Archive | February 29, 2012 | Armed with Science

The Naval Research Laboratory: A Glimpse of the Future

Filed under Featured, STEM, Technology, Videos by glenn.selby on February 29, 2012 at 10:00 am {no comments}

In 1915, Thomas Edison was asked by a New York Times correspondent to comment on the great European war. Edison argued that the Nation should look to science.

“The Government,” he proposed in a published interview, “should maintain a great research laboratory…In this could be developed…all the technique of military and naval progression without any vast expense.” This lives on as the seminal moment for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

Since its establishment on July 2, 1923, NRL has excelled in conducting a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research and technological development focused on Navy and Marine Corps applications. NRL’s dedicated scientists, engineers, and support personnel – working in world-class facilities – have developed a number of innovations that have revolutionized the capabilities of our Navy and Marine Corps.

(more…)

New Truncal Tourniquet Ready for Battlefield Use

Filed under Life Sciences, Logistics, STEM by glenn.selby on February 29, 2012 at 8:00 am {no comments}

Dr. John F. Kragh, an orthopedic surgeon and researcher at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, applies the correct amount of pressure to the target area.

By Steven Galvan, USAISR Public Affairs

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (Jan. 19, 2012) — Saving the lives of combat wounded is one of the main objectives at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Research on prehospital care devices like the tourniquet has proven to save lives in the battlefield wounds to the arms or legs, which was once the most common cause of preventable death.

Now, after almost two years of research on a device to prevent the most common cause of preventable death in the battlefield, the junctional tourniquet is ready for battlefield use.

“Exsanguination, or bleeding to death, from the body is now the most common cause of preventable death to wounded warriors on the battlefield,” said Dr. John F. Kragh, an orthopedic surgeon and researcher at U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, or USAISR. “Groin hemorrhage is the most common type of junctional bleeding where regular tourniquets cannot work.”

(more…)

The Evolving Climate for Science and Engineering

Filed under Featured, STEM, Technology by glenn.selby on February 28, 2012 at 10:39 am {no comments}

Alan I. Leshner, PhD, Chief Executive Officer American Association for the Advancement of Science

On Monday, March 12, the Office of Naval Research is pleased to host the American Association for the Advancement of Science CEO, Dr. Alan Leshner as the next speaker in the Director of Innovation’s ONR Distinguished Lecture Series.

Dr. Leshner’s talk is entitled “The Evolving Climate for Science and Engineering.” In his positions as CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, publisher of SCIENCE magazine, and member of the U.S. National Science Board, Dr. Leshner has a uniquely broad perspective on the U.S. Science, Technology and Innovation enterprise. Dr. Leshner will draw from his current roles as well as his long experience as a university researcher and then scientific administrator in various Federal agencies, to explore the challenges and opportunities government agencies and their academic and public sector partners currently face in Science and Engineering. What are the impacts of strengthening international competition, budget pressures, a domestic crisis in STEM education, and other issues? What is the role of national policy and how might we better coordinate our efforts at the Federal level while preserving a core strength derived from individually guided, discovery based research? Please join us for an important conversation about the future of Federal ST&I with this significant public policy thought leader.

We’ll be streaming the talk live here on the Armed with Science blog via UStream. If you’re in the Arlington, VA, area, you can attend the talk in person by registering at the ONR website.

Army Rangers Test New Software-Defined Radio

Filed under STEM, Technology by glenn.selby on February 28, 2012 at 8:00 am {no comments}

A member of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan wears the JTRS Rifleman Radio. The Rangers recently completed an operational assessment of the software-programmable Joint Tactical Radio Systems.

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 10, 2012) — The U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan recently completed an operational assessment of the software-programmable Joint Tactical Radio Systems, or JTRS, Rifleman Radio. The assessment highlighted the radio’s ability to share combat-relevant information, voice and data across small units in real time.

“We have just entered the era of the networked Soldier,” said Col. John Zavarelli, program manager, Joint Program Executive Office, or JPEO JTRS, Handheld Manpack Small. “The individual rifleman now has a game-changing capability.”

The Operational Assessment marked the first formal combat use of the single-channel, software-defined Rifleman Radio, which uses Soldier Radio Waveform, or SRW, a high bandwidth waveform which draws upon a larger part of the available spectrum compared to legacy radios to share information and “network” forces.

Rifleman Radio is part of a family of software-programmable JTRS radios, which make use of NSA-certified encryption to safeguard and transmit information. The radios are built to send packets of data, voice, video and images via multiple waveforms between static command centers, vehicles on-the-move and even dismounted individual Soldiers on patrol.

(more…)

Army Attacks Hardware Corrosion

Filed under Energy, Physical Sciences, STEM, Uncategorized by glenn.selby on February 27, 2012 at 8:00 am {no comments}

Corrosion engineer Nancy Whitmire goes over the findings of a corrosion test with Steve Carr, the program manager for the Aviation and Missile Command's Corrosion Program. The test involved coating metal coupons with different finishes and then placing them in an accelerated corrosion chamber to determine the amount of corrosion that would develop in a sand and salt environment.

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — Scott Reis is on a mission.

An anti-corrosion mission, that is.

He and fellow Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center employees carry out the mission of the Aviation and Missile Command’s Corrosion Program Office to promote corrosion prevention programs for a wide range of AMCOM systems. They study the way metals, coatings and finishes develop corrosion; engineer design and materials solutions for corrosion issues in the field; train Soldiers on how to prevent equipment corrosion; and tout the ill effects of corrosion on the Army’s missile and aviation systems.

Those ill effects are staggering in terms of capabilities lost, and the cost of repairing or replacing equipment due to corrosion. At AMCOM, an estimated $1.6 billion a year is spent combating corrosion issues. The U.S. General Accounting Office estimated the cost of corrosion to the Department of Defense at between $9 billion and $20 billion annually.

“Problems with corrosion represent 20 percent of AMCOM’s total annual maintenance program,” Steve Carr, AMCOM’s corrosion program manager, said.

(more…)

Army Practices Environmental Conservation in Hawaii

Filed under Earth Sciences by glenn.selby on February 25, 2012 at 8:30 am {no comments}

By U.S. Air Force TSgt. Michael Jackson

In order to stay up to speed on the latest war fighting techniques the Army needs to blow things up, often at the price of destroying local flora and fauna. There is an environmental program, however, that is insuring the future of endangered species located on Army installations across the U.S., and the natural resources team in Hawaii is the Secretary of the Army’s top team winning the 2011 Natural Resources Conservation Team Award. The award is part of the annual Secretary of the Army Environmental Awards Program, which recognizes and rewards excellence for the development, management and transferability of environmental programs that increase environmental quality, enhance the mission and help make the Army sustainable.

Navy to Build Two New Oceanographic Research Vessels

Filed under STEM, Technology by glenn.selby on February 24, 2012 at 8:00 am {no comments}

By Grace Jean, Office of Naval Research

ARLINGTON, Va.—The Navy has awarded $70 million to a West Coast-based shipyard to begin building the second of two modern oceanographic research vessels, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced Feb. 9.

Dakota Creek Industries Inc. of Anacortes, Wash., will begin detail design and construction on the Ocean-class Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research (AGOR) vessel 28. Naval Sea Systems Command previously awarded a contract for AGOR 27, the first of the two new research ships. The recent award brings the Navy’s combined shipbuilding investments in the program to $145 million.

“The ships are indispensible research tools,” said Dr. Frank Herr, director of ONR’s Ocean Battlespace Sensing Department. “They are the primary means by which we go to sea and engage the oceanographic research community to learn about the ocean—and to develop oceanographic and atmospheric prediction systems to help the fleet understand the ocean, and plan for its operations around the world.”

The Navy, through ONR, has been a leader in building and providing large research ships for the nation’s academic research fleet since World War II. The latest ships will replace two vessels previously Navy-built and owned.

Designed as single-hull ships, AGOR 27 and AGOR 28 are approximately 238-feet long and incorporate the latest technologies, including high-efficiency diesel engines, emissions controls for stack gasses, new information technology tools both for monitoring shipboard systems and for communicating with the world, and hull coatings to reduce maintenance requirements. Each vessel will operate with a crew of 20 with accommodations for 24 scientists.

The construction phase will last 30 to 36 months per ship with delivery expected in late 2014 and early 2015. Once delivered to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and to Scripps Institution of Oceanography, respectively, the ships will allow scientists to continue with ongoing research efforts in the Atlantic, western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

The U.S. academic research fleet is organized by the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), a partnership among research institutions consisting of 16 vessel operators. Federal agencies provide research grants for ocean sciences which in turn support ship operations via day rates charged to research users. The six Navy-owned vessels are among the largest in this fleet enabling global ranging research programs.

For more information:

Learn about ONR-sponsored naval research facilities
See the award announcement on Defense.gov

New First Aid Kit Being Developed at Natick

Filed under STEM, Technology by glenn.selby on February 23, 2012 at 8:00 am {no comments}

Rich Landry, individual equipment designer with the Load Carriage Prototype Lab, Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment, Natick Soldier Systems Center, displays the new Individual First Aid Kit being developed there.

NATICK, Mass. (Feb. 2, 2012) — Maybe it looks like a camouflage money belt on steroids, but it could save Soldiers’ lives.

The new Individual First Aid Kit, or IFAK, being developed at the Natick Soldier Systems Center eventually will be carried by every Soldier in a combat environment.

“We designed it literally about three or four months ago,” said Rich Landry, individual equipment designer with the Load Carriage Prototype Lab, Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment, at NSSC. “The medical community said, ‘Awesome idea. Let’s move out with it.’ Overwhelmingly, they thought this was a huge improvement over the current IFAK.”

As Landry pointed out, the current IFAK, developed rapidly in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom to fulfill a critical need, has proved rather unwieldy.

“This thing is just kind of a brick on your side that gets in the way of everything,” said Landry of the current bulky IFAK, which was built into an existing Squad Automatic Weapon ammo pouch. “It was very, very quick, because they needed them right away.”

More thought has gone into the new IFAK, a streamlined, two-piece system that features a pouch with an insert that slides out to allow easy access to medical equipment from either side.

“It supports all the critical items to the individual Soldier’s medical needs,” Landry said. “The beauty of this system, compared to the old one, is that it allows the Soldier to place it on (his or her) body in a spot where it can be easily accessible, which is the critical piece, but also not get in the way of other important tactical pieces of equipment.”

Landry said 30 new IFAKs recently underwent evaluation at Fort Polk, La., where a platoon of Soldiers carried them through a training rotation. The early feedback has been positive, he added.

“We’re very sure this is the direction the Individual First Aid Kit is going to go, hopefully, for all services, but you never know,” Landry said. “That would be icing on the cake.”

The new IFAK carries even more medical gear than the first version, including two Combat Application Tourniquets. Still, its lower profile allows a Soldier to wear it comfortably in the small of his or her back under the Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment, or MOLLE, Large or Medium backpack.

“And that’s critical for us, because the big picture in load carriage is the backpack piece,” Landry said. “That’s where a large percentage of the load and bulk comes from. And it’s critical that we still have to be able to carry that.

“All you do is reach back and pull (the IFAK) out, and it doesn’t matter what side you pull it out from,” Landry said. “So if this hand is injured, you can reach behind with this (hand) and pull it out, or your buddy can get to it.”

Such innovation is Landry’s calling card at Natick. A former Pathfinder with the 82nd Airborne Division, he began tinkering with outdoor equipment at a young age.

“My sister taught me how to sew,” Landry recalled. “Every backpack I got, every piece of equipment I got, was modified in some way, shape or form. That’s just how my brain works. Nothing can be left alone. Nothing’s perfect in my mind, as far as outdoor equipment, and that’s a curse.”

It’s also been a blessing for Soldiers, who have worn equipment all around the world that Landry developed in his lab.

“The ability to know what they need, as opposed to what they want, is a little bit different,” Landry said. “That’s just what I do. It’s what I love. I’m in a perfect place to do that.”