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Leader–Follower Vehicles to Offer Army Increased Operational Capability

Wednesday, April 14th, 2021

DETROIT ARSENAL, Mich — Modernization is the buzz word floating around the Army currently and with good reason. To keep ahead of our near-peer adversaries, we must develop better technologies faster to dominate the battle space.

“We’ve done a good job at keeping up with developing current technologies,” said Maj. Gen. Darren Werner, Commanding General U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command. “However, we need to get it to the Soldiers in the field for it to matter.”

Werner, along with other officers and civilian leaders attended a Leader–Follower demonstration on Apr. 5 at the Detroit Arsenal. The event was led by the Ground Vehicle Systems Center on the arsenal to highlight the effectiveness of semi-autonomous robotic Tactical Wheeled Vehicles.

Bernard Theisen, Division Chief Combat Support Robotics and Safety for GVSC, briefed the capabilities of the Leader-Follower vehicles and stated that they had some similar on-road capabilities to some current high end luxury vehicles and other off-road capabilities unique to the military.

“The vehicles have the capability to be driven independently, remotely, or in this instance, made to follow a lead vehicle,” said Theisen.

The Leader–Follower vehicles offers field commanders better options when operating in a combat zone by providing manned and unmanned capabilities.

According to Alfred Grein, Acting Director GVSC, by installing robotic kits to vehicles, a lead “manned” vehicle can lead a convoy of one or more follower “unmanned” vehicles accurately and safely.

Outside of Leader–Follower option, the Program Executive Officer Combat Support and Combat Service Support is looking at fielding the technology as GVSC continues developing further ways to leverage and improve the capabilities at a later time.

“Now that the hardware is in place, we can look at ways to enhance the remote and semi-autonomous capabilities in the future,” said Grein. “All we have to do is update the software.”

There are currently 60 Leader–Follower systems issued to the 41st Transportation Company at Fort Polk, Louisiana with their next software upgrade currently undergoing safety testing at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. GVSC Agile Development, Security, and Operations approach through the Software Foundry allows for Soldier to provide constant feedback to the developers and to deliver better products to the user faster while supporting both PEO Ground Combat Systems and PEO CS &CSS operational needs.

By Scott Wakefield

Posted in Army, Guest Post, Mobility, Robotics | 3 Comments »

US Army Releases Information Paper on Multi-Domain Transformation

Friday, April 9th, 2021

WASHINGTON — Today the U.S. Army released “Army Multi-Domain Transformation: Ready to Win in Competition and Conflict,” a paper on how and why the Army plans to transform itself to become a multi-domain capable force that is able to dominate adversaries in sustained large-scale combat operations by 2035.

“The Army is boldly transforming to provide the Joint Force with the speed, range and convergence of cutting-edge technologies that will be needed to provide future decision dominance and overmatch for great power competition,” said Gen. James McConville, Chief of Staff of the Army.

The U.S. Army currently faces an inflection point that requires innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in the application of combat power as our nation’s adversaries continue to gain on the Joint Force’s qualitative and quantitative advantages.

By 2035, the Army will enable the Joint Force to maneuver and prevail with a calibrated force posture of multi-domain capabilities that provide overmatch through speed and range at the point of need.

To deter future aggression, the Joint Force must have an irrefutable, demonstrated ability to fight and win. The Army’s MDO concept will provide Joint Force commanders and national policymakers additional credible options in case of a globally integrated, rapidly developing crisis, while simultaneously assuring our allies and partners.

To read the unclassified version of the Army Multi-Domain Transformation, click here.

By U.S. Army Public Affairs

Posted in Army, Guest Post, Profession of Arms | 3 Comments »

A Look at US Army CEMA in INDO-PACOM

Thursday, April 8th, 2021

For those of you unfamiliar with Cyber-Electromagnetic Activities, these Tropic Lightning Soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division recently conducted training in the dense Hawaiian training area. There’s a lot of biomass out there and it presents challenges to signal capture, geo-location, and countermeasures. These Soldiers talk about how they contribute to the fight.

Posted in Army, CEMA | Comments Off on A Look at US Army CEMA in INDO-PACOM

Army Research Lab & University of Central Florida Optimize 3D Printing Process

Monday, April 5th, 2021

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — Army researchers collaborated with academic partners from the University of Central Florida to improve additive manufacturing. This partnership may help deliver extreme lightweight components to future Soldiers.

By optimizing the printing process for the additive manufacturing of a high-strength magnesium alloy and fabricating 24 micro-lattice structures, researchers characterized the compressive strength and failure modes, which will enable much lighter Army components.

“We used a magnesium alloy known as WE43, which has only been successfully 3D printed by a handful of researchers,” said Dr. Brandon McWilliams, the lead researcher for 3D printing metals at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory. “In this work, we optimized the process to achieve higher density than previously reported and used that to produce and characterize lattice structures made up of WE43.”

Magnesium Elektron WE43 is a high strength casting alloy. It can be used in temperatures of up to 300°C (572°F), according to AZoM, an online publication for the materials science community. “This alloy has good mechanical properties coupled with excellent corrosion resistance.”

Advanced additive manufacturing has the potential to deliver critical parts at the point of need, reducing the need for lengthy logistic chains. Also, the U.S. Army’s modernization strategy calls for lightening the load to help support future Soldiers.

The research team published their findings in the peer-reviewed journal Materialia.

McWilliams said he believes joining advanced lightweight alloys with novel multi-scale structures through additive manufacturing will be a key aspect of modernizing Army weapon systems. There are many lightweight structural applications in the automotive, aerospace and biomedical industries.

“Current systems are too heavy, which increases burden to the Soldier, reduces fuel efficiency and degrades mission effectiveness,” he said. “It is my goal as an Army researcher to conduct research, which has the maximum chance of success of transition from basic and applied research stage to practical application in order to enable transformational overmatch.”

Partnering with academia and industry has been a priority with the laboratory since it introduced its Open Campus initiative.

“This was an exciting and rewarding collaboration that produced the technological accomplishment founded on fundamental understanding of materials and additive manufacturing,” said Prof. Yongho Sohn, lead researcher at University of Central Florida. “Technological vision with clear scientific objectives defined by Dr. McWilliams and his team was the key to our contribution.”

Army researchers will now evaluate the high strain rate and ballistic properties of these 3D-printed materials and look for demonstration applications, such as ultra-lightweight unmanned aircraft system and robotic vehicle components, he said.

By U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs

Posted in Army, Guest Post, Materials | Comments Off on Army Research Lab & University of Central Florida Optimize 3D Printing Process

US Army Authorizes Optional Wear of Insignia and Accoutrements on the Class B Army Green Service Uniform and Tropical Dress Variations

Saturday, April 3rd, 2021

This week, the Army released ALARACT 029/2021, allowing the optional wear of insignia and accoutrements on the Class B Army Green Service Uniform.

The Tropical Dress Variation is primarily intended for Soldiers in hot climates and serves as the alternative for the Class A uniform. Local commanders will determine when their Soldiers wear this uniform variant.

Refer to ALARACT 029/2021for specific guidance and utilize DA PAM 670-1 (26 JAN 2021) for specifics on authorized items and composition of the uniform.

Read the slides here.

Posted in Army, Clothing, Profession of Arms | 12 Comments »

“Soldiers Love Tails!” Army Adds Tails to Mess Dress Uniform

Thursday, April 1st, 2021

On 1 April, the US Army announced it would be adding tails to the Mess Dress uniform, abandoning well over a century of tradition.

“My Squad loves tails,” exclaimed the Sergeant Major of the Army Michael A Grinston when discussing the move to add tails to the mess dress uniform, adding, “we’ve looked like bell hops for far too long.“

Army Chief of Staff General James C. McConville responded to media queries with, “it’s the only uniform we haven’t screwed up yet. It was time.”

According to sources close to the effort, there will be no wear out date for legacy tailless mess dress jackets but that those who don’t purchase new versions or at least opt for a button-in upgrade will be forced to empty the grog bowl at future dinning-ins.

During the announcement, SMA Grinston offered a look at other initiatives under consideration, “We’ve got a couple of other ideas we’re batting around as well. For instance, urinals…we’re getting rid of them. Everyone will have to sit down when they pee, but we’re going to get rid of skirts as well, so it kind of balances out. Aside from it’s just the right thing to do, the potential cost savings are enormous considering the size of the Army. Think about all of those broken urinals we won’t have to fix.”

Posted in Army, Clothing, Tactical Fashion Police | 4 Comments »

Army Awards New Sniper Weapon System Contract to Barrett Firearms

Tuesday, March 30th, 2021

On 30 March 2021, the Army awarded a $49.9 million, five year contract to Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Inc. (Murfreesboro, TN) to acquire the MK22 Multi-role Adaptive Design (MRAD) rifle as the Army’s new sniper weapon system.

The Army will buy approximately 2,800 MK22 rifles from Barrett, the current maker of the Army’s M107 .50 Caliber Long Range Sniper Rifle.

The MK22 is part of the Army’s Precision Sniper Rifle (PSR) Program which also includes the Leupold & Stevens (Beaverton, OR) Mark 5 HD scope and a sniper accessory kit.

The MK22 is a modular system that will be fielded with three separate calibers, the .338 Norma Magnum, .300 Norma Magnum and 7.62×51 NATO. Army snipers will be able to conduct a barrel change and select calibers based on their mission operating environment.

The PSR program will allow the Army an extreme range weapon systems that is lighter than current sniper rifles and includes features that will mask the sniper signature for improved survivability.

SOCOM previously awarded a contract to Barrett to purchase the MRAD as part of their Advanced Sniper Rifle (ASR) program.

Posted in Army, Contracts, Guest Post, weapons | 8 Comments »

Soldier Center Helmet Lab Technology Leads to Revolutionary New Combat Helmet

Saturday, March 27th, 2021

NATICK, Mass. – Research performed in the Helmet Laboratory at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, or DEVCOM, Soldier Center has led to a revolutionary new combat helmet.

Due to the Soldier Center’s Helmet Lab technology, and subsequent efforts working with key industry partners, the new combat helmets will provide the warfighter protection against a higher level threat – protection that previously could only be accomplished with a much heavier applique/helmet combination.

Researchers in the DEVCOM Soldier Center Helmet Laboratory have spent the past decade working to optimize combat helmet performance by developing new modeling, design and processing techniques. Combat helmets are comprised of flat sheets of ballistic material pre-formed into a helmet shape and then processed at a high temperature and pressure.

“Wrinkling and folds occur as the flat fabric conforms to the three-dimensional shape” said Jason Parker, a DEVCOM Soldier Center mechanical engineer. “These seams, wrinkles, and folds seriously degrade the ballistic performance, requiring more material and more mass to protect against a given threat. Through our research, we determined how these defects are introduced, how they affect ballistic performance, and how to eliminate them. The culmination of this research is a novel machine and process which produces a seamless, uniform helmet, free from defects such as folds and wrinkles.”

In 2015, the Helmet Laboratory developed a novel pre-form apparatus, process, and optimized helmet ply layup design. The Soldier Center used this technology to develop prototype helmets demonstrating breakthrough performance, providing a higher level threat protection that could previously only be achieved with the addition of a ballistic applique.

“In 2017, we tested prototype helmets targeting a higher level threat that were fabricated using our novel helmet preforming apparatus,” said Robert DiLalla, team lead of the Ballistic and Blast Protection Team in DEVCOM Soldier Center’s Soldier Protection Directorate. “The results far exceeded our expectation as we were getting stops well above the requirement and at 40 percent less weight than the current capability. The results were replicated with another batch of prototype helmets confirming that we had developed a new capability to significantly increase Soldier protection.”

Since 2017, the Helmet Laboratory, at the request of senior Army leadership, continued to mature and transition the technology to industry partners by establishing several Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, or CRADAs, and Research & Development contracts.

“After the Helmet Lab first demonstrated this breakthrough performance, the team worked diligently with our industry partners to rapidly transition this technology and contribute to the advancement from laboratory prototype to production ready helmets,” said David Colanto, PhD, who is the program manager for DEVCOM Soldier Center’s Integrated Multi-Threat Headborne System. “The collaborative effort with industry represents a successful technology transition and highlights the fact that Soldier Center applied research and technology demonstration efforts are critical to providing significant improvements to warfighter protection.”

In February 2021, Gentex Corporation announced that one of their Ops-Core® FAST Helmet Systems passed U.S. Government First Article Testing (FAT), a first for a helmet providing a higher level threat protection. This new helmet leverages helmet design and processing innovations transitioned through a CRADA with the DEVCOM Soldier Center’s Helmet Lab.

“This new FAST helmet is the culmination of a multi-year commitment to innovate the novel production processes necessary to manufacture helmets with next-generation ballistic materials,” said Des Walsh, vice president of Advanced Research and Development for Gentex Corporation. “It serves as an excellent example of successful, outcome-oriented government-industry collaborative development, resulting in the most advanced ballistically protective helmet shell ever qualified for production by Gentex and available to the warfighter.”

“It’s been a long road that started with an Army investment in science and technology which led to an invention,” said DiLalla. “That invention, when combined with industry knowledge, led to a finished product that offers a leap ahead level of protection. Today, the warfighter will benefit from that technological advancement. As a result of our efforts, we are currently undergoing a major renovation to our Helmet Lab having added new processing equipment to expand capabilities to help drive future research initiatives.”

By Jane Benson, DEVCOM Soldier Center Public Affairs

Posted in Army, Guest Post, Helmets | 8 Comments »