Archive | September 30, 2011 | Armed with Science

‘Refresh, Refurb’: Doing More With Less, Liking it That Way

Filed under Energy, Policy, STEM, Technology by Carla Voorhees on September 30, 2011 at 1:08 pm {no comments}

By J. Elise Van Pool

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, Sept. 20, 2011 — Logistics Task Force-4 (LTF-4), part of the 401st Army Field Support Battalion–Kandahar, 401st Army Field Support Brigade, at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, is working with the Marine Corps on a new, one-of-a-kind maintenance program that will keep Marine Corps vehicles in the fight for an additional two years.

This truck is one of the first being rebuilt as part of the Refresh and Refurb, or R2, program being conducted by Logistics Task Force-4, part of the 401st Army Field Support Battalion-Kandahar, 401st Army Field Support Brigade, at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. The program will rebuild nine types of vehicles ranging from seven ton trucks to M88 heavy equipment recovery vehicles.

Called the Refresh and Refurb program, or R2 for short, the program will take place over three years and LTF-4 will rebuild nine types of vehicles ranging from seven-ton trucks to M88 heavy equipment recovery vehicles. The program expects to rebuild about 750 vehicles in all.

This program is the first of its kind in the history of the Army and Marine Corps. For the first time, the Marines will partner with an Army Material Command tactical unit to do depot-level maintenance in a forward area.

“It’s about improving vehicle readiness for the Marines,” said Lt. Col. Robert Roy, LTF-4 commander. “The vehicles don’t have to be shipped back to CONUS [continental United States] so the warfighter has a bigger pool of vehicles available.”

After careful study of maintenance and supply records, AMC and the Marines identified parts on each vehicle that most commonly need replacement. Then they drafted a statement of work which details the procedure for rebuilding each of the vehicles.

“They are doing as close to a complete overhaul as possible,” Tim Blair, equipment specialist for LTF-4, said. “We are giving it a new lease on life.”

As a result of the high operational tempo and harsh environmental conditions in southern Afghanistan, such as high temperatures and large amounts of blowing sand, vehicles tend to breakdown faster and need a greater level of maintenance. (more…)

Engineer Blends Science, Patriotism With USARAF Mission

Filed under Energy, STEM, Technology by Julie Weckerlein on September 29, 2011 at 1:17 pm {2 comments}

U.S. Army Africa is working in cooperation with U.S. Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center on a solar shade system in Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, that produces two kilowatts of power. Natick engineer Steve Tucker is the lead project manager and brings a unique skill set to the mission.

Steve Tucker, an electrical engineer from U.S. Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center recently conducted a limited military user assessment on the solar shade at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. (Photo by U.S. Army Public Affairs.)

Tucker has never served as a Soldier, but his daily service to the U.S. Army is remarkable.

Tucker is an electrical engineer by trade and works for the U.S. Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center in Massachusetts. His list of deployments in combat zones and isolated areas included Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt and Korea. His trip to Djibouti focused on a limited military use assessment of a solar energy project called the solar shade. It’s a project he’s working in cooperation with U.S. Army Africa.

He began his Army civilian career shortly after Sept. 11, 2001. In the opening days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Tucker was working alongside Soldiers in Mosul, Iraq, during a year-long tour.

In many respects, his demeanor is dyed-in-the-wool Army green.

While in Djibouti, his bunk in the containerized living unit or CLU, sported hospital corners and the obligatory dollar-width top sheet fold over the blanket. His speech is infused with a lexicon of Army acronyms and you can tell he genuinely enjoys working with Soldiers.

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Army Creates App for Soldiers to Attend AUSA Virtually

Filed under Cyber Security, Technology by Carla Voorhees on September 28, 2011 at 2:28 pm {no comments}

By Gary Sheftick

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 27, 2011) — A new app for smartphones will allow Soldiers worldwide to visit Army exhibits and watch presentations taking place at the Washington Convention Center Oct. 10-12.

The Army Exhibit Mobile App will help visitors find what they’re looking for at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) annual meeting and symposium, and allow those who can’t be there to take a virtual tour.

The app will also allow users to watch Secretary of the Army John McHugh, Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno and other senior leaders discuss leading-edge issues facing the Army, such as advancing the network, cyber security, future training, leader development and more. They will be able to hear Soldiers ask questions and get frank answers from their senior leaders.

The Army Exhibit Mobile App will spotlight Army exhibits and speeches at the the AUSA annual meeting and symposium. (Photo Credit: Army Public Affairs)

“We want to expand the reach beyond the building and beyond the calendar,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Smedley, who explained the presentations and exhibits will be available for viewing on the app not just during the three days of the conference, but for months to come.

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TacSat-4 Encapsulation Time-Lapse VIDEO & Launch Announcement

Filed under Space, STEM, Technology, Videos by Carla Voorhees on September 27, 2011 at 8:51 am {no comments}

In the time-lapse video below, the Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Tactical Satellite IV (TacSat-4) is encapsulated inside the fairing (nose cone) of an Orbital Sciences Corporation Minotaur-IV+ launch vehicle in preparation for a Sept. 27, 2011, launch from the Alaska Aerospace Corporation’s Kodiak Launch Complex.

You can watch the TacSat-4 launch live this morning, Sept 27, 2011, between 11:49 am and 12:56 pm EDT by visiting http://on.fb.me/nSSiNp.

TacSat-4 is a Navy-led joint mission which provides 10 Ultra High Frequency channels and allows troops using existing radios to communicate on-the-move from obscured regions without the need for dangerous antenna positioning and pointing. To augment current geosynchronous satellite communication, the TacSat-4 spacecraft will be deployed into a unique, highly elliptical orbit with an apogee in the high latitudes of 12,050 kilometers.

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Have You Met DARwin? [VIDEO]

Filed under STEM, Technology, Videos by Julie Weckerlein on September 26, 2011 at 10:28 am {3 comments}

DARwin (Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence), a robot developed by the Virginia Tech Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) performed recently at the Office of Naval Research exhibit during the 2011 Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems’ annual North American conference in Washington, D.C. DARwin is a family of fully autonomous humanoid robots capable of bipedal walking and performing human like motions.

Watch a video of DARwin in action after the jump!

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Influenza Detection Kit Helps AFHSC Identify Outbreaks Before They Start

Filed under Life Sciences, STEM, Technology by Carla Voorhees on September 23, 2011 at 10:47 am {no comments}

Captain Kevin Russell

Navy Capt Kevin Russell is the Director of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC). The AFHSC works to promote, maintain and enhance the health of the military and military-associated populations by providing relevant, timely and comprehensive surveillance information.

The recently-released movie “Contagion” could easily be dismissed as purely Hollywood fantasy about a pandemic that kills millions of people in a few months. Yet, many of us at federal agencies know first-hand the panic and devastation that can ensue when a pandemic like the swine flu-scare a few years back grips the world.

At the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC), one of our primary goals is to support global health surveillance and response to emerging infectious diseases. Effective global disease surveillance, timely detection of outbreaks and appropriate responses to control epidemics are the essential tools to our service members and the global health community.

That’s why AFHSC, through its division of Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (GEIS), recently funded the development of two new kits cleared by the Food and Drug Administration that will increase the speed and accuracy of diagnosing influenza among military personnel in deployed settings.

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Archive Video – “The Future of Engineering”

Filed under Education & Culture, Policy, Technology by Carla Voorhees on September 22, 2011 at 3:00 pm {no comments}

If you missed the Office of Naval Research Distinguished Lecture series featuring Dr. James J. Duderstadt, University of Michigan President Emeritus and National Medal of Technology and Innovation Laureate discussing the future of engineering education, don’t worry. You can watch the archive video below!

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Combined Endeavor Interoperability Guide Ensures Nations Work Together in Times of Crisis

Filed under Policy, STEM, Technology by Carla Voorhees on September 22, 2011 at 10:19 am {no comments}

Mr. Roger Joseph Nelan is a Department of the Army Civilian performing as the Technical Director for the U.S. EUCOM HQ sponsored exercise, COMBINED ENDEAVOR. In this capacity he is responsible for ensuring that the exercise goals along with National Goals and Objectives as defined by each of the appointed Delegation Chiefs, Executive Management Board, and various concept papers are met by the planning efforts of the exercise technical working groups and national technical planners. Mr. Nelan works closely with senior government representatives, foreign and domestic senior military leadership, and representatives from over forty nations, government and non-government agencies to promote communications system interoperability for militaries during times of war and peacekeeping. He also directs the COMBINED ENDEAVOR Combined Joint Command and Control Center, which performs planning, execution, technical direction, and management functions for all exercise coalition network C4 systems.

COMBINED ENDEAVOR (CE) is the largest multinational command, control, communications, computers (C4) interoperability exercise in the world. CE is a United States European Command (USEUCOM) exercise that brings together NATO countries and Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries to achieve and document Communications and Information Systems (CIS) and Command and Control (C2) service interoperability. This allows nations to prepare and operate together in support of crisis response operations.