design study to formulate innovative technical approaches to apply intelligent agents to a multiple sensor system suitable for use to support sensor deployment and reconfiguration in response to changing conditions. Complete an intelligent agent de-

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December 2009 sign concept and demonstrate through modeling analysis that it meets the requirements of improved situational awareness.

PHASE II: Use the results of the design concept generated in Phase I to develop a detailed software model of a multiple sensor system. The model should include sensor performance, sensor status, environmental, and geographical detail. Implement the intelligent agents as part of the model and perform a demonstration to validate that the approach improves situational awareness in response to changing environmental, sensor, or mission conditions.

PHASE III: Implement the intelligent agents as part of the DCGS-A/JUMPS sensor suite and deploy the system for test and evaluation.

Potential applications include harbormaster command and control center (HCCC) where intelligent agents for sensor deployment can be used to improve surveillance contributing to enhanced situational awareness in support of port security operations and the Army Corps of Engineers where intelligent agents can be employed to secure critical national waterways with key infrastructure including locks and dams.

Advanced Molded Glass Lenses

The manufacture of refractive and diffractive optical surfaces in glass traditionally use widely different processes since the surface characteristics and specifications are so diverse. Refractive optical surfaces can be formed in glass by both traditional and CNC polishing methods, while diffractive surfaces have been produced by etching methods developed for the semiconductor industry.

Therefore for glass optics, these surfaces have been created on separate components, increasing the cost and weight of the overall system. Yet by use of the glass molding process, both diffractive and refractive surfaces may be formed on a single optic, thereby reducing cost and increasing optical efficiency.

Glass molding technology affords optics manufacturers the ability to accurately and consistently replicate an optical surface. Development of process understanding and the ability to replicate diffractive surfaces with glass molding methods are fundamental to the advancement of this technology and the delivery of lower cost optics of consistently high quality.

Improvements in the glass molding pro-

25 cess are also possible in the areas expanded product size offerings. The greatest impediment to molding large optics (greater than 60mm diameter) is the management of thermal gradients that form in the glass during molding. Errors induced during the high temperature molding process are evidenced by deviations in actual surface figure from the designed surface (low frequency surface variations) and surface roughness (high frequency variations in the optical surface).

Performance improvements such as reduced scatter and improved wave front will result in lower energy loss for the optical system and improved visual acuity for the soldier.

The goals of this effort are to advance the state of the art of molding glass optical elements by improved techniques, modeling, tooling, etc. that enable the fabrication of large element aspheric and diffractive and other complex surface of up to 100mm in diameter.

PHASE I: Determine the physical limitations of molding diffractive surfaces, determine glass types that support the creation of diffractive surfaces, and determine the availability of current modeling software to predict molded diffraction efficiency. Identify methods for creating larger diameter optical elements that will be able to meet the same quality control levels as ground and polished optics. Identify processes and tooling with will be required to fabricate components in Phase II. PHASE II: Fabricate necessary tooling, machinery, and modeling software to create large diameter molded glass optics, diffractive optics, asphero-diffractive optics, and large diameter asphero-diffractive elements.

Based on limitations from phase I, produce multiple optical elements to be evaluated and tested within to demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of the newly developed technologies.

PHASE III: Fabrication of molded elements for military systems to demonstrate ability to meet performance requirements of large element and diffractive elements that are traditionally fabricated by other means. Transistion of this technology would be through optics fabricators that produce optics for military use as well as commercial use including camera lenses, binoculars, scopes, etc.

Lightweight, Wide Field-Of-View Waveguided Head-mounted Display

Today’s soldiers often find themselves in

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environments that require greater situational awareness than can be provided by current individual low-light level and thermal systems.

In order to meet these needs, the United States Army is launching an aggressive effort to find innovative solutions that will provide soldiers with a wide field of view (WFOV) head mounted display that can provide the soldier with information from sensors on or near the soldier, as well as from a communication link with a larger network.

In order to optimize mobility, the soldier needs an unobtrusive system. The weight, profile and center of gravity must be minimal and compatible with the soldier’s headgear, both current and future. In order to maintain situational awareness, the display must have a see-through capability. The soldier of the future will carry a large amount of equipment. Many of the systems will require power. Therefore, in order to make this concept feasible, the HMD needs to be both power and cost efficient.

Currently developed head-mounted display technologies based on optical waveguides have shown the capability to deliver information to the soldier in a package that meets many of their requirements. However, the available technologies have limited fieldsof-view and have demonstrated difficulty in progressing to the Army’s desired field of view specifications of 60 degrees threshold with an eventual target of 80 degrees. The Army is looking for innovative approaches to waveguide HMDs that can leverage the advantages of the technology while meeting these challenging FOV requirements. Also, as the field of view grows while the eye relief is maintained, the necessary size of the eyepiece will also increase. Therefore, in order to reduce the weight of the system, the technology needs to be effective on a plastic substrate as well as glass.

The army is seeking a waveguide eyepiece that will deliver an 80 degree circular field of view, or an 80 (H) x 64 (V) degree minimum rectangular field of view, with no less than SVGA resolution. The system shall utilize a plastic substrate with a see-through capability. In order to be compatible with the soldier’s protective gear the system shall provide an eye relief of 25 mm and an eye motion box of at least 10mm. The system shall provide a dynamic grayscale of 100:1. The system shall provide a low profile of less than 1.5 inches to the soldiers’ head. Stray light and light security is also a crucial issue, and the system should not allow light to “leak” from the waveguide in any unintended direction. The system can be either monocular or

Emerging Defense Technologies

26 binocular.

PHASE I: Develop and present the design concept for a system that achieves a minimum of a 50 degree field of view. Develop and provide a physical demonstration for the enabling technologies characteristic to the system. A video card and/or device driver shall be included if necessary for the operation of the system. Projected paths that lead to meeting phase II requirements shall be provided.

PHASE II: Develop and deliver a hardware demonstrator for a wave-guided head-mounted display system that meets all requirements stated in the topic description. The system will have at a minimum a SXGA display with a 15-pin VGA connector and RS171 connection.

PHASE III: Development of a ruggedized system suitable for military head-mounted display applications such as use by aviators and dismounted infantry and establishing potential for the head-mounted display (HMD) technology in dual use applications in commercially available systems. This technology would be directly applicable to upgrading the performance of rotary wing vision systems (such as the Apache MPNVS) as the HMD is currently the limiting component of the system. This technology would also be applicable to dismounted soldier vision systems such as ENVG-D. Potential commercial applications for HMDs include the medical and the entertainment/gaming industries as a commercial aviation.

Untethered Real Time Low Cost Head Tracking

Recent efforts to provide enhanced situational awareness via Distributed Aperture Systems (DAS) have enabled a new capability for users to have individual views of the outside world as opposed to a single view provided from a gimbal sensor. This capability requires that each user provide unique five dimensional coordinate inputs to the system in order to view the correct sensor imagery.

Furthermore, the DAS systems are providing imagery to vehicle crew members that are required move around within the vehicle to achieve their mission. It is also expected that the environment that the crew is operating in will change frequently as a part of their mission which may be to carrying supplies to

Emerging Defense Technologies

a location for dropoff or pickup cargo from a location. This frequently changing environment requires that the head tracking technology to be both un-tethered and insensitive to environmental changes to allow information to transfer from the DAS to the user seamlessly.

PHASE I: Design a head tracking system that will allow for multiple users to operate within the same volume un-tethered and provide unique five dimensional coordinate information for each. The threshold operational zone is 6’ x 8’x4’. The design will allow users to exit and re-enter the operating volume and have tracking information update upon reentry without user initiation. Provide analysis to show the system meets the following threshold performance parameters: latency - 16msec, angular pointing accuracy – 1 degree, positional accuracy -1 inch. Provide analysis of multiple user environment and how the system performance would be affected. Provide system level cost analysis per user. Provide analysis of the signature(s) created by the tracking system that could be a liability in a military operating environment.

PHASE II: Develop prototype based on Phase I design that will allow two users to operate un-tethered in the same volume demonstrating real time five dimensional coordinate tracking. Demonstrate the systems’ insensitivity to user environmental changes for both removal and placement of ferrous and non ferrous items sufficiently large to change the walking paths with operating volume. Characterize system latency and accuracy for five dimensional coordinates. Characterize power needed for un-tethered user borne portion of the tracking system and total system power.

PHASE III: Development of a head track system that interfaces with a distributed aperture system under development in an Army program such as (Objective Pilotage for Utility and Lift) or a gimbal sensor system. Other applications include control of unmanned ground/air vehicles gimbal sensors for remote viewing.

Potential commercial applications for this technology include the interactive gaming market which requires motion capture to control character motion of the game.

Real-Time Vis-SWIR Multispectral Sensor for Day / Night Operations

From buried land mine detection to ba-

December 2009

sic chemical analysis, the possible applications for spectral imagery are just beginning to be explored. Thus far, several prototype spectral systems have been produced, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. This project will focus on the creation of a realtime Vis-SWIR multispectral sensor capable of day and night operation. By providing one or all functions of imaging, spectral and temporal data, a single reconnaissance sensor system can support automated counter mine algorithms, aided target cuing, Aided Target Recognition (AiTR) of difficult targets, and anomaly detection and identification in complex/urban areas with day / night capability..

This will enable the warfighter to surgically attack foes and provide spectral analysis of potential threat areas for counter CCCDD.

The objective of this SBIR is to develop a compact SWIR or Vis-SWIR multispectral sensor capable of both daytime and nighttime real time operations. This primary use for this sensor will be in the areas of anomaly detection, countermine research, and camouflage concealment and detection. Targets will be located at relatively close range (< 1km). The sensor must be adaptable to either ground to ground operations or low altitude aerial surveillance operations. In daytime operation, the sensor should have at least eight spectral bands, with 16-20 being preferred. The sensor must have the ability to acquire spectral information from 950 nm to 1700 nm. In addition, an enhanced spectral coverage of 550 nm to 1700 nm is preferable, even if the performance in the extended wavelength range is slightly degraded. All spectral bands should be acquired simultaneously, while maintaining as fine of a spatial resolution as possible.

The sensor should also have the ability to change IFOV through the use of different fore-optics. An example would be a near field of view with an IFOV of 1.0 mrad, and a far field of view with an IFOV of 0.2 mrad.

The sensor shall have the ability to acquire data at night through the use of an illuminator, or a set of illuminators. If necessary, the nighttime spectral resolution may be reduced to a minimum of no fewer than three bands, with one band in each of the SWIR atmospheric windows. The standard nighttime illumination operation should not be detectable to visible sensors. The illumination should enable nighttime operations at a minimum of 200m, with operations out to 1 km preferred. The illumination should take into consideration standard eye safety requirements.

The sensor should have a display capable of identifying targets of interest in real time in

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December 2009 a method that does not confuse the user. The control software should include the ability to perform standard COTS spectral processing routines, such as Spectral Angle Mapping, Endmember collection, and Principal Components Rotation, Anomaly detection, as well as display standard false color three band images. In addition, the software should have the ability to have additional user-defined algorithms read in for real-time processing as operational requirements change.

The sensor should have the ability to save full daytime or nighttime multispectral data for offline analysis that is tagged with meta information such as time, GPS, pointing direction, and meteorological information â&#x20AC;&#x201C; although it is not necessary to include GPS, pointing, etc. as an integral part of the sensor. In addition, the user should have the option of saving the real time target detection information. Finally, the sensor and its supporting hardware should be man portable and not physically extended or overly heavy.

PHASE I: Design and demonstrate by analysis a new SWIR or Vis-SWIR multispectral sensor. Determine physical and performance specifications of the sensor such as: spectral range and resolution, field of view, and amount of background radiation emitted to the system. If the component contains optical elements, determine by analysis the amount of distortion (chromatic, keystone, curvilinear, coma, etc.) present in the design.

If the design incorporates an FPA, include estimates for the NEP, signal to noise ratio, and spectral crosstalk if applicable. The cost estimates shall include the projected cost of a full imaging system. Comparison of proposed approach with existing technology is highly desirable.

PHASE II: Build, demonstrate, and deliver the multispectral sensor. Prior to delivery, characterize the performance of the system and compare the results to the design calculations performed in Phase I. PHASE III: Potential applications include sensors for urban warfare, threat analysis, land mind detection, chemical analysis, monitoring of terrestrial and atmospheric conditions, and the ability to discriminate between man made and naturally occurring materials.

The ability to spectrally and temporally view a scene will also allow near real-time Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) and Threat detection/identification/location. The ability to scan an area multi/hyper-spectrally would allow advanced algorithms to locate hard to

27 find CCCDD targets and mine threats. This will greatly enhance the reconnaissance capability of the existing system without loss of current functionality. All reconnaissance systems would greatly be enhanced by the ability take advantage of potential unique spectral/ temporal target signatures. Commercial applications include the potential to provide inexpensive spectral sensors for geological, soil and crop analysis as well as potential stand off chemical analysis.

Improved Methods of Explosively Disseminating Bi-Spectral Obscurant Materials

Currently infrared and visible grenades employ high explosives configured as a center burster to disseminate metal flakes and non-metallic spherical powders. It is believed that obscurant material performance is degraded when disseminated by this configuration. Lower performance is attributed to either from particles being agglomerated during the densely packing process, or being damaged during the explosive dissemination process. From past research it has been determined that conducting, flake-shaped anisotropic particles are ideal for infrared obscurants while spherical shaped particles are ideal for visible obscurants.

According to theoretical modeling by Janon Embury (see reference #6 below), ideal infrared obscuring metal flakes will have major dimensions between 5 to 10ums with a minor dimension between 50-100nm.

Ideal visible obscuring non-metallic flakes will have optimum dimensions at 250nm in diameter. Current standard materials that are readily available do not achieve ideal limits.

PHASE I: Army Edgewood Chemical and Biological Command (ECBC) will provide two standard obscuring materials of brass flakes (infrared) and TiO2 (visible) particles. These materials are defined as EA-B-1341 brass flakes by US Bronze and CR470 by Millimen. The properties of these standard materials are not ideal, but are currently available.

For example, EA-B-1341 flake thickness is 200 to 400nm (minor dimension) and a major dimension of 30-40um. The spherical particle size of CR470 is 0.5 to 1um. In addition to the standard materials, Army ECBC will provide newly developed experimental materials consisting of copper (infrared) and carbon black (visible) materials. Flake thickness for the copper approaches 100nm

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and new carbon black particle sizes approach 0.5um diameter.

With these four materials, the contractor shall: 1) develop a small laboratory scale process to combine infrared and visible materials into a center buster container at approximately 100cc volume; 2) research and investigate ways to inter pack different shaped materials to obtain maximum packing density while reducing agglomeration of individual particles; 3) investigate ways to reduce agglomeration by adding non-binding agents; 4) research the effects of various fill to burster ratios to maximize extinction and yield of the device and to see how this effects the two different materials; 5) investigate improvements on device geometries, for example, any improvements of cylindrical verses round shaped devices.

The use of particle packing models is encouraged to predict the most effective particle mixing rules. Several models are available in the literature. Modeling with appropriate methodology is encouraged to predict sizes of aerosol clouds, pressures, stresses and heat exposures to obscurant materials for damage estimates. Aerosol optical tests will need to be performed to determine visible and infrared screening performance. Some in process testing should be done at ECBC to confirm contractor results. Final testing will be verified and performed at ECBC. The contractor should be able to deliver at least 10 devices at the end of Phase I effort. Since the Phase 1 effort is time constrained, this effort should be limited to one type of explosive, perhaps similar to RDX used in the current M76 grenades.

PHASE II: For this effort, the contractor will be required to obtain all necessary materials needed for this effort. Phase II will be a two fold process. With the best performing devices determined in Phase I, investigate the effects of scaling-up to full size grenades.

Two current full size grenade geometries are of interest. First is a hand held M106 (FOG) grenade with an approximate volume of 200cc. The second is a vehicle launchable M76 grenade with an approximate volume of 400cc. First attempts at optimization should be to maintain the current geometries of the existing grenades. Research should be conducted to determine if the parameters are linearly scalable to maintain optimum extinction and yield performance.

Past research efforts have indicated that the larger explosive charges needed with larger devices tend to lower the performance of infrared and visible grenades. Some research should be carried out to determine if the cur-

Emerging Defense Technologies

28 rent size grenades are indeed optimum for a bispectral material fill. And if not, how much degradation in performance will be expected to maintain existing grenade geometries from the optimum. Methodologies in testing and evaluation should be developed along side ECBC researchers. An in-process testing schedule should be set up with ECBC chamber support personal. Second part of Phase II will be to investigate the development of a single, bispectrial material.

This effort should be concurrent with the Phase II scale-up of existing materials so the initial packing and dissemination studies similar to Phase I can be carried out.

Determine if the same optimization and agglomeration reduction strategies used for the two part mix packed materials are similar to a single packed material. Determine which material packing strategies and fill to burster ratios yields the most effective devices using the ECBC developed Grenade Figure of Merit formula. Side note on material development for Phase II efforts: For maximum effectiveness in the visible, theory suggest that you need monodispersed spherical particles. Since this is generally not practical, the best performing materials will have very narrow size distribution. Experimental materials that have performed well in the past will have D10 of better than 0.1, D50 at 0.25 and D90 less than 0.4. For infrared materials, major flake dimension should not exceed 5um, and minor dimensions as low as 10nm.

PHASE III: This product is a device that can be integrated into current military obscurant applications. Bispectral devices are needed to reduce current logistics burden in needing to carry two devices to protect the soldier and his equipment. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) shielding, vehicle parts and combat uniforms will all benefit from agglomeration reduction processes. New military application would be infrared threat sensor countermeasures. Industrial applications for optimized mixed packing research include electronics, fuel cells/batteries, and solar energy.

Innovative and Novel Concepts for EyeSafe Wavelength High Power Fiber Lasers for Increased Performance PEO Missiles and Space

While it has been determined that high energy lasers can provide a tremendous benefit to the army for area protection against rockets, artillery, and mortars (RAM) and

Emerging Defense Technologies

other potential threats, there is concern about current Nd:YAG based high energy laser systems potentially causing collateral eye damage due to scatter off of target surfaces. This SBIR topic focuses on develop of innovative technologies for high power lasers that operate at reduced eye hazard wavelengths thus reducing the potential for collateral eye damage due to scattering off of target surface while still have good atmospheric propagation and target lethality properties.

This topic is to directly address areas to increase the overall laser performance of solid state lasers in the 1.5um to 2.1um wavelength range. Good atmospheric propagation and target lethality will provide constraints to allowable wavelengths and required beam quality. The proposed architectures and technologies should support propagation of the laser beam for several kilometers while have a reasonable spots size and support coupling the laser energy into military relevant targets.

As the mission sets expand for high power laser devices the risk will increase for the potential of collateral eye damage. Early investment in technology that supports efficient, compact, reduced eye hazard wavelength, high power laser research is critical.

The purpose of this SBIR is to investigate through laboratory experiments and modeling and simulation and building a scalable prototype in phase III, the potential of high power, reduced eye hazard, lasers to exceed 75kW of average power in a full power system configuration. The proposal should address such items as potential scalability to greater than 100kW class devices, output laser beam quality, run times, efficiencies, and packaging flexibility to include either volume and weight benefits or constraints. The proposed laboratory experiments must have consistent energy density as would a full power laser device.

PHASE I: Conduct research, analysis, and studies on the selected laser architecture and develop measures of performance potential and document results in a final report. Provide analysis supporting the reduced collateral eye-damage claim. The Phase I effort should include modeling and simulation results supporting performance claims. The effort should also produce a preliminary concept and a draft testing methodology that can be used demonstrate the laser system components proposed during the Phase II effort.

PHASE II: During Phase II, a laser system concept design will be completed and selected components will be developed and tested to help verify the design concept. The

December 2009

data, reports, and tested component hardware will be delivered to the government upon the completion of the Phase II effort.

PHASE III: There are many potential applications of a reduced eye hazard wavelength high energy laser. Commercial and Military applications include laser remote sensing, laser communication, material processing, and remote target destruction. Industrial high-power applications of high-power solidstate lasers include welding, drilling, cutting, marking, and micro-processing. High energy DoD laser weapons offer benefits of graduated lethality, rapid deployment to counter time-sensitive targets, and the ability to deliver significant force either at great distance or to nearby threats with high accuracy for minimal collateral damage.

Laser weapons for combat range from very high power devices for air defense to detect, track, and destroy incoming rockets, artillery, and mortars to modest power devices to reduce the usefulness of enemy electrooptic sensors. Building and testing a scalable reduce eye hazard wavelength high energy laser breadboard device based on the phase II design with a near diffraction limited beam quality and high efficiency will be the goal in a phase III effort. This phase III breadboard would demonstrate the ability to remotely destroy targets for the CRAM mission. Military funding for this phase III effort would be executed by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Technical Center as part of its Directed Energy research.

Flux Compression Generators PEO Missiles and Space

The US Army has programs that require very compact explosive driven power supplies. One such power supply is the Flux Compression Generator (FCG). Flux compression generators convert the chemical energy of explosives into electrical energy by compressing a magnetic field. The main advantage of FCGs is that they are relatively small and can fit into platforms of interest, unlike more conventional power supplies such as battery powered Marx generators.

However, as the size of FCGs decrease, they tend to have higher losses due, in part, to size and tolerance scaling.

However, it may be possible to take advantage of this tendency for higher losses to couple part of this loss energy out as broadband Radio Frequency (RF) energy. There-

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December 2009 fore, the Army is seeking innovative approaches for converting energy typically loss due to such mechanisms as resistive heating and flux trapping into useful RF energy. The FCGs currently of interest, but not limited to, are those that fit into small geometrical spaces; i.e., less than 1.5 inches (40 mm) in diameter and 1 inch (25 mm) in length.

PHASE I: Design and develop new methods for coupling loss energy out of small FCGs as an electromagnetic pulsed and design and conduct proof-of-principle demonstrations 1) to verify that the these energy conversion methods are feasible and 2) to assess their utility in producing radiated RF energy.

PHASE II: Design, build, and test compact efficient FCGs, verify that they can efficiently convert loss energy into RF energy, and verify that they can meet the size requirements of a platform with a diameter as small as one inch.

Address implementation and manufacturing issues by working with the various government laboratories and contractors developing munitions for the Army.

PHASE III: FCGs are applicable to multiple military and commercial applications requiring pulsed power. These include advanced munitions, expendable RF sources for sensors, portable water purification units, portable nondestructive testing systems, portable lightning simulators, portable X-ray sources for monitoring explosive events, portable neutron sources for inspecting shipping containers, burst communications and telemetry, and oil and mineral exploration. Since several government labs and prime contractors are developing advanced munitions, the contractor will need to develop a business plan for working with these agencies and companies.

Electromagnetic Attack Detector PEO Missiles and Space

High power microwave (HPM) and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) technologies have matured to the point that they are being deployed as electromagnetic weapons using a number of delivery techniques. Modern military and civilian systems with unprotected electronic equipment can be rendered useless

by EMP and HPM attack. These weapons can cause a wide range of effects ranging from temporary upset to permanent failure, and it is impossible to determine that an electromagnetic attack occurred or just a random

29 software/hardware failure.

The need exists for means to determine when electronic failures are random or are caused by EMP/HPM attack or environmental electromagnetic interference (EMI). In addition, if a system has been subject to electromagnetic interference, the detector should have the capability to store information on the irradiating pulse in terms of its temporal and frequency characteristics for after incident forensics. The system needs to either be broadband or consist of an array of detectors to cover the frequency band from 20 MHz to 10 GHz. It should be able to detect a broad range of power densities ranging from milliwatts per square centimeter to kilowatts per square centimeter. It should be as compact as current technology permits.

The system shuld include both the sensor technology required to detect the attack and the software required to discriminate an attack from electromagnetic interference. It should in its final embodiment include both a simplistic interface to alert for immediate action and a diagnostic interface to collect attack/incident data.

suites, missile batteries, and vehicles that they are under EMP/HPM attack or to determine when a field EMI/EMC issue exists.

Civilian applications include alerting Emergency Medical Services, police forces, power plants, communication nodes, banks, airports, public transient systems, and so on that they are under EMP/HPM attack. Due to the broad range of applications of this technology, the contractor should develop a working relationship with potential users and vendors of this technology.

NAVY PROJECTS Mitigation of Blast Injuries through Modeling and Simulation PEO-LS ACAT II

PHASE II: Based on the results and findings of Phase I, demonstrate the technology by fabricating and testing a prototype in a laboratory environment. Assemble a proofof-principle device and demonstrate the proposed technology and its ability to signal an attack warning and to identify the attacking pulseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s characteristics. Identify and address technological hurdles. The proposed development and demonstration should be limited to what can be demonstrated in a Phase II program and should identify the means necessary to transition the technology.

Military personnel riding in tactical wheeled vehicles, such as the mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) family of vehicles and the medium tactical vehicle replacement (MTVR) vehicle, continue to suffer from both death and serious bodily injury as a result of IED/mine explosions. In almost all cases, the event is from an encounter with a non-centerline IED/mine, generating a significantly complex blast load on the vehicle, seats, restraints, and ultimately the crew.

Design and development of safety components to mitigate these crew injuries requires a physics-based model able to account for both soil/structure interaction and gross vehicle response. Using the model developed, vehicle response and resulting load profiles on crew members will be generated and used to identify/select designs that enhance crew safety and mitigate injuries.

Existing engineering based personnel survivability models will then be used to verify the effectiveness of these newly designed safety components. This modeling and simulation activity will provide a capability that does not exist, providing an evaluation and validation tool to design safety components that save lives.

PHASE III: The end state of this technology would be a free standing piece of equipment with status lights to indicate if a threat existed or that EMI issues could be occurring. A diagnostic port would be included for advanced diagnostics and forensics.

This technology could be used in a broad range of military and commercial applications. Military applications include alerting radar sites, communication systems, sensor

PHASE I: The contractor will research the numbers, types, and severity of injuries sustained by military personnel embarked in MRAP, MTVR, and other vehicles. The contractor will develop the characteristics of these vehicles as well as the damage sustained from the IED/mine blast at the specified encounter geometry. The contractor will also select the basic modeling approach and algorithms from which the model will be de-

PHASE I: Conduct analytical and experimental efforts to demonstrate feasibility of designing an EMP/HPM attack warning detector. Proof-of-principle experiments with a brass board device must be conducted to determine if the detector can detect signals over a broad frequency band and if it can detect high power pulses.

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Emerging Defense Technologies

30 veloped. The preliminary model will be used to perform simulations against a particular threat type, size, and location and predictions analyzed using existing live fire test data such as floor, seat, wall, and roof accelerations.

ited to -25°F to +120°F, hot desert blowing sand, full salt water immersion and immersion in petroleum based liquids. The armor system must be able to be integrated into the existing EFV design.

PHASE II: The contractor will continue to refine the efforts initiated in Phase I. The contractor will develop and demonstrate the models’ ability to couple the vehicle-crew response to specific body regions of crew members, such as legs and head. Super Hybrid III Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) data will be used to verify model predictions. The contractor will also establish a model requirements standards document that will provide sufficient guidance to engineers as to the geometry and material property data required to run the code. The contractor will add the capability to the model initial mitigation design approaches such as padding, seating designs, and restraint systems.

PHASE I: The contractor shall conduct research into lightweight modular armor systems for use on the EFV, keeping in mind the environment in which those materials will be used. Based on their research, the contractor shall create a conceptual design including estimated weight, cost and performance characteristics.

PHASE III: The contractor will cooperate with MRAP, MTVR, and other tactical vehicle manufacturers, including commercial industry vendors, to obtain test data from vehicles utilizing new safety features or components. This data will be used to verify the models predicted reduction in crew injury and focus designers on the best areas for improvement. The contractor will continue to use the model to recommend additional potential design changes that enhance crew safety and reduce injuries.

Modular Lightweight Armor System Program Manager Advanced Amphibious Assault (PM AAA) ACAT-I

The Marine Corps EFV is a 78,200 lb. armored and tracked troop carrier designed to operate over harsh off-road terrain and in oceans and rivers. The EFV design is limited due to competing requirements: 1) high water speed, 2) combat effectiveness and carrying capacity, and 3) survivability.

The current armor system meets functional requirements, weight however is critical to an amphibious vehicle therefore a lighter solution (1 to 2 lb. per sqr. ft.) while maintaining or improving the current ballistic protection levels (14.5 mm AP @ 300 meters) is desired. The armor system should be applicable but not limited to the vehicle skirt. The selected armor system(s) must demonstrate the ability to function in extreme operating environments which include but are not lim-

Emerging Defense Technologies

PHASE II: The contractor shall manufacture a prototype armor panel(s) and conduct ballistic testing to validate their design meets EFV specified performance levels and characterize the performance. Due to the nature of this topic, the contractor must be ready to shift into a classified performance mode with cleared personnel and storage available.

PHASE III: The preferred transition is to contract with the prime vendor (General Dynamics Land Systems) to integrate the system onto the EFV. This technology is also directly applicable to large military vehicles such as the Army’s FCS.

Lightweight High Temperature Armor Program Manager Advanced Amphibious Assault (PM AAA) ACAT-I

For example, the Marine Corps EFV is a 78,200 lb. armored and tracked troop carrier designed to operate over harsh off-road terrain and in oceans and rivers. There are several areas of the vehicle where temperatures can exceed 500º F in the event of an exhaust failure. The current configuration is rated at 250° F without degradation in ballistic performance against 20mm FSP (Fragment Simulating Projectiles).

It is desired to increase the temperature tolerance of the composite material to compensate for possible exhaust gas exposure without degradation in ballistic performance. Materials should not produce toxic fumes, smoke or flame when exposed to high temperatures. The selected material(s) must demonstrate the ability to function in operating environments which include but are not limited to -25° F, hot desert blowing sand, full salt water immersion and immersion in petroleum based liquids. The composite must be able to be integrated into existing armor

December 2009

designs.

PHASE I: The contractor shall conduct research into composite materials that do not degrade from exposure to a temperature of 500º F for an extended period for use in engine compartments, keeping in mind the environment in which those materials will be used. Based on their research, the contractor shall create a conceptual design including estimated weight, cost and performance characteristics.

PHASE II: The contractor shall manufacture a prototype armor panel(s) and conduct ballistic testing to validate their design meets specified performance levels.

PHASE III: Contract with the prime vendor (General Dynamics Land Systems) to integrate the material onto the EFV. Contract with any vendor to integrate the material onto armored vehicles. This technology is directly applicable to any military vehicle.

Man Transportable Robotic System (MTRS) Remote Digger and Hammer Chisel PMS-408 Joint Service Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Man Transportable

Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) operators require the capability to dig into hard packed soil and break up concrete with the MTRS. The MTRS is the number one tool used by EOD operators in their mission to inspect and render safe ordnance and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on the battlefield. The digger/hammer/chisel is needed because opposing forces mask IEDs and ordnance in packed soil or concrete curbs, buildings, and barriers.

The remote digger and chisel tool must be suitable for use on the MTRS. There are two robots under government configuration control that are part of MTRS, the Robot, EOD, MK 1 MOD 0 and the Robot, EOD, MK 2 MOD 0. MTRS is based on two commercially available robotic systems, the iRobot Packbot and the Foster-Miller Talon. Currently, there is little difference physically between the commercial and government configuration controlled versions, but these differences are subject to change. The government will allow successful offerors limited access to the MTRS platforms based on priority and availability of the assets. Requesting companies should propose a universal solution that inter-

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December 2009 faces with either MTRS platform.

Currently EOD personnel use explosives to access IEDs concealed or buried in hard packed soils or concrete too hard for already available earth scraper tools to excavate. Using explosives is not ideal due to collateral damage inflicted on the surrounding area by the unearthing charge and/or the IED if detonated.

The innovation required is the design and development of a lightweight, robust, reliable impact tool suitable for use with the MTRS. The tool should be remotely activated by the robot operator via either MTRS operator control unit (OCU). The tool should universally interface with either MTRS platform, be easily removable at the user level, and negligibly affect the baseline performance of the MTRS.

The tool must be capable of unearthing buried ordnance and breaking up concrete within reach of the manipulators to expose concealed ordnance without causing the ordnance to detonate. The tool must generate the required force without damage to the MTRS. The design is bounded by the footprint of the MTRS and lift capacity of the manipulators.

The iRobot Packbot weighs approximately 60 lb. and the Foster-Miller Talon weighs approximately 120 lb. Both robots have a lift capacity of 15 lbs. at limited manipulator extension. The MTRS has a runtime requirement of two hours in a simulated operational scenario. The proposed tool must not degrade the runtime of the system below the two hour requirement.

Required power for the proposed tool could be provided by either a standalone power source mounted on the MTRS or pulled directly from the MTRS provided it still meets the runtime requirement. These severe platform restrictions are too severe for any available off the shelf solution and will require new innovative approaches to the problem. Additionally, the final design should accent manufacturability and identify mean time between failures.

PHASE I: Design and model a tool capable of being carried by the MTRS that enables remote digging into packed soil and breaking up of concrete.

PHASE II: Design, build, test, and rework the prototype tool to produce a reliable, robust 2nd generation prototype with manufacturability in mind. Deliver multiple tools to the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division (NAVEODTECHDIV) for system level test and evaluation.

31 PHASE III: Following successful T&E the final product would become an approved accessory for the MTRS and a fielding and support package would be formulated.

Dual Well Focal Plane Array (FPA) EMW FY11-01 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Precision Urban Mortar Attack (PUMA)

The current state of technology in FPA imaging systems has provided a number of technologies (silicon, InGAs, HgCdTe, and CMOS imagers) that are sensitive to near infra-red energy, making many of them useful for detecting laser energy at 1064nm. The problem with using a conventional imager to provide a see-spot capability for a laser designator system is that in order to capture the reflected laser pulse energy, the imager must be gated in time to coincide with the time of arrival of the reflected laser pulse from the target.

By gating the imager to â&#x20AC;&#x153;seeâ&#x20AC;? the laser spot and not allowing the charge wells to charge except when the laser return is expected, the imager sacrifices all surrounding video imagery. That is, the only thing that is often seen in the video frame is the laser spot itself. The resultant scene is often too dark to discern any details except for the spot because the charge wells within the FPA did not receive enough photons from the surrounding scenery to produce a useful image due to the limited gate time allotted to the laser pulse.

(The gate time of the laser is minimized to limit noise.) In order to overcome this phenomenon, the FPA could be gated sparingly to see some of the laser pulses and could operate as a passive imager the remainder of the time.

This approach sacrifices frame rate in the passive imager and sacrifices the ability to see each laser pulse. With a dual well FPA, one well (well A) could be gated at the laser pulse repetition rate while the other well (well B) could be operated in the passive mode for conventional imaging and a video processor could interleave the gated image with the passive image to produce a composite image that contained the background imagery as well as the laser pulse imagery.

PHASE I: Develop Dual Well FPA design that includes specification of technology employed, and estimates of cost.

PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate a prototype Dual Well FPA in a realistic environ-

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ment. Conduct testing with a laser designator system.

PHASE III: this technology is expected to transition to the PUMA FNC, and, if successful, may become part of a micro-pulsed laser designation system that is widely used within military applications.

Advanced Rail Materials for Electromagnetic Launchers ONR EM Railgun Innnovative Prototype

The US Navy is pursuing the development of an electromagnetic launcher (also known as a rail gun) for long range naval surface fire support. An electromagnetic launcher consists of two parallel electrical conductors, called rails, and a moving element, called the armature. Current is passed down one rail, through the armature, and back through the other rail. The armature is accelerated down the barrel due to the interaction between this magnetic field and current flow (Lorentz Force).

An electromagnetic rail gun (EMRG) system will accelerate projectiles to hypersonic speeds, enabling ranges beyond 200 NM in less than 6 minutes of flight time while traversing the atmospheric spectrum (endo-exoendo). The EMRG can address time-critical targets with a rate-of-fire of 6 to 10 rounds per minute while residual energy at target impact provides lethal effects. This operation occurs in an environment consisting of strong magnetic fields, high temperatures, chemical interactions and strong lateral forces on the rails and armature in the launcher bore.

A pair of electrically conductive rails act to transfer the power supply current down their length and through the moving armature creating an accelerating Lorentz force. These rails also provide lateral guidance to the armature. The face of this rail material must be able to withstand the severe mechanical, electrical, and thermal environment present in the bore of a high power electromagnetic launcher. This surface must be able to survive sliding electrical contact of an aluminum armature and polymer bore rider materials at velocities up to 2.5 km/sec, and possibly concurrent balloting loads.

In order to survive these conditions, the rail material must be electrically conductive to high currents approaching 6 MA, resistant to high transient temperatures, possess high hardness and yield strength and retain these properties after thermal transients, must ac-

Emerging Defense Technologies

32 commodate balloting loads, and survive exposure to molten armature metals. The material is required to resist thermal breakdown and interaction in the presence of plasma due to high current electrical arcing and shocked gas. The material must eventually be manufacturable as well as affordable for these dimensions. Alternatively, potential protective layers may be considered such as bonded claddings, jackets, surface coatings or treatments. For purposes of managing electrical current distribution and mechanical stresses, approaches that permit grading of material properties such as electrical conductivity, thermal expansion coefficient, elastic modulus near the sliding surface would be particularly attractive.

PHASE I: Develop a rail material/coating and process approach to manufacture electrically conductive bore materials. Conduct any necessary subscale tests needed to show that the proposed process is suitable for Phase II demonstration. Create sample rail coupons for static or small scale testing and verification, such as strength, erosion resistance, and conductivity versus temperature from ambient to 500 degrees C. PHASE II: Produce samples of electrically conductive rail materials of at least 1 m length that meet the needs of the EM launcher environment. Demonstrate that the material provides the required material property characteristics described above. Further develop and demonstrate the fabrication or joining processes for creating longer sections. Also demonstrate fabrication technology to create non-planar contact surfaces facing the bore.

Produce a prototype set of coupons 1 m long and of full rail cross section, for testing in a small scale EM launcher. The EM launcher test facility may be provided as government furnished asset, or via a teaming relationship with other EM launcher test sites. Potential test sites include various scale railguns operated by Universities and Defense contractors.

The results of testing may be classified. The Phase II product may become classified.

PHASE III: Develop process for full length (7-12 meters) rails with final design dimensions in other axes. The materials process developed by the Phase II effort will be applied to Navy railgun proof of concept demonstration and design efforts in the lab as well as industry advanced barrel contractors. Successful rail materials solutions will be installed in a weapon system on board ship upon transition to PEO IWS, PMS 405, ONR Program

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Office and integration with industry launcher manufacturers’ production weapon systems that will be sent to the fleet.

Counter Directed Energy Weapons (C- DEW) Navy Counter-Directed Energy Research S&T Program (ONR 35)

With improved performance in both high energy lasers (HEL) and high power microwaves, the susceptibility of weapons systems and their sensors used in seekers or targeting system are seen as potentially degraded in a war fighting environment when impacted with DEW effects. Recent interest in protection of unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV) and their sensor suites is of particular interest. As are similarly, manned systems where performance may be degraded due to concerns or encounters with threat directed energy weapons. Existing protection solutions are often taken on a case by case basis, and not cost effective or easily replicated/produced. In some cases, a limited capability may service many military requirements as well as service many commercial protection requirements— such as eye protection for laser welding systems or for sensors used in various reproduction industries. Therefore, innovations in small, lightweight, and efficient packaging for sensor protection (or electrical protection schemes for radar systems) that has a commercial analog or application is highly desirable.

Specifications for such an application are as follows: • Low cost to manufacture in small quantities: (goal) Less than $10,000 per unit in lots of tens (maximum) Less than $100,000 per unit in lots of one hundred.

• Operating temperature: (goal) >40 deg.

C, (minimum) 25 deg. C • Package size: (goal) < 15 cubic inches, (maximum) 30 cubic inches • Low time to install: (goal) None, (maximum) Less than 1 day/unit • Cooling: (goal) none, (possibly) conductively cooled by air-, or water-cooled heat exchanger • Power Consumption: (goal) none PHASE I: In Phase I of this effort the contractor shall assess the various approaches identified for their specific proposal on Counter DEW Techniques. They will provide a trade analysis on the costs and benefits of these ap-

December 2009

proaches relative to size, weight, efficiency, cooling requirements, production potential and cost. Based upon the findings of the trade study, a detailed design for such a device with performance projections shall be developed.

The design must describe the techniques used to mate the proposed system into the weapon and show expectations for performance, as well as the cost impact of the solution when compared to the “all up round production cost” (AURPC) compared to an unimproved weapons system. In general, cost goal increases of less than 2% are encouraged per AURPC in order to enable transition to an acquisition program office.

Trend analysis and projections will be presented against generic commercially available systems whenever possible. However, the technology within this topic is often restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in their statement of work.

PHASE II: In Phase II of this effort the contractor shall build a suitable number of prototype devices to allow for experimentation and demonstration. A demonstration of the developed devices must show that the specified minimum requirements, specifically for spectral and spatial properties, are either met or exceeded. Depending on the application, the effort may make several, or only a few prototypes to prove and test the effectiveness of various techniques used.

PHASE III: In Phase III, the contractor shall work with the government to conduct a low rate production study on a specific design or designs as of the developed solution set, possibly using representative DEW systems intended to defeat weapons systems at tens of kilometers.

Subscriber copies of Emerging Defense Technologies include contact details for each project in this article including name and phone number as well as fax and e-mail when available. www.defense-house.com

December 2009

Vehicle Net System

The US Army RDECOM Contracting Center (RDECOM CC), Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), MD, has a requirement to obtain a vehicle net system kits in support of the Rapid Equipping Force Project Force Field 360.

The US Army Rapid Equipping Force has issued a solicitation for a vehicle net system as an added protective system for various uparmored vehicles including the HMMWV (M1151 with Fragmentation 7 kit) and MRAPs (including Caiman, Maxxpro and RG33L).

Some of the key parameters being sought include:

A device to measure net tension shall be included in the system

The net must have a cell distribution of no less than 80 cells per square inch

The deceleration forces imparted by the net on the hand-thrown, cylindrical object shall be less than 58 Newtons

The net cell dimension shall not exceed 0.100 inch The net system shall be mountable/ installable by equipment operator in a field environment with organic tools in less than four hours The net framing shall not exceed 2.00 inch compression with 100 pound point load at center of span

Systems performance characteristics shall not be affected by weather conditions with a temperature range of -25 degrees F to 135 degrees F including frozen precipitation The vehicle net systems shall be capable of deflecting a hand-thrown, cylindrical object weighing 1.07 kilograms and measuring 362 mm long and 75 mm in diameter, away form the vehicle without striking the vehicle hull

The velocity range of the hand-thrown, cylindrical object impacting the net will be between 3 to 15 meters per second with an average velocity of 10 meters per second The contractor shall provide systems that are made of flame retardant materi-

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als. Minimum flame resistance for the purpose of this system is determined to be that a match or cigarette lighter ignited and held against the net for 30 seconds will not cause it to burst into flames Operator shall have the ability to adjust net tension as weather or temperature changes impact net tension.

The system shall extend from the outermost edge of the vehicle or external armor package not more than 18 inches per side or top of the vehicle The contractor shall provide a net armor system that can be placed into operational configuration (extended from vehicle sides) in 20 minutes or less by the operator The system shall allow for the vehicle operation at night. The net shall not throw glare back on the operator from vehicles spotlights or headlights (not specified as a requirement for MRAPs)

The net shall cover the sides, front, back and top of the vehicle to include the vehicle turret without impeding door, hatch or turret operation. The net armor shall not interfere with door, hatch, or turret operation in both an extended configuration and also a collapsed configuration The system shall not impede safe vehicle operation The net shall not interfere vision of vehicle occupants through windshields, windows or ports The system shall not interfere with operation of vehicle weapons or existing vehicle armor or add-on armor packages The total weight of the net system shall not exceed 400 pounds for M1151 HMMWV, 500 pounds for MRAPs

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December 2009

Non-Lethal Clear-aSpace/Disable in Place Before Entry

The US Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD), through Marine Corps Systems Command, is soliciting proposals, through a broad agency annoucncement) for research, development, and demonstration of next-generation non-lethal weapons (NLWs) that provide the capability to clear targeted personnel from confined/indoor spaces before blue-force entry as well as NLWs that provide the capability to disable individuals within confined/indoor spaces before blueforce entry.

The objective of the BAA is to stimulate research, development and rapid-prototyping of NLW technologies, in an attempt to address these high priority joint NLW capability gaps specific to personnel clearing and disabling missions. All non-lethal stimuli and a combination there of shall be considered in mitigating these known NLW capability-gaps with the exception of those involving incapacitating chemicals.

NL Malodorants may be considered.

The definition of “Clear-a-Space – Disable in Place and Before Entry” for this BAA is: • Move or disable occupants in-place • All personnel (combatants and non

combatants) • Reversible effects on human targets

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•

Minimal collateral damage to property

Qualifying submissions should specifically describe technology and research objectives designed to accomplish the following: A. Safely disable, in place, the occupants of a building (or simple structure) comprised of three to five rooms.

The proposed technology should prevent the occupants from resisting apprehension by friendly forces. The effects on the targeted personnel should last long enough for friendly forces to enter and secure the structure and its occupants. The duration of effect shall be

sufficient to prevent the emergence of combative individuals from “mouse-holes” and hidden areas while friendly forces locate and secure any improvised explosive devices (IEDs), booby traps and weapons caches.

The effects should be completely reversible.

The effects must minimize collateral damage, remaining localized on the targeted structure and not affect adjacent buildings or open areas.

B. Safely remove all occupants from a building (or simple structure) comprised of three to five rooms. The following metrics are designated in Table 1.

Proposed technology should force all oc-

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December 2009 cupants to leave the structure. Ideally, the duration and potency of the effect shall be sufficient to clear hostile forces from mouse holes and hidden areas, allowing friendly forces to locate and secure any IEDs, booby traps and weapons caches. The effects should be completely reversible. The effects must minimize collateral damage, remaining localized on the targeted structure and not affect adjacent buildings or open areas.

C. Safely remove non-combatant/civilian occupants from a building (or simple structure) comprised of three to five rooms. The proposed technology should: 1. Warn the inhabitants of the structure that they are in imminent danger if they remain within, or 2. Apply a level of force to all occupants, which may be overcome by determined/combatant occupants, but would otherwise convince non-combatants to vacate the structure.

After implementation of the device, the duration of the effect shall be sufficient to allow friendly forces to separate combatants and non-combatants. The effects should be completely reversible. The effects must minimize collateral damage, remaining localized on the targeted structure and not affect adjacent buildings or open areas.

Human Effects and Effectiveness

Proposals should describe how the proposed solution (Tasks A-C) will insure reversibility and minimize the risk of significant injury to targeted personnel, bystanders, the operator and other friendly forces. The human effects of exposure to the non-lethal stimulus or stimuli must be quantified by animal use testing, human subject testing and/or human effects modeling by the time of proposal submission or as part of the proposed research.

Tasks B and C require the targeted occupants to take an action (i.e., leave the structure). Behavioral responses to the proposed solutions dictate effectiveness of the solutions.

Therefore, behavioral response/effectiveness must also be quantified by animal use testing, human subject testing and/or human effects modeling by the time of proposal submission or as part of the proposed research.

The government will not fund protocol preparation or approval process. Further, awards or the exercising of Phase 2 options are dependent upon successful Institutional

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Clear-a-Space Disable in Place Before Entry Metrics

Decription of Task

Threshold

Objective

1 Close-in Stand-off distance 5 meters

needed to implement device

0.25 meters (from behind the structure wall)

2

Extended distance needed for implementation of device

5 meters

300 meters

3

Time needed for a device to clear the space or render occupants unable to resist

5 minutes

Immediate

4

Duration time of the deviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prime effect. Ability to adjust duration

10 seconds

30 minutes

5

Time to enter space following 5 minutes implementation of device.

(Personal Protective Equipment [PPE] may be required). Directly related to duration of effect, as there shall be no break in effect to entry time.

Implementation +1 second

6

Percent of occupants in space cleared or disabled

100%

80%

Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) or Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. Per this requirement, animal use or human subject testing are suggested to be written as first year options or as tasks in years two or three of the proposed research.

Award Information

The BAA announcement is restricted to work relating to applied research and that portion of advanced technology development not related to a specific system or hardware procurement. Contracts, grants and other awards made under this BAA are for scientific study and experimentation directed towards advancing the state of the art or increasing knowledge or understanding.

Specifically stated, the JNLWD reserves the right to fund all, some or none of the proposals received under this BAA. JNLWD will provide no funding for direct reimbursement of proposal development costs.

The JNLWD anticipates multiple Phase 1 awards of approximately $100,000 each, for paper study/early prototype hardware testing. Offerors desiring to compete for Phase

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1 awards only should follow the instructions for preparing white paper proposals, with a period of performance not to exceed six months. Offerors desiring to be considered for multiple phase awards should follow the instructions for preparing full proposals.

Please note that the phase 1 of all full proposals should not exceed six months. Full proposals will include additional options of one to three years in duration following the initial Phase 1 proposed six month effort. These full proposals shall build off of a successful Phase 1 study. Initial contract awards for Phase 1 efforts are anticipated for February 2010.

The anticipated exercise of options for proposals meriting Phase 2 consideration is 30 October 2010. Phase 2 proposals must incorporate a rigorous demonstration of their Phase 1 proposals, with follow-on major program milestones and/or system demonstrations at roughly six month intervals. The offeror shall propose, as a minimum, two systems or NLW capability demonstrations or program evaluation milestones, to provide data/evidence/support for option year funding consideration.

Emerging Defense Technologies

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December 2009

On Target USSOCOM Vehicle Integrated Bridge System deployed unit’s onsite mission effectiveness and enhancing its ability to communicate and coordinate with its support and command entity.

United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Family of Special Operations Vehicles (FOSOV) Program Office anticipates issuing a request for proposal (RFP) for an integrated bridge system (IBS).

A formal RFP for the IBS is anticipated to be issued on or about March 26, 2010 with response due by May 11, 2010.

In summary the government has three primary goals in relation to this effort.

1. Reduce the amount of hardware required on each of USSOCOM’s Tactical Ground Mobility Platforms while obtaining the capabilities provided by it’s currently fielded and individually integrated subsystems.

2. Increase interoperability between these systems thereby increasing each

3. Reduce the overall footprint and resources required to support and sustain USSOCOM’s deployed ground mobility units regardless of what platforms they operate and in what areas they operate within.

The government has neither intention nor desire to develop any new technologies associated with this effort. Rather the intent is to work towards making better use of existing standards, architecture and protocols thereby facilitating easier integration and interoperability with current and future hardware designs and software applications.

Furthermore, USSOCOM is not interested in a platform specific solution set or design but a capability that will provide a cross fleet solution accommodating every platform category or size. USSOCOM’s fleet of tactical ground mobility vehicles includes platforms fitting into one of three categories (light, medium and heavy). The light category consists of platforms

Hull Integration Kit

Tank-automotive and Armament Command-Warren Contracting Center has issued a sources sought document (not an invitation to bid) to identify potential suppliers who have the capability to manufacture the hull integration kit (Part Number 57K6442).

The hull integration kit allows for the collection and reporting of diagnostic information from the TIGER engine when mounted into a M1A1 chassis. The kits will be installed on the assault breacher vehicle (ABV). The requirement will include engineering and field service representative support for the installation and integration of the kits onto the ABV. The hull integration kit links the TIGER engine to the vehicle’s diagnostic system.

The ABV is a tracked combat engineer vehicle that provides deliberate and in-stride breaching capability of minefields and complex obstacles.

Emerging Defense Technologies

that accommodate four or less occupants and weigh around four tons (LTATV’s, NSCV’s, LMV’s), the medium category consists of the USSOCOM modified HWMMV (GMV) and SRAT, accommodate six or more occupants and weighs between 6-8 tons. The Heavy category consists of USSOCOM’s MRAP family of vehicles which can accommodate up to nine occupants and weigh between 18-20 tons.

The current capabilities and hardware set’s currently fielded and integrated within the FOSOV fleet include following: 1. Navigation – FBCB2, Falcon View 2. IFF-Blue Force Tracking 3. Communications-PRC148 (Intersquad, SINGARS, LOS, xxxx), PSC-5 & 117F (SATCOM, xxxx) 4. Visual Augmentation Systems-Short, Medium and Long Range (KAX-1A, xxxx) 5. Integrated Communications System (ICS) 6. ECCM 7. UAV-ROVER IV 8. Remote Weapons Station (RWS) 9. Mission Planning-SOMPE

USMC LAW Marine Corps Systems Command, Program Manager for Ammunition is conducting market research to obtain information about sources capable of providing M72A9 lightweight anti-structure weapon (LAW). A firm-fixed price, threeyear (3 year) indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contact is contemplated.

Armored Knight Reset

US Army Tank-automotive and Armament Command intends to issue a sole source contract to DRS-SSI, St. Louis, MO, for the reset of between 40-50 M1200 armored Knight vehicles. DRS-SSI is the manufacturer and integrator of the M1200.

This is for an FY10 requirement.

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December 2009

Cash for Clunkers The USA ACA Fort Hood requires 40 sport utility and/or vans. The 40 vehicles can be any mix between sport utility vehicles and/or vans.

All fluids must be removed from all vehicles to include the rear-end, transmission, engine, radiator, and power steering pump. All fuel tanks must be removed from all vehicles. All 40 vehicles must consist of, at a minimum, frame, doors, hood, roof, trunk, side panels, and tires. The tires do not need to match but must be in working order thus allowing the vehicle to roll.

Compresses vehicles are not acceptable.

Delivery location is the Fort Hood EOD Range.

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Automated Vehicle Damage Reporting

Scientists at the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center are researching armored vehicles made with built-in sensors that automatically report when they are damaged.

Thomas Meitzler, a research scientist at the Michigan-based organization, said the aim is to give troops real-time situational awareness of the health, condition and structural integrity of their vehicle’s armor. “Currently, the standard procedure is to go out of the vehicle, walk around and look at it,” Meitzler said during a Nov. 4 interview on the Pentagon Channel’s weekly podcast, “Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military.”

Meitzler, the team leader of TARDEC’s nondestructive testing and evaluation laboratory, said normal wear and tear can cause damage lamination and produce cracks that are invisible to the naked eye, and noise on the battlefield can prevent an armored vehicle’s occupants from hearing when small-arms fire causes damage.

Tiny sensors called piezoelectric transducers are manufactured right into armored plate materials and detect changes in the plates’ condition. “We are basically using ultrasonic waves through the material as our probe on the health assessment of the armor,” Meitzler said.

The sensors send automated reports to graphical displays in the crew compartment. TARDEC developers have devised a color-coded system: green indicates the armor is healthy, black points out damage such as cracks, and red shows spots where the armor has been hit, for example, by ground fire.

The system runs a self-check each time the vehicle is turned on, and evaluations can be run manually at any time. Meitzler said initial tests have been successful and show the sensors are energy-efficient. “We are actually surprised how little voltage we need to supply to the transducers to get them to send ultrasonic waves through the material and, in fact, we can even use piezoelectric transducer strips as a kind of energy harvesting device,” Meitzler said.

Just driving the vehicle around could cause the sensors’ piezoelectric fibers to generate energy. “When there’s any kind of strain or stress, those fibers will convert the mechanical deformation to a voltage, Meitzler explained. “And then that voltage can be stored in a battery, which can later be used.”

Other future uses for the sensors go beyond signaling when armor is damaged, he said. They also could be used to monitor temperature, act as antennas and perform other functions that would contribute to the survivability of U.S. servicemembers, including monitoring the condition of body armor.

“Most of the sensors and technology we’re developing for vehicles can be applied quite easily to body armor,” Meitzler said. The first phases of testing involved shooting armored plates made with the sensors inside TARDEC’s lab and analyzing the results. Meitzler said the next step is to test their durability in the field.

Individual Soldier Camo

GMA Cover Corp., a Port Huron company and global leader in the design and delivery of high-technology concealment covers has release the new Aketon Solo individual camouflage net.

Tailored for the individual soldier, the Aketon Solo has enhanced ULCANS (Ultra Light-weight Camouflage Net Systems) signature management properties. The Aketon Solo enhances survivability by allowing the individual soldier to stay one step ahead of modern sensor threats.

“The Solo is a new way of thinking for GMA, typically we bid on contracts through defence commands, recently we have been approached by many members of the armed forces who are wanting to purchase our product directly so we met with soldiers extensively to design a net specifically for them” said Nicole Verkindt, Director of Sales and Marketing for GMA. “Soldiers are very impressed by our full size ULCANS and now they have the ability to purchase their own personal net directly from us to maximize their protection in the field” added Verkindt.

“Night vision goggles identical to the AN/PVS7 model which is adopted as standard military issue to US Army ground troops can be purchased online by anyone -no military authorization number needed” stated Verkindt. “Although Trade Restriction Acts do not allow for these military items to be exported to conflict zones, items are easily sent to other countries acting as a distribution hub, later sending gear to enemy countries, which makes the near and thermal infrared properties of the Solo needed now more than ever for soldiers in the field” she added.

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Emerging Defense Technologies

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December 2009

On Target Net-based Vehicle Protection System

The US Army RDECOM Contracting Center (RDECOM CC), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, has a requirement to obtain a vehicle net system kits in support of the Rapid Equipping Force Project Force Field 360.

This requirement is for the development of vehicle net systems for several vehicle models as follows: a.) the M1151 with Fragmentation 7 Kit b.) Caiman mine resistant ambush protected vehicle (MRAP) (with and without explosively formed projectile (EFP) armor) c.) MaxxPro MRAP (with and without EFP armor) d.) RG33L (with and without EFP armor)

The vehicle net systems shall be capable of deflecting a hand-thrown, cylindrical object, weighing 1.07 kg and measuring 362mm long and 75mm in diameter, away from the vehicle without striking the vehicle hull. It is anticipated that the specification will need to be changed to accommodate changes during spiral development of the system. The procurement strategy employed will require the contractor to pass ATEC testing, provide CONUS operation and maintenance training for the REF personnel, and provide in-theatre training and FSR support for the system to include installation, maintenance, and operation of the net kits for a period of up to six months.

MRAP Contractor Logistics Support

The Program Executive Office for Combat Support & Combat Service Support (PEO CS&CSS) and Joint Program Executive Office for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (JPO MRAP) is conducting a market survey to determine the level of interest among qualified contractors in providing logistics and equipment maintenance support services to help sustain multiple mine resistant vehicle (MRV) fleets in the Southwest Asia (SWA) areas of operations (AO)—Iraq and Afghanistan. The Government is seeking a single source contractor that can demonstrate the best capability to meet the full operational and support requirements of the scope of work outlined below. The planned contract will be for a two-year baseline period with four one-year options.

If pursued, award of this contract is estimated to be 1 October 2010.

Background

US military operations in SWA are greatly dependent upon the assistance of industry partners in the day-to-day maintenance and combat readiness of equipment. This is especially true in support of soldiers and equipment directly engaged in counter-IED, coun-

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ter-insurgency and other contact operations such as route clearance, explosive ordnance disposal, special operations and convoy security.

Equipment designed expressly for such operations fall under the broad equipment category of mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles but include other mine resistant end items designed expressly for IED detection, inspection, removal and disposal.

Army’s original countermines systems identified for such operations were called route clearance vehicles (RCV). These consisted of the Buffalo mine protected clearance vehicle (MPCV), the RG-31 medium mine protected vehicle (MMPV) and the interim vehiclemounted mine detection (IVMMD) system, for which the Husky tractor serves as both the system’s primary detection vehicle and as prime mover. RCV were all non-standard automotive systems.

They were also largely foreign-made, purchased as-is and shipped upon receipt directly into the AO. Being non-standard and not a part of the Army’s automotive training and supply support, the purchased equipment required special contractor logistics support (CLS) assistance in order to help maintain and repair such systems..

The CLS contractor’s staff are embedded forward with combat and countermines units throughout the AO. Additionally, several major, permanent sites evolved for support of MRV at theater and regional support levels. These sites are also manned by contractor personnel. Support at such sites include certified mechanics, parts management technicians, requisition and transportation specialists, trained armor-welders and like personnel.

An evolving market. CLS support in Theater is beginning a transition. As the level and nature of U.S. engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan are evolving, CLS scope of work will evolve to reflect changes that have occurred and continue to occur within the AO. OPTEMPO is drawing down in OIF but increasing in OEF. Significantly, greater emphasis is now being placed upon contractor use of standard Army supply channels for needed repair parts vice off-line, private purchases of parts directly from each end-item’s equipment manufacturer.

The current theater authorized stockage lists (ASL), as an independent supply support activity managed by the contractor, is also expected to evolve. In its place will be shop stock/bench stock assigned to and tailored to individual sites and their missions.

Such authorized stocks will also be loaded into the Standard Army Management Infor-

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December 2009

Heavy Truck Tractor

Naval Facilities Engineering Command has issued a sources sought synopsis announcing its intention to be utilized as market research aimed at small business concerns regarding the manufacturing of a tactical 6x4 rear wheel drive armored heavy truck tractor (HTT), with line haul capabilities of loads up to 130,000 pounds.

The HTT is designed to provide US naval construction forces with the capabability to transport semitrailers and perform line haul operations with loads (up to 130,000 pounds—trailer and trailer load combined); worldwide, in both civilian and military environments. The HTT shall provide protecmation System (STAMIS) and automatically replenished by the Army supply system as a site’s stock levels reach re-order points.

This change will result in a corresponding decrease in theater ASL. Future contractor-held/managed ASL will consist of low volume, low-demand, non-standard parts not routinely stocked or ordinarily found in the Army supply system. Reliance upon Standard Army Maintenance System-Enhanced (SAMS-E) for requisition of parts will be mandatory for this contract. Greater reliance upon DA-authenticated technical manuals for identification and requisitioning of parts vice a reliance upon end-item manufacturer’s illustrated price lists and commercial technical manuals will take place.

Lastly, as supported units continue to assume more ownership and self reliance in maintaining their own equipment, CLS services required are expected to shift emphasis from fix forward services toward more battle damaged and/or sustainment-level maintenance. These changes will occur throughout the course of the contract.

Partnerships between military units and their CLS support teams will continue but on a different footing. CLS services required— what services, how much, when and where— will be in transition throughout the period of performance of this contract. Bottom line is that any contractor responsive to the pro-

39

tion to occupants from hostile threats while in operation, shall accommodate military communication equipment, and shall sustain a comfortable environment for the operator and passenger(s). The HTT must be integrated with an armor solution that complies with the Joint Chiefs of Staffs definition of level I armor protection for non-combat vehicles; provides complete 360 degree protection for all vehicle occupants; constructed with no gaps in the armor.

The HTT with armor solution will have a corrosion resistant and protected by a chemical agent resistant coating. The HTT shall be designed to accommodate a variety of complex military communication devices. The HTT shall have the ability to operate worldwide in all climatic conditions, and use JP5, JP8, DF1 and DF2 fuels, and be transportable by highway, rail, marine and air (C5/C17).

Egyptian HE-T

posed contract must demonstrate a capability to efficiently shift focus and resources as contingencies merit, to include fluctuations in work-force required.

The primary requirement of this contractor is for the contractor to provide skilled manpower and logistics support services, as needed, to maintain a quality maintenance and sustainment program for MRAP and RCV systems operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Support required includes professional logistics and automotive and battle damage repair services to restore and/or maintain designated weapon systems to fully mission capable operational standards as well as material ordering and storage.

Current operations in Theater are located at 40 distinct sites, that the sites are currently divided evenly between Iraq and Afghanistan and that the total current work force consists of approximately 400 personnel of varied skill sets.

Maintenance and repair services, including battle-damage repair, will be required under the proposed contract for the following vehicle systems:

II and Mark III model Husky variants of the VMMD systems, Joint EOD rapid response vehicles (JERRV), RG, RG-33 Prophet, RG33 MMPV POR.

a. Route Clearance Vehicle Systems. Fleets include Buffalo A1 and A2 model MPCV, RG-31 Mark III, RG-31A1 Mark V and RG31A2 Mark 5-E model MMPV, both Mark

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The US Army Contracting Command Joint Munitions & Lethality Contracting Center, Picatinny Arsenal, has entered into an agreement with Egypt for the procurement of a 120mm high explosive with tracer (HE-T) cartridge.

Delivery is required in fiscal years 2010– 2011. At a minimum, the cartridge is to be compatible with the Egyptian M1A1 Abrams tank equipped with a smooth bore M256 cannon; be compatible to defeat a target set that includes bunkers, reinforced concrete walls, light armor and personnel; have a minimum range of 7,000 meters with an accuracy of less than 0.3 mils at 2000m, be compliant for insensitive munitions, and have a dual safe, point detonating with delay fuze.

b. SOCOM Vehicle Systems. Support required coincident with RCV sites as well as some dedicated SOCOM locations. Equipment includes the RG-33 (4x4) and RG-33L (6x6) and RG-31A1 Mark V. c. Area Clearance (limited systems/Afghanistan only). Hydrema flail, Aardvaark flail, berm sifter (Modified Case Front-End Loader). d. MRAP Family of Vehicles. Requirement to support MRAP systems is confined to Afghanistan AO only. Requirement is further trimmed as being for sustainment/battledamaged repairs only at five fixed repair sites. All damaged equipment will be brought to the contractor. All repair parts for MRAP will be provided by the equipments’ owning units. Systems include the MaxxPro, MaxxPro Plus, MaxxPro Dash, Cougar Cat I (4x4) and Cat II (6x6), BuffaloA1 (USMC MRAP), RG-31A1 Mark V, RG-31A2 Mark 5-E, RG33 (4x4) Cat I MRAP MMPV, RG-33L (6x6), RG-33L Plus, RG-33L heavy armored ground ambulance (HAGA), Caiman, Caiman Plus and MRAP all-terrain vehicle (MATV).

Emerging Defense Technologies

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December 2009

Professional Development

Steel and Blood

South Vietnamese Armor and the War for Southeast Asia Written by Ha Mai Vet US Naval Institute Press ISBN 9781591149194 Hard Cover 512 pages, 22 photos, 2 line drawings $40.00

Written by a veteran of South Vietnam’s armed forces including their armored units, Colonel Ha Mai Viet provides well-written narrative broken up into two main sections: combat history and military history.

The combat history chapters start with operations in 1963 and runs through the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

The military history chapters include a lot of very interesting and useful information on South Vietnamese armor, including organization, structure, equipment, and commanders.

The book includes comprehensive end notes and a fair index—both features I find valuable to a book. The photographs while I’m sure hold great interest to the writer, do not a add much of anything to the history

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One drawback related to the content of this book—and others military books—is a lack of tactical maps. I’m not necessarily advocating detailed maps of every region of South Vietnam detailing the location of every placed mentioned but in the text. However, the country is not that well known to military students and even the addition of the simplest maps showing the relative position of strategic cities, towns, rivers, etc would have been a real plus.

My only criticism of the book is that it never seems to address strategic and tactical issues that affected operational performance and capabilities in the field of South Vietnamese armor and forces in general. Many times throughout the text failures were noted along with command errors, communications difficulties, turmoil, panic and a general lack of cohesion within South Vietnamese forces.

Other than a lack of enough US support and equipment (including an index entry listed as United States: abandonment of South Vietnam), none of the root cause of these difficulties is every addressed.

All this being said, the real question may be do I recommend Blood and Steel. The answer is yes. By offering a different perspective it makes the reader question their perceptions and knowledge of the history as they know it. Agree or disagree, Ha Mai Vet’s representation of South Vietnamese armor and the role it played in context to the war and politics will be enlightening as it comes from someone who “was there and did that.”

Despite the time and distance from America’s involvement in the war in Southwest Asia, there has been little published from the South Vietnamese perspective. The book never pretends to be more than it is—a veteran’s well-researched look at armor in a long-running conflict with deep political issues that did affect the military outcome. It offers tremendous insight into the workings of South Vietnamese armor, its organization, training and operational deployments. A nice addition to the book shelf.

Bay of Pigs

Cuba 1961 Written by Alejandro de Quesada Illustrated by Stephen Walsh Osprey Publishing ISBN 9781846033230 Soft Cover 64 pages $18.95

Following in the well-heeled Osprey style, Bay of Pigs is another excellent capsulization in their Elite series. Most everyone has heard of the Bay of Pigs and there are a number of books, including several released in the past few years, on the small invasion of Cuba but few realize that it was a D-Day in miniature. There were pre-invasion air strikes, paratroop drops, and armor.

Quesada has done a very good job of pulling many of the salient events that led the US government to pull together the players and the plan for the mini invasion which was hoped would be the catalyst for a popular uprising against the Castro government.

Feeling perhaps pressured and hamstrung from inheriting a plan for the previous

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December 2009 administration, President Kennedy and his staff were at odds as to the plans, its execution and the degree of US participation.

Once through of this book and you will have a very good, somewhat basic in most areas view of the events leading up to and during the invasion.

The artwork is well-done although in my opinion the subject matter is not as interesting from a graphic point of view—not a reflection of the artist but just the basic subject matter of the small number of participants in the historic event.

The subject has always been an area of interest for me personally which is one reason why I liked the book. I have a fair number of references on the subject and was going to buy the book no matter what, but was very pleased with it and would recommend it.

Immortal

41 not be underestimated. This history also provides background on the nationalist, tribal, and religious heritages of the country to help readers better understand Iran and its security outlook.

Immortal begins with the founding of ancient Persia’s empire under Cyrus the Great and continues through the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and up to the present. Drawing on a wide range of sources including declassified documents, the author gives primary focus to the modern era to relate the build-up of the military under the last Shah, its collapse during the Islamic revolution, its fortunes in the Iran-Iraq War, and its rise from the ashes to help Iran become once again a major regional military power. He shows that, despite command and supply problems, Iranian soldiers demonstrate high levels of bravery and perseverance and have enjoyed surprising tactical successes even when victory has been elusive. These qualities and the Iranians’ ability to impose high costs on their enemies by exploiting Iran’s imposing geography bear careful consideration today by potential opponents.

Steven R. Ward is a senior CIA intelligence analyst who specializes in Iran and the Middle East. From 2005 to 2006 he served as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East on the National Intelligence Council, and he served on the National Security Council from 1998 to 1999. He is also a graduate of West Point and a retired U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel.

Forsaken Warriors

A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces

By Steven R. Ward

The Story of and American Advisor who Fought with the South Vietnamese Rangers and Airborne ByRobert Tonsetic

Georgetown University Press ISBN: 9781589012585 (1589012585) Hardcover 400 pages

Casemate Publishers ISBN: 978-1-935149-03-3 Hardcover 256 pages, photos, maps

$29.95

$32.95

According to the publisher, Immortal is the only single-volume English-language survey of Iran’s military history. CIA analyst Steven R. Ward shows that Iran’s soldiers, from the famed “Immortals” of ancient Persia to today’s Revolutionary Guard, have demonstrated through the centuries that they should

This is an inside account of the South Vietnamese elites who strove to carry on the war against the Communists during the U.S. Army’s withdrawal . . .

The book is a personal memoir of the author’s service as a US Army advisor during the end-stages of America’s involvement

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in Vietnam. During the period 1970–71, the US was beginning to draw down its combat forces, and the new watchword was Vietnamization. It was the period when the will of the US to prosecute the war had slipped, and transferring responsibility to the South Vietnamese was the only remaining hope for victory. The author served as a US Army advisor to South Vietnamese Ranger and Airborne units during this critical period. The units that the author advised spearheaded several campaigns in South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, as the US combat units withdrew.

Often outnumbered and outgunned, the elite ranger and airborne units fought Viet Cong and North Vietnamese units in some of the most difficult terrain in Southeast Asia, ranging from the legendary U Minh forest and Mo So mountains in the Mekong Delta, to the rugged hills of southern Laos.

The role of the small US advisory teams is fully explained in the narrative. With little support from higher headquarters, these teams accompanied the Vietnamese units on highly dangerous combat operations over which they had no command or control authority. When US advisors were restricted from accompanying South Vietnamese forces on crossborder operations in Cambodia and especially Laos, the South Vietnamese forces were badly mauled, raising concerns about their readiness and training, and their ability to operate without their US advisors. As a result, a major effort was placed on training these forces.

Having served with a US infantry battalion during the peak years of the US involvement in Vietnam, Robert Tonsetic is able to view the war through two different prisms and offer criticisms and an awareness of why the South Vietnamese armed forces were ultimately defeated.

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December 2009

Calendar of Events Defense Logistics December 1-4, 2009 WBR Arlington, VA www.wbresearch.com Vehicle Maintenance Summit December 7-9, 2009 IDGA Washington, DC www.idga.org Soldier Survivability and Personal Protection December 9-10, 2009 IDGA London, UK ww.idga.org Soldier Technology January 19-22, 2009 WBR Crystal City, VA www.wbresearch.com Defence Logistics Middle East January 24-27, 2010 IDGA Abu Dhabi, UAE www.idga.org International Armoured Vehicles February 1-5, 2010 IDGA London, UK www.idga.org Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference February 7-9, 2010 NDIA Monterey, CA www.ndia.org Munitions Executive Summit February 8-10, 2010 NDIA Coronado, CA www.ndia.org Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict Conference February 9-11, 2010 NDIA Washington, DC www.ndia.org

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DEFEXPO February 15-18, 2010 New Delhi, India www.defexpo.com AUSA Winter February 24-26, 2010 AUSA Fort Lauderdale, FL www.ausa.org NAVEXFOR March 1-3, 2010 Lodestar Group Virginia Beach, VA www.defensetradeshows.com PROTEX Kuwait March 8-10, 2010 Kuwait City, Kuwait www.protexkuwait.com Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference March 16-18, 2010 NDIA Miami, FL www.ndia.org Future Artillery March 25-26, 2010 IDGA London, UK www.idga.org MARCORSYSCOM APBI April 5-7, 2010 NDIA Baltimore, MD www.ndia.org Logistics Conference & Exhibition April 12-15, 2010 NDIA Miami, FL www.ndia.org SpecOps East April 12-15, 2010 Lodestar Group Fayetteville, NC www.defrensetradeshows.com

Advances in Service Life Determination and Health Monitoring of Munitions April 12-15, 2010 NATO Research and Technology Organisation Turkey www.rta.nato.int Black Sea Defence & Aerospace April 13-15, 2010 Bucharest, Romania www.bsda.ro Science & Engineering Technology Conference April 13-15, 2010 NDIA Charleston, SC www.ndia.org DSA April 19-22, 2010 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia www.dsaexhibition.com Armor Conference May 2010 FBC Inc. Fort Knox, KY www.fbcinc.com SpecOps West May 10-12, 2010 Lodestar Group Fort Lewis, WA www.defensetradeshows.com Fuze Conference May 11-13, 2010 NDIA Kansas City, MO www.ndia.org SOFEX May 10-13, 2010 Amman, Jordan www.sofexjordan.com Mortar Systems Conference May 17-18, 2010 Omega Conferences London, UK www.omconf.com

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December 2009

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Technology Briefs Ammunition and Munitions  

Artillery       

      

 

 

Communications, Sensors & Surveillance

 

Ground Vehicles  

Infantry Weapons Soldier Survivability and Gear

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Emerging Defense Technologies



44

December 2009

Ammunition & Munitions Unguided Aircraft Rocket with Tandem Shaped Charge Gosudarstvennoe obrazovatel’noe uchrezhdenie vysshego professional’nogo obrazovanija Irkutskoe vysshee voennoe aviatsionnoe inzhenernoe uchilishche (voennyj institut) Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This proposed rocket comprises body, fairing, and detonator with piezo generator and two shaped explosive charges, i.e. main and additional. The former seats in rocket head, while the latter is arranged between the main charge and rocket engine. Note that rocket comprises also cylindrical hollow container with its one end coupled with shaped charge bottom and the other end coupled with additional shaped charge.

The reported effect is higher penetration capacity.

2 drawings

Gas Dynamic Bullet and Method of Charging Bullet for Said Bullet Radzhabov Artem Rafikovich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This proposed bullet comprises at least one pressure chamber, and at least two jet nozzles, each communicating with aforesaid

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pressure chamber via gas flow branch pipe.

Note here that proposed bullet incorporates antifriction section. In charging the cartridge, wads-absorbers with gas flow holes are used.

The reported effect is higher accuracy of fire.

4 drawings Small Arms Cartridge ZAO Barnaul’skij patronnyj zavod Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian The proposed cartridge comprises cartridge case with primer, propellant charge and bullet consisting of lead core and jacket.

Bore is made along the lead core axis, on its tail part, bore diameter making 12.0% to 28.0% of caliber and depth exceeding 1.0 of bullet caliber. Note that bore extends to jacket front part.

The reported effect is reduced probability of rehitting by rebounding bullet fragments.

1 drawing Small Arms Cartridge (1) ZAO Barnaul’skij patronnyj zavod Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian The proposed cartridge comprises cartridge case with primer, propellant charge and bullet consisting of lead core and jacket.

Aforesaid lead core features three and more lengthwise crimps made in forming by closing lengthwise incisions made in core billet. Note that aforesaid crimps feature depth making 25% to 40% of core diameter.

The reported effect is reduced probability of rehitting by rebounding bullet fragments.

3 drawings Method of Moving Ogival Body and Device to this End Dronov-Duvaldzhi Nikolaj Dmitrievich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This invention relates to ammunition.

Proposed method uses ogival body comprising head part, hollow casing and tail part.

Aforesaid casing accommodates preliminary compression chamber and Laval nozzle with its confuser housing the blades. Aforesaid head part has a reversed cone with its height approximates the start of Laval nozzle critical section, and is connected to hollow casing via thin webs representing blades arranged along

the radius and resting upon reversed cone side surface to form circular gap between head part and hollow casing. Blades arranged inside confuser are coupled with it side walls and reversed cone side surface at its apex.

Note that tail part is furnished with a pan and represents a ogival shape with holes made along its diameter to eject outside air into diffuser rarefaction zone. Aforesaid holes and diffuser outlet are closed by aforesaid pan.

The reported effect is increased speed and range of fire.

2 drawings

Radio-guided Anti-aircraft Missile with Telemetry System for Registration of Missile Main Parameters Gosudarstvennoe unitarnoe predprijatie Konstruktorskoe bjuro priborostroenija Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This invention relates to rocketry and can be used in various antiaircraft complexes

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December 2009 with radio control system. Proposed missile comprises detachable launching stage, sustainer stage with functional units, control hardware, radio signal receiver, antenna and power supply including separation conductor.

Sustainer stage tail part incorporates onboard telemetry transmitting module. The latter consists of signal controller ADC and radio transmitter with phase-pulse modulation of carrier frequency connected, via switching device, with strip antenna of sustainer stage and, via matching device, with launching stage antenna. Note here that control input of aforesaid switching device is connected with separation conductor.

The reported effect is multi-channel data transfer, data registration at surface fire control station.

Shaped Charge and its Facing Tulaev Aleksandr Igor’evich, Arismetov Amir Rakhimovich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This report describes a shaped charge with facing can be used in well perforation, incorporated with shaped perforators. Shaped charge comprises casing with axisymmetric grain that features open spherical-segment cavity and intermediate detonator fitted on the grain body face opposite the facing.

Inert material facing adjoins the grain cavity surface. Aforesaid spherical-surface flangededge facing has its edge representing parts of torus with their radii sizes exceeding those of the facing to form the angle of at least 110

45 degrees and not over 180 degrees between opposite parts. Flanged edge lateral side is tightly pressed to casing inner side.

The reported effect is increased diameter of perforated hole.

3 drawings Cartridge with Jet Bullet ZAO Barnaul’skij patronnyj zavod Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian The proposed cartridge comprises cartridge case with primer and bullet with inner cavity to house propellant charge and jettype orifice. Bullet features length of 0.6 to 0.8 of cartridge length. Propellant charge consists of at least two parts made from various combustion-rate components and fitted in bullet cavity. Aforesaid components are consecutively ignited and fired. Note here that aforesaid bullet is fitted in cartridge with interference of 0.003 to 0.01 of bullet caliber.

The reported effect is higher safety and accuracy of fire.

2 drawings

Case for Piercing Shell Shot Rossijskaja Federatsija, ot imeni kotoroj vystupaet gosudarstvennyj zakazchikMinisterstvo oborony Rossijskoj Federatsii, Federal’noe gosudarstvennoe unitarnoe predprijatie “Nauchno-issledovatel’skij mashinostroitel’nyj institut Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian The case inner space features two communicating chambers, i.e. one accommodating main charge and another to accommodate additional charge with its inner pack. Proposed case is reinforced with the help of cylinders with bands arranged on the case faces. Square frames are welded to aforesaid bands and furnished with retainers

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intended for stacking. Frame angles feature brackets with hooks, each face of case accommodate four tabled scarves furnished with grip representing a plate with hole to receive bracket hook.

The reported effect is higher tightness, increased inner space.

4 drawings Tank Fragmentation-Particle Projectile ìDustî with High Density Bundle of Ready Damage Agents Gosudarstvennoe obrazovatelínoe uchrezhdenie vysshego professionalínogo obrazovanija Moskovskij gosudarstvennyj universitet imeni N.Eh. Baumana Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This projectile comprises body, in front part of which there is a block of ready damage elements or block of specified crushing, and in the rest part of body there is a charge of explosive substance with bottom detonator.

Weight of one of ready damage element or fragment of specified crushing makes from 0.2 g to 0.4 g, at the same time number of ready damage elements or fragments of specified crushing in block makes 6000-25000.

The reported effect is dramatically increased survival rate of tank in battlefield.

4 drawings

Igniting Ammunition Gosudarstvennoe obrazovatelínoe uchrezhdenie vysshego professionalínogo obrazovanija Moskovskij Gosudarstvennyj Tekhnicheskij Universitet imeni N.Eh. Baumana Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This design for igniting ammunition is suggested, which consists of body, central bursting charge of explosive substance and combustible fill, arranged in body inside ready elements and in free space between them. Central bursting charge is made with radial beams, which divide internal volume of ammunition into sectors, at the same time the following ratios are maintained: number

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46 of radial beams is equal to 2 - 4, thickness of beams on explosive substances δ≈(0.01…

0.03)D≥dc r, where D is ammunition caliber, dc r is critical diameter of explosive substance detonation, length of beams by radius of ammunition 0.3R≤ℓ≤R, where R=(D-2δ0)/2 is radius by combustible fill, δ0 is thickness of body wall, and ready element is made with arbitrary shape with minimum and maximum dimensions, which are selected from interval of 30Ö60 mm.

The reported effect is increased efficiency of combustible action of ammunition by increased distance of scattering of ready combustible elements.

3 drawings

Guided Missile Gosudarstvennoe unitarnoe predprijatie Konstruktorskoe bjuro priborostroenija Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This guided bank-spinning missile comprises fin flexible arms folding on to missile body side surface. Ring consisting of two half-rings are arranged in the body rear

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and fitted into body groove to be separated in flight, after fin arms get opened. Ring-tobody diameter ratio makes 0.9 to 1.1.

The reported effect is higher efficiency of missile flight control.

3 drawings

Method for Generation of Symmetrical Missile Control Signals Otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo “Golovnoe sistemnoe konstruktorskoe bjuro Kontserna PVO Almaz-Antej imeni akademika A.A. Raspletina”(OAO GSKB Almaz-Antej) Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian The control signals described here are generated with the help of two identical control channels, in every of which the following control signals are generated for one of missile aerodynamic control surfaces pairs - control signal with feedback on angular speed, control signal with feedback on side linear acceleration and control signal with feedback on missile attack angle. At the same time signal of error proportional to difference of radio control signal and signal, which is proportional to value of side linear acceleration, are integrated, which provides for absence of offset in closed stabilization system. The novelty is calculation of missile attack angle and generation of according signal, as a result of which positional feedback is provided by angle of missile attack, and missile control accuracy is improved.

The reported effect is improved accuracy of control.

3 drawings

Method to Generate Control Instruction for Spinning Two Channel Rocket and Device to this End Gosudarstvennoe unitarnoe predprijatie Konstruktorskoe bjuro priborostroenija Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian

December 2009

This invention relates to rocket guidance and can be used in tank armament, as well as in miniature anti-aircraft complexes.

Proposed method comprises generation of control signals for first and second channels proportional to linear deviation of rocket from aiming line in horizontal and vertical planes, respectively. It includes also generation of periodical carrier frequency signals proportional to sine and cosine of rocket bank angle. Aforesaid proportional signals are demodulated by carrier frequency signals. Resulted signals are subtracted from appropriate control signals. Control signals for first and second control surface drives are generated by modulating obtained difference signals in first and second control channels.

After modulation, additionally, signals of deviation of control surfaces in first and second control surface drives are passed through low-frequency filters with a certain transfer function.

The reported effect is higher accuracy of guidance.

4 drawings

Method for Generating of Command for Launching of Protective Ammunition Semenov Viktor Leonidovich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian The moment of command generation for protective ammunition launch is established by beginning of appearance and detection on radiolocating station (RLS) of signal with frequency: Fdo=2Vo fo/C, where Vo is radial speed of protective ammunition, fo is average frequency of continuous signal radiated by RLS with frequency modulation according to unilateral saw-like linearly growing law, C is light velocity. Detection of narrow-band frequency spectrum signals is carried out by

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December 2009

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frequency selection of signals, comparison of changing amplitude values of selected signals with reference voltage and fixation of moment of these values equality achievement, and also due to the fact that frequency of signals is increased several time and further selected with narrow-band filter. Device comprises at least two RLS distance in space, outlets of which are connected to inlets of matching unit.

The reported effect is reduced dimensional and cost characteristics of device for generation of command for launching of protective ammunition.

5 drawings

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Emerging Defense Technologies

48

Artillery Method of High-accuracy Firing from Automatic Gun and Set of Shells to This End Gosudarstvennoe obrazovatel’noe uchrezhdenie vysshego professional’nogo obrazovanija Moskovskij gosudarstvennyj tekhnicheskij universitet imeni N.Eh. Baumana Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This invention relates to artillery. In fire, set of shells is used comprising drive shell furnished with signal radiator and driven shell furnished with signal receiver. Note that, after each shot by drive shell, a certain group of driven shells is fired so that the distance between drive shell and the last of driven shells is ensured, defined from relationship l = v0 n / S, where V0 is muzzle velocity, m/s, S is the gun rate of fire, shot/s, n is the number of driven shells in a group. Note that drive shell is guided to the target, while driven shells are guides to signal radiated by drive shell.

The reported effect is higher efficiency of fire.

7 drawings

Multi-Seater Vessel Launcher of Vertical Launch Otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo Konstruktorskoe bjuro spetsialínogo mashinostroenija Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian

Emerging Defense Technologies

December 2009

Emerging Defense Technologies This launcher comprises upper base made with the possibility of fixation on vessel deck, bearing frame with journals for transporter launch containers (TLC), facility for retention and fixation of TLC and electric slots of electric communication of vessel control system of shooting with TLC. Upper base is made with cells for TLC, which are equipped with protective cover fixed on upper base with drive for its opening.

Launcher additionally comprises lower base, arranged with the possibility of fixation on vessel foundation, and support bases for TLC. Upper base is equipped with vertical guide elements, every of which is arranged as interacting with according journal of bearing frame, which is hingedly rested onto lower base, and support bases are installed on it for TLC with the possibility of interaction with bottom of according TLC in working position of launcher. Launcher is made with the possibility of side rest of TLC and has even number of cells. Bearing frame in upper base is installed so that in plan according cells of launcher are installed symmetrically relative to projection of longitudinal axis of frame journals. Bearing frame is equipped with guide elements for TLC, each arranged in the form of key guide that interacts with TLC clips in case of the latter loading into launcher. Support base may be equipped with clips, which interact with according key guides of bearing frame and may be readjusted in height.

The reported effect provides for possibility to reduce dimensional characteristics of launcher and adaptability of launcher of various classes and purpose, to various object-carriers.

6 drawings Revolving Rocket Launcher Kirilenko Nikolaj Jakovlevich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This revolving rocket launcher comprises hollow launching tube coupled with the launcher and rocket spinning device that links rocket with launching tube. Adapter is fixed at the tube outlet cross section, along tube perimeter, while its side surfaces have lengthwise flow-pass slits arranged along adapter edges and tangentially to its surface in direction of rocket revolution. Cylindrical shell is arranged outside launching tube to move axially there along and stop flow-pass slits.

The reported effect creates the possibility to control powder gas efflux from slits and tangential reactive gas-dynamic force.

3 drawings

DYM-CK Remote Control Fire Complex Rossijskaja Federatsija, ot imeni kotoroj vystupaet Ministerstvo oborony Rossijskoj Federatsii, Otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo Nauchnoproizvodstvennoe predprijatie Al’faPribor Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This invention relates to defense complexes.

Proposed complex comprises at least one remote-control firing unit (FU) consisting of TV camera, loudspeaker, guidance unit,

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December 2009

49

control unit, transceiver connected, via cables, with remote control board transceiver.

Aforesaid board incorporates monitor, mike and control device, e.g. joy-stock. Every firing unit incorporates sets of barrels with electrical fuses, IR-floodlight and mike intended for callback communication with intruder, and is arranged in a tight container. The latter is furnished with cover lifting mechanism and FU extending device supporting TV camera, sets of barrels, guidance device, control unit and mike for callback communication with intruder.

The reported effect is remote control defense, higher safety of personnel.

2 drawings

Rocket Launcher Kirilenko Nikolaj Jakovlevich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This rocket launcher comprises open- face launching tube coupled with the carrier and open-face adapter fitted inside aforesaid tube. Adapter inner surfaces feature radial lengthwise cutouts seats inclined towards aforesaid cutouts that communicate with the former on the tube outlet side.

The reported effect is increased degree of injection stream killing.

3 drawings

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Emerging Defense Technologies

50

Communications, Sensors & Surveillance Systems for Converting Laser Radiation of Guiding Mechanism Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This system can be used in mechanisms for guiding guided missiles to a target using a laser beam. The system includes an input window of the laser modulation device, first pancratic system and first objective lens placed lying on the first axis, second pancratic system, second objective lens and optical compensator lying on the second axis, parallel the first axis. The first reflector is placed at an angle to the first axis in front of the first pancratic system with possibility of coming out of the beam path.

The second reflector is placed in front of the second pancratic system parallel the first reflector. In the initial position of the first reflector on the axis of the first pancratic system, mobile components of the second pancratic system move, thereby reducing angle of divergence α of the laser radiation in the near control area to a value αd. When the first reflector moves out of the beam path, mobile components of the first pancratic system move, thereby reducing angle of divergence of laser radiation in the far control area from value αd to a minimal value. Each pancratic system includes at least two mobile components.

The reported effect is reduced length of the pancreatic system, prevention of defocusing of the system in the entire movement range of lenses of the pancreatic system.

1 drawing

December 2009

Emerging Defense Technologies

detection, escort and illumination of targets consists of digital computer system of battle control point, inlet-outlet of which is connected by bus through equipment of data transceiving in battle control point with two inlet-outlets of two single positional radiolocating systems. Each single positional radiolocating system comprises equipment of data transceiving, digital computer system, equipment of radiation and processing of pulse signal, direction-finding antenna, radio transmitting device for illumination of target and system for automatic escort of target according to direction. To reduce coefficient of radiolocating systems suppression with active noise, each single positional system is added with wave guide summary difference system, three-channel radio receiving device of continuous signal, the first, second and third phase detectors, heterodyne, equipment of reference signal generation and additional antenna.

The reported effect is increased noise immunity.

1 drawing

        

 

Emerging Defense Technologies

      

 

 

Spaced Radiolocating System for Detection, Escort and Illumination of Targets Otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo “Nauchnoissledovatelískij institut Priborostroenija imeni V.V. Tikhomirova Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This spaced radiolocating system for

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December 2009

51

Ground Vehicles Reaktivpanzerglasscheibe Blundesrep Deutschland Country of origin: Germany Language: German Die Erfindung betrifft eine Reaktivpanzerglasscheiter gepanzerter Fahrzeuge, insbesondere gegen Hohlladungsgeschosse. Leichte gepanzerte Fahrzeuge werden sowohl im zivilen als auch im militärischen Bereich eingesetzt. Die Besatzung dieser Fahrzeuge iverglasung vor Beschuss gefährdet. Gänzlich ungeschützt sind Fahrzeugbesatzungen vor der Wirkung von Hohlladungsgeschossen in diesem Bereich.

Der Erfindung liegt daher die Aufgabe zu Grunde, eine wirksame Panzerglasscheibe gegen Hohlladungsgeschosse zu schaffen.

Die Aufgabe wird erfindungsgemäss durch eine Reaktivpanzerglasscheibe, bestehend aus mindestens zwei optisch transparenten Verblendscheiben 1, 3, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass sich zwischen zwei optisch transparenten Verblendscheiben eine zusätzliche mittlere Schicht 2 befindet, dass die mittlere Schicht 2 optisch transparente Sprengmittel aufweist, gelöst.

3 drawings

Method of Protecting Armored Vehicles Gosudarstvennoe obrazovatel’noe uchrezhdenie vysshego professional’nogo obrazovanija Novosibirskij gosudarstvennyj tekhnicheskij Universitet Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian

Emerging Defense Technologies This invention relates to methods of recording bright points and can be used for protection of armored vehicles. Proposed method comprises launching, from protected vehicle, a pilotless remote-control flying apparatus (PRCA) to allow detect and identify enemy object by its thermal IR radiation. Obtained data is transmitted to space system or surface remote control station, flying object radiation is used to automatically determine enemy object coordinates to be transmitted to combat control center. Settings are automatically computed to hit enemy object.

Note here that PRCA is transferred into hedge-hopping flight, horizontal integral lighting is effected in picosecond range with wobbling of its radiation and synchronous strobing of reception circuit. Sensitivity of locating range, adaptation to background noises and noise compensation on selected flight part are performed. Attenuation on pulse propagation path is effected to ensure invariance to aerosol interferences. Bright point coordinates are recorded with respect to flying apparatus during its hedgehopping flight over enemy object.

The reported effect is higher safety.

5 drawings

Turret, particularly for an armored military vehicle, with a firearm support structure Alenia Aeronautica SPA Country or origin: Italy

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Language: English The turret comprises a support structure and a firearm carried by the support structure. The support structure includes a base fixed to the turret, a connection beam articulated at its front end to the base around a first horizontal axis of rotation, and a firearm-carrying beam articulated at its rear end to the rear end of the connection beam around a second horizontal axis of rotation parallel to the first. The firearm is received in the firearm-carrying beam so as not to project out from the back thereof.

At least one first linear actuator is interposed between the base and the connection beam to control the rotation thereof around the first axis of rotation and at least one second linear actuator is interposed between the connection beam and the firearm-carrying beam to control the rotation thereof around the second axis of rotation 6 drawings

Tank Design Burkov Lev Nikolaevich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This design may be used for improvement of already available designs of tank, in tank body there are two autonomous engines for drive of the left and right undercarriage of tank, which are arranged independently.

Caterpillar tracks are made of two equal and hinged parts, back constant and upper movable ones. Tracks may automatically expand with the help of group cumulative charges, at least one third from the common number of tracks, which are installed in side

Emerging Defense Technologies

52 part of armored tank. Caterpillars are arranged with the possibility of disengagement with the help of cumulative radio controlled explosive charge, which is installed inside one of fingers of both caterpillars. Drive has possibility of changeover to support-drive wheels. Armored body is arranged in the form of hemisphere.

Tower rotates around vertical axis. Missile launchers are fixed in body symmetrically on sides. Front part is equipped with embrasures for small arms located in two tiers with coverage of 360°.

The reported effect is improved technical properties of tank, increased fighting efficiency and adaptability to changing external conditions.

4 drawings

Bore Brush Country of Origin: USA Language: English A bore cleaner for a tank that literally crawls through the bore of the tank, and in the process of crawling through the bore, cleans the interior walls of the bore with very little user intervention or monitoring. The bore cleaner extends and retracts as it moves through the bore of the tank, and as it extends and retracts, brushes on the present invention rub against the inside of the bore of the tank and remove debris. When the bore cleaner reaches one end of the bore of the tank, slight user intervention is necessary to reverse the direction of the brushes on the bore cleaner.

4 drawings Vehicle Gas Turbine Armored Element and Method of its Porduction Federal’noe gosudarstvennoe unitarnoe predprijatie “Moskovskoe mashinostroitel’noe proizvodstvennoe predprijatie Saljut Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This vehicle gas turbine armored element represents multilayer belt enveloping engine housing circular section. Inner layer

Emerging Defense Technologies

December 2009

of aforesaid belt consists of epoxy or polyether composition reinforced by glassor carbon-based fabric, while its outer layer is made from polyurethane or polyureas reinforced by layers of poly aramide fabric.

Invention covers also the method of producing aforesaid armored layer. First, inner layer is fabricated by winding epoxy- or carbon-based fabric impregnated with epoxy or polyether composition onto engine housing circular section, resultant layer being cured thereafter.

Then outer layer is made by winding poly aramide fabric layers, fixture is tightly fitted over wound up layers of aforesaid poly aramide fabric to make circular space to be filled with polyurethane or polyureas. Now layers are cured and fixture is removed.

The reported effect is protection of crew and vehicle assembly units and parts in case engine gets destructed.

3 drawings

Fold-away Tooth With Positioning Claw for a Dozer assembly Rheinmetall Landsysteme GMBH Country of origin: Germany Language: German Vorgeschlagen wird ein Reisszahn bzw.

Reisszähne für Anbaugeräte an militärische Rad- und Kettenfahrzeuge als auch an zivilen Geräten, wie beispielsweise an einer Dozeranlage, wobei der Reisszahn bzw. die Reisszähne klappbar gelagert ist (sind), wobei der klappbare Reisszahn zumindest über eine Reisszahnlagerung, eine Bohrung für die Transportsicherung sowie eine Aufstellklaue und einen Anschlag als Momentenstütze verfügt.

4 drawings

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December 2009

53

Infantry Weapons

Emerging Defense Technologies

Anti-Tank Missile Complex Gosudarstvennoe unitarnoe predprijatie Konstruktorskoe bjuro priborostroenija Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This invention relates to antitank container with missile and connector socket arranged at container rear, if seen on the container loading side, and hooks representing two ledges with thrust flats arranged at the container front.

Orientation assembly incorporates a guide representing a rigid partition with arc-like cutout and an additional rigid partition with the like arclike cutout arranged at the launcher center.

It comprises also a horizontal flat located ahead of the guides and in the guide thrust surface plane. Guide slots and connector plug have lead-in parts, while center of mass of container with missile is located between aforesaid additional container and guide slots. Distance from the connector plug lower generatrix to additional partition arclike cutout lower generatrix exceeds that to partition arc-like cutout lower generatrix, but is smaller than that to container lower generatrix.

Aforesaid partition with arc-like cutout can be located above connector plug, while distance between the hook ledges, in direction perpendicular to container loading direction, and extreme generatrixes of arc-like cutouts can equal the container diameter. Guide slot lead-in parts can represent vertical angular slopes, while those of connector plug can represent circular chamber facing the socket.

The reported effect is simpler design, lower weight.

6 drawings

Muffler of Shot Sound Mezhregionalínoe obshchestvennoe uchrezhdenie Institut inzhenernoj fiziki Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This muffler of shot sound consists of body, central pipe with radial holes, which creates an annular cavity with body, in which there are elastic element-dampers in the form of hermetic bellows with the possibility of their axial deformation with powder gases.

Inside pipe there are diaphragms with holes for bullet pass, and muffler is divided into two parts, front part of which is connected to annular cavity.

The reported effect is reduced level of sound and radiation when shooting, expansion of its functional resources and possibility to use it in various types of firearms under various conditions of its application.      1 drawing

Barrel for Shooting with Bullets, Having Elastic Elements Otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo Zavod im. V.A. Degtjareva Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This barrel shaft for shooting with bullets, having elastic elements, is made with constant diameter D and with at least two bends, radius of which is less than 5D, and height of deformation is at least 0.1D. The reported effect is increased stability of energetic characteristics.

2 drawings

Weapon with IM-characteristics Saab Country of origin: Sweden Language: English The present invention relates to a weapon (2) having a barrel (4) or launch tube for a projectile or shell preloaded therein together with a propellant charge (8). Active venting means (6, 6’, 6”) are configured on said barrel (4) for preventing accidental firing of the shell

if said weapon becomes overheated.

4 drawings

Throwaway Grenade Launcher Otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo Tulatochmash Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This grenade launcher comprises launch tube with end covers and grenade installed in it with jet engine, percussion trigger and sighting device, which is arranged aside from launch tube. Sighting device is arranged in the form of stand with dioptric holes and

 



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Emerging Defense Technologies

54 foresight. Foresight is made in the form of hollow plank of rectangular section with horizontal slots, in links of which triangular teeth are arranged, tops of which correspond to specific distances of shooting. Foresight is fixed with the possibility of its adjustment by height by fixation of according lugs on plank and rotary beam using screw with two threaded sections. One of sections is arranged in threaded lug of plank, and the other one - at the end of screw, and is fixed with nut that rests against lug of rotary beam. Plank is fixed as open in firing order with stop at rotary beam and is pressed with cylindrical spring arranged on rotary beam between plank lugs.

Spring is made with sections wound in various directions and with hook ends at spring ends, which rest against shelf of rotary beam and hook end between sections of spring, which rest against wall of plank. Rotary beam is fixed on axis arranged between walls of box on yoke, and stand with dioptric holes is fixed on its own axis in walls of hollow foundation at the sharp angle to axis of launch tube in vertical plane and is arranged in the form of plate, upper part of which in zone of dioptric holes is bent to position of its parallelism with axis of launch tube. Plate from the side of foundation is arranged in the form of cam pressed with lamellar spring with the possibility of its folding.

The reported effect is increased sighting distance of shooting with increased accuracy of shooting.

5 drawings Manual Hand Grenade Launcher Complex Otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo Tulatochmash Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This invention relates to weapons and can be used in designing hand grenade launcher complexes. Proposed complex comprises container hooked to fiberglass launching tube. Lockwork incorporates pulsed generator, coupling assembly, sights and belt. Aforesaid coupling assembly comprises locking mechanism and electric contact device to transmit electric pulse from electric generator to grenade firing circuits. Locking mechanism represents shaped spring-loaded plate with two levers, that is, a hook fixed on launching tube. First of the above levers forms a gap with launching tube and features a chamfer made on its inner surface. The other lever incorporates a tooth to interact with circular groove made on container. First 

Emerging Defense Technologies

lever is covered, on the gap side, by springloaded ledge of bolt stop interacting with first lever chamfer, while inner generating surface of contact rings interacts with launching tube inner surface by its conical surface in contact with equidistant cone of container. Electriccontact device represents two eclecticallyconnected metal contact rings, reinforced in the area of aforesaid coupling assembly and connected by spring-loaded contacts with grenade firing circuits. Button-type circuit breaker is connected between contact rings and electric generator.

The reported effect is higher safety.

3 drawings     

December 2009

automatic guns, particularly to magazines arranged under the barrel. Magazine selfreleasing from breach frame comprises catch and casing with device to fasten in breech frame. Aforesaid device is spring-loaded inside the said casing and can thrust against cartridge to press out for size sufficient for it to be fixed by magazine catch and/or breech frame. The device above represents thrust ledge on the casing rear wall and/or hook on its front wall. Thrust ledge and/or hook can have flexible part arranged on the base made inside the casing to act as a spring.

The reported effect is higher reliability, reduced time for recharging.

3 drawings Processes and Systems for Monitoring Usage of Projectile Weapons Country of Origin: USA Language: English Processes and systems for detecting a shot by a projectile weapon are disclosed. Data is obtained along at least two different axes for use in determining whether a shot has taken place based on an evaluation by a processor.

In certain embodiments, multiple detection systems are positioned on a weapons platform mounting multiple projectile weapons, and each is configured to detect only a shot by a respective one of the projectile weapons.

9 drawings

Gun Self-releasing Magazine Aleksjutin Evgenij Valer’evich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This invention relates to semiautomatic and  

Modular Mounting Systems for Rifle Accessories, and Associated Equipment Country of Origin: USA Language: English

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December 2009 Accessory mounting structure for securing accessory mounting rails to the barrel or other forward structure of a weapon comprises cooperatively shaped mounting ring halves that are secured to another over the barrel of the weapon. Accessory mounting rails are then secured to the mounting rings. Where the weapon is a grenade launcher, a quick-reload mechanism may additionally be provided.

8 drawings Method to Mark Firing Arms OOO Spetsializirovannyj delovoj tsentr po informatsionnoj bezopasnosti i spetsial’nym tekhnicheskim sredstvam Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This invention relates to identification of firing arm barrels by traces on discharged bullet. To identify rifling firing arm, marking element is made on barrel bore inner side to make individual traces on discharged bullet. Aforesaid marking element represents arbitrary change of micro relief in two and more barrel zones by multi-mode laser radiation, while additional marking element makes the distance between the zones of laser radiation effect and local change in micro relief in laser build-up of inhomogeneous paste.

The reported effect is reliable identification of firing arms including those with polygonal rifling grooves.

4 drawings

55 Submachine Gun Sukhov Valerij Nikiforovich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This submachine gun breech has locking lever furnished with a head coupled with piston that can turn on axles arranged on the lever post inner side. The lever outer side has axial slots for breechblock to move along guide ledges furnished with locks.

Aforesaid axial slots allow breechblock to turn in the locks of aforesaid guide ledges in both direction in locking and unlocking the beech block. On unlocking the breechblock, aforesaid piston is pushed outside aforesaid cylinder by powder gases, the cylinder being arranged right above the barrel breech housing.

The reported effect is reduced weight, higher reliability and ease of operation.

8 drawings

Note that small arm incorporates central magazine arranged between breech chamber and main magazine. Limiter represents horizontal ledge arranged on feed lever and facing breech frame and vertical ledge facing the top lengthwise cover closing small arm stock.

The reported effect is higher reliability.

2 drawings

Limiter of Number of Shots Glukhov Aleksandr Vladimirovich Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This limiter of number of shots in serial fire is arranged on small arm and comprises element that obstructs pushing the hammer striker after firing present number of shots.     

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December 2009

Soldier Survivability & Gear Method of Protecting Land- and Seabased Equipment Otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo Institut prikladnoj fiziki Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This proposed method exploits the device useful load of which dissipates in atmosphere to form disk-shaped masking curtain developed in frontal plane wherein threat exists in electromagnetic radiation visible and IR spectra.

The reported effect is higher efficiency of protection.

4 drawings

Bulletproof Structure Verbitskaja NatalĂ­ja Aleksandrovna Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This described bulletproof structure comprises base, damping element arranged on internal side of base and fixed in process of vacuum pressing by means of glue composition. Base comprises several rows of protective elements from ballistic resistant material in the form of rods arranged with closure of gaps between protective elements of previous layer with protective elements of the following layer.

Emerging Defense Technologies

And also base comprises at least three packets in the form of polymer composite material, which consists of multilayer reinforcing filler impregnated with thermosetting binder and made of alternating layers, selected from the following group: glass tissue, coal tissue, basalt tissue, aramid fabric and/or from the following group: glass tissue, basalt fiber, coal fiber, aramid fiber. At the same time base is formed by means of direct pressing of packets with several rows of rods to give packets a certain shape with sinusoidally arranged indents, in which protective elements are installed and fixed relative to each other and relative to packets of glue composition.

The reported effect is an invention that provides for scattering and absorption of kinetic energy of bullet, reduced zone of bullet contact with material, variation of its movement direction.

2 drawings

Attachment Mount and Receiver System for Removably Attaching Articles to Garments Prezine LLC Country of Origin: USA Language: English An attachment mount and receiver system for attaching articles to a garment. A receiver has openings for affixing the receiver to a support that is then attached to a compatible garment. The mount has openings for affixing an article thereto. A pair of flexible springs permit connected tines to be compressed inwardly, allowing the mount to be slidingly inserted into the receiver. A barb at the end of each tine engages an end wall of the receiver when the mount is fully seated. Tines are

compressed inwardly and the mount is withdrawable. Selective locks can inhibit the tines from being compressed. Resistance to prying the mount away from the receiver is also provided.

38 drawings Protection from Attack Poudres et Explosifs SNPE SA Country of origin: France Language: French A platform under attack by an opposing threat, for example a missile with a homing head or a projectile guided by fire control, is protected by the deployment of at least one substance forming a screen between the platform and the threat, and by placing at least one emissive element between the threat and the screen, this emissive element emitting radiation in the visible and/or infrared or as radar.

2 drawings

Ballistic-resistant Articles Comprising Tapes  Teijin Arami Country of origin: Netherlands Language: English Ballistic-resistant molded article comprising a compressed stack of sheets comprising tapes of a reinforcing material, characterized in that at least one sheet comprises woven tapes as weft and as warp. A method for manufacturing the ballistic-resistant molded article is also claimed.

0 drawings

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December 2009 Method for Classifying Incoming RAMprojectiles EADS Deutschland GMBH Country of origin: Germany Language: German Die Erfindung betrifft ein Verfahren zur Klassifikation von RAM-Geschossen. Um die ballistische Flugbahn eines früheren RAMGeschosses herum wird dazu eine räumliche Prüfzone generiert, wobei zur Klassifikation eines neu auftretenden Geschosses geprüft wird, ob es sich an mindestens einem Zeitpunkt innerhalb der generierten räumlichen Prüfzone befindet.

7 drawings

Guarding Jacket with Armor Protection Zakrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo FORT Tekhnologija” (ZAO FORT Tekhnologija), Obshchestvo s ogranichennoj otvetstvennost’ju FIRMA GONT (OOO FIRMA GONT) Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This invention relates to rescue appliances, particularly to guarding jackets with armor protection designed to be used by marines.

Proposed jacket comprises textile part comprising detachable chest and back sections with enlarged lateral and shoulder parts, guarding belts and buckles to lock back section on body, vent plates made from multi-layer woven fabric and armor elements. Textile part of the chest and back parts is made of outer protective part with

57 flexible armor elements from synthetic fibers that feature positive floatability, and inner floatable part with chamber accommodating floatability elements. Aforesaid outer and inner parts are interjointed via a releasable joint. Chest section length is smaller than that of the back section. Chest section protective part is furnished with pockets to house rigid armor panels arranged to allow chest section deflect in horizontal. Vent plates are fastened with the help of releasable joint on the inner floatable surface of textile part.

The reported effect is higher reliability and safety.

9 drawings Multi-Function Backpack-Vest Device Country of origin: USA Language: English A multi-function backpack-vest that allows for size adjustment so that the backpack-vest may be worn by any user, regardless of size.

The backpack-vest has various compartments in which users may place items. Some of these compartments are so designed that body-armor, personal floatation materials or insulation material may be placed within them. Also, the backpack-vest features a compartment in which a laptop may be placed and when housed in said compartment the laptop will be supported on a work platform, which is supported by straps on either side of said platform, connecting the platform to the backpack-vest.

7 drawings

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Aluminum-based Laminar Plate for Bulletproof Welded Armor Otkrytoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo Nauchnoissledovatel’skij institut stali (OAO NII stali) Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This proposed plate comprises front, medium and rear layers made in aluminum alloys, thin layers arranged between aforesaid layers and on outer surfaces of front and rear layers, their thickness making 1 to 3% of the plate thickness. Front layer thickness makes 4 to 13% of the plate thickness.

Thin layers are made in aluminum alloy containing zinc, manganese, iron, titanium and admixtures. Rear layer thickness makes 4 to 13% of the plate thickness. At least one of the front, medium and rear layers is made in aluminum alloy containing zinc, magnesium, manganese, chromium, iron, titanium, zirconium, copper, silicon and admixtures.

Note here that total content of zinc and copper makes 6.4 to 7.4% by weight, while zinc-to- magnesium ration makes 2.57 to 3.67.

The reported effect is higher strength.

1 drawing

Method of Camouflaging Space Objects Gosudarstvennoe obrazovatel’noe uchrezhdenie vysshego professional’nogo obrazovanija Voennaja akademija Raketnykh vojsk strategicheskogo naznachenija imeni Petra Velikogo Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian The use of heat targets allows for protecting descent modules. Radiation intensity of heat targets corresponds to radiation intensity of spacecraft in each moment in time with change of flight altitude of the spacecraft.

The reported effect is protection of spacecraft from guided missiles with infrared homing heads.

Emerging Defense Technologies

58 Face, Hand, and Skin Camouflage Country of Origin: USA Language: English Applicators provide a means of concealment and camouflage for uncovered skin, in particular the face, hands, and other body parts that may not be clothed such as arms, legs, or torso. A new use of temporary tattoo devices and process to apply one of many predetermined camouflaged patterns to uncovered skin. In one embodiment, a continuous camouflage pattern is applied the entire face and ears. In another embodiment, a pattern is applied to portions of the face and neck. In yet another embodiment, a camouflage pattern is composed of camouflage elements, each applied by multiple applicators. Sets of applicators apply portions of a particular pattern. Books contain multiple sets of the same pattern, or sets of multiple patterns.

Camouflage is used for hunting and military concealment. Other uses include reproducing makeup designs for stage and video actors, costume wearers, and sports fanatics. Further, the invention provides uniform appearance for groups of people such a protestors or fundraisers.

28 drawings

Target Installation Federalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;noe gosudarstvennoe unitarnoe Predprijatie 195 Tsentralâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nyj zavod Poligonnogo i uchebnogo oborudovanija Ministerstva oborony Rossijskoj Federatsii Country of origin: Russia Language: Russian This target installation comprises housing accommodating electric drive, rotary shaft supporting holder with board, programmable control device, limit switch, electronic unit and reduction gear. Output shaft of the latter is coupled with motor shaft and has crank ties to aforesaid rotary shaft.

Emerging Defense Technologies

Shaft extensions extend beyond installation housing and support board holder yoke and spring- loaded storage battery. Housing side wall accommodates panel of connectors, fuses and switches. It is furnished with detachable tight cover. Reduction gear housing accommodates micro switch attached thereto. Reduction gear output shaft supports electromagnetic normally-closed brake disk.

The reported effect is training conditions approximated to actual combat conditions, higher reliability.

5 drawings

Apparatus for Inhibiting Effects of an Explosive Device Country of origin: USA Language: English An apparatus for inhibiting effects of an explosive blast includes a central portion including a stiffening element and defining a radiused exterior surface and a plurality of sides extending from the central portion for attachment to a structure. The central portion and the plurality of sides are configured to redirect at least a portion of a blast wave resulting from an explosive blast. A vehicle hull includes a personnel compartment and an apparatus for inhibiting effects of an explosive blast operably associated with the personnel compartment. The apparatus includes a central portion including a stiffening element and defining a radiused exterior surface and a plurality of sides extending between the central

December 2009

portion and the personnel compartment. The central portion and the plurality of sides are configured to redirect at least a portion of a blast wave resulting from an explosive blast.

20 drawings

www.defense-house.com

December 2009

59

Unmanned Vehicles Robotic Vehicle Remote Control System Having a Virtual Operator Environment Robotic Research LLC Country of Origin: USA Language: English A control system for a remotely operated vehicle is disclosed. The control system includes a sensor tracking system configured to sense the remotely operated vehicle.

The control system is coupled to the sensor tracking system and is configured to remotely control the remotely operated vehicle. The control system includes a synthetic view generator configured to construct a virtual model of the remotely operated vehicle and its surrounding environment based upon an input from the sensor tracking system. The control system also includes a graphical user interface configured to display a synthetic view of the virtual model. In addition, the control system includes a synthetic viewer control configured to manipulate an orientation of the synthetic view.

14 drawings

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