Rivulets of sweat dripped down the Soldiers’ flushed faces as they marched across the arid land mid-summer. As temperatures rise to over 100°F, the humid air becomes oppressive and heat-related illnesses become an increasingly real threat to Warfighters. Extreme temperatures and intensifying weather, influenced by a warming climate, continue to get worse or at best sustained, becoming a perfect recipe for noncombat-related injuries.

Climate change is not a new phenomenon but is one that continues to not only affect the ecosystem–plants, animals and resources–but also Army operations. Like a pendulum, temperatures oscillate between hot and cold, which is normal, but can be amplified to more extreme levels.

“It is hard to ignore climate change when it has real world effects, as it directly impedes how we conduct military operations or training,” said Dr. Adam Potter, Research Physiologist in the Thermal & Mountain Medicine Division (TMMD) at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM). “It poses increasing risks to the health of Service Members and has the potential to jeopardize our missions.”

Heat-related illnesses and injuries can take a Warfighter out of operations during both training and in real-world military activities, such as combat, security operations and humanitarian missions. With increasing environmental temperatures, Warfighters might find themselves facing exertional heat illness that can range from heat exhaustion to life-threatening heat stroke. This risk increases during strenuous operations such as foot marches, running activities or when carrying heavy loads.

“When carrying out military-specific tasks, such as the 2-mile run or 12-mile foot march, often carrying heavy packs, the chances for an individual to reach a dangerous level of body core temperature, or hyperthermia, increases greatly in higher ambient temperatures, especially if clothing or high humidity prevent the evaporation of sweat,” said Dr. Nisha Charkoudian, Chief of TMMD. “In a practical sense, standard military training becomes progressively more thermally stressful compared with just a few decades ago.”

To predict the potential impacts from environmental exposures, such as increased temperature or humidity, the Army has developed sophisticated biophysical mathematical models. “Typically, we need to consider a minimum of four factors in our modeling, including the environment, the human – fitness, body size, etc. – their activity level and the clothing they are wearing,” Potter says. “We can put quantifiable numbers to each of these elements and mathematically describe or predict likely changes to occur in a given scenario to a human and their physiological and/or thermal responses.”

These models enable Potter and other researchers to calculate the differences in exposure risks between individuals based on their size, acclimation status and health status. If there are shifts in the environment, these models allow for data-informed comparisons to suggest how sudden changes can impact the individuals or groups. The relative risk of heat stress of a Service Member could be assessed based on the combination of conditions and their specific clothing. For example, a full combat uniform could be removed, or items worn could be adjusted to decrease the thermal burden on the individual.

Some environmental conditions the model accounts for include elements such as solar radiation, wind velocity, humidity and temperature. These factors can drastically change and may force Soldiers to adjust their training. For example, conditions could be shifted to nighttime when there is little to no solar radiation compared to during the day.

“With an increase in a temperature alone, there becomes an increased risk to individuals that may shorten the amount of time they may safely work in a given condition. While individual differences can also be modeled; where, for example, in some conditions, a person of a smaller size will be better off in one condition than another and vice versa. The models provide us with powerful tools, as they allow us to assess the complex interactions of all these different variables,” Potter said.

The military has procedures for training, tactics and operations, but the climate can be an additional adversary or ally depending on the Army’s approach. Charkoudian and Potter suggest that the military implement creative or “outside the box” methods to adapting to a changing climate.

“One approach may be to investigate potential impacts of a reversal of sleep-wake cycles during basic training during the hot months of the year, to minimize the usual increase in heat-related injuries, and to enhance the capacity for physical training and combat performance,” Charkoudian said. “Switching day and night could decrease both heat-related illness/injury and lost training days over the course of the basic training program. However, this approach would have multiple ramifications regarding Soldier health and logistics of training, so the feasibility remains to be determined.”

“It can be difficult to implement a systemic shift, but it could be necessary if the risks of heat injuries are so high that they result in heat casualties,” Potter said. “It could even be a tactical advantage to doing operations at night.”

This kind of shift in structure could provide us with both physiological and tactical advantages but may result in unconventional alterations.

“We recognize that there would be multiple effects of such a modification and data collection would be necessary to evaluate the effects of these types of changes, such as inverted sleep-wake schedule on physical and mental health and on physiological and cognitive performance,” Charkoudian said.
Solutions for a warming climate will not be found overnight, but in the meantime, the Army is finding revolutionary ways to adapt to an unpredictable and modifiable environment.

“Climate change is a threat, but we can also use it to our advantage by changing traditional military operations for new recruits and mitigating health threats that reduce military readiness,” Potter said.

USARIEM is a subordinate command of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command under the Army Futures Command. USARIEM is internationally recognized as the DOD’s premier laboratory for Warfighter health and performance research and focuses on environmental medicine, physiology, physical and cognitive performance, and nutrition research. Located at the Natick Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts, USARIEM’s mission is to optimize Warfighter health and performance through biomedical research.

By Maddi Langweil, USARIEM Public Affairs

WARREN, Mich. — Soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Cavazos, Texas, helped the Army better understand how Armored Brigade Combat Teams may fight in the future, thanks to a Soldier touchpoint held in September at the Detroit Arsenal in Michigan.

The Soldiers from Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment supported a virtual experiment with the XM30 combat vehicle program, providing feedback on how Soldiers might best utilize the vehicle in a combat scenario.

“The input we gain from our Soldiers in these touchpoints is invaluable to the vehicle development process,” said Brig. Gen. Geoffrey Norman, director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicles Cross-Functional Team, which is based at the Detroit Arsenal.

“These touchpoints are part of the iterative process between our Army engineers and our industry partners to ensure we deliver the vehicle the Army needs for 2030 and beyond.”

During the experiment, Soldiers from the platoon worked in a vehicle simulator, with Soldiers serving as the crew of the simulated XM30 and infantry dismounts who would be transported in the rear of the vehicle.

The XM30 is now under development and will replace the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle in the Army’s Armored Brigade Combat Teams in the future. The first XM30s will be delivered to the first unit equipped in fiscal year 2029. XM30 will have a crew of two Soldiers and will carry infantry Soldiers in the rear of the vehicle.

Virtual experimentation is helping the Army to determine what functions or tasks a member of the dismount team could perform to support the crew.

“We’re running through a variety of simulations and scenarios to assess the benefits of different configurations,” explained the first lieutenant who led the group of Soldiers participating in the virtual experiment. “Most of these Soldiers have live experience in Bradleys, they understand the mission sets and they know what they would like to see in the XM30.”

During the experiment, after the Soldiers participated in a mission scenario, engineers would immediately conduct an after-action interview, gathering input from the Soldiers on what worked and what didn’t. Other engineers studied a wide range of hard data, determining in which crew scenario the Soldiers were best able to meet mission goals.

“The engineers here in Detroit are really listening to what we have to say,” said a participating staff sergeant. “I think it is pretty exciting to see how the Army is taking what we’ve seen in the field and putting that together with this new technology to create a better system.”

Another staff sergeant who participated in the virtual experiment said that even though the XM30 is still in development — currently two companies are under contract by the Army to build and deliver physical prototypes by 2026 — “there are some things in this simulated version that I wish we had now, that will simplify tasks for the crew.”

The staff sergeant said all the Soldiers who participated in the touchpoint understood the important role they were playing.

“We’re making the connection between the user world and the influencer world. That’s pretty cool,” he said.

Norman said a number of additional Soldier touchpoints are scheduled throughout the XM30 development process.

By Dan Heaton, Next Generation Combat Vehicles Cross-Functional Team

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. — As part of its ongoing transformation effort, the Army recently brought together joint, multinational and industry partners to experiment with emerging technologies in a denied and degraded environment.

Held at White Sands Missile Range during the month of August, the fifth annual PNT Assessment Experiment, also known as PNTAX, provided an opportunity for participants to evaluate new tools and systems and align their understanding of how future warfighters can operate successfully in settings where access to standard GPS and communications functionality may be limited.

PNTAX is part of Army Futures Command’s campaign of persistent experimentation and continuous learning. The experiment allows participants to field-test new and existing space-based, terrestrial, aerial and ground technologies. Analyzing the effectiveness and interoperability of these technologies enables the Army and its partners to improve kinetic and non-kinetic targeting and increase Soldier mobility, lethality and survivability.

“Experiments like PNTAX provide a valuable opportunity for Soldier touchpoints that directly influence requirements,” said Mike Monteleone, director of the Army Futures Command Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing/Space Cross-Functional Team (APNT/Space CFT), which hosted the event.

“This is an environment where we can learn as an enterprise, ensuring we can build resilience and situational awareness of the battlespace. With situational awareness of the battlespace, we can more confidently build force survivability and lethality,” Monteleone said.

Putting technology in the hands of the Soldier

PNTAX provides an opportunity for early, immersive experimentation, which allows the Army and its partners to put technology, at any readiness level, directly into Soldiers’ hands. These early opportunities for direct end-user feedback, referred to as Soldier touchpoints, directly inform the technology development and capability requirements process.

This year, PNTAX provided a multitude of Soldier touchpoints across multiple divisions. Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division conducted terrain walks and feedback for the Dismounted Assured Positioning System with system training conducted by partners at the Program Manager for Positioning, Navigation and Timing.

Additionally, Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division had the opportunity to conduct their own training objectives utilizing the threat environment provided by the experiment. They were faced with tailorable, threat-based GPS denied and degraded environments and were presented with opportunities to conduct realistic tactical scenarios as if they were in a multi-domain operating environment.

Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division worked with the CFT’s sensor-to-shooter team in the denied environment to learn from its effects upon the links associated with the tactical architecture, while the 2nd Infantry Division facilitated a variety of ground maneuver activities that enabled operations throughout the experiment.

“This is training I can’t recreate at my home station,” said Warrant Officer Andrew Farnsworth, electronic warfare technician from the 1st Armored Division. “The waveforms in this environment provide a unique opportunity for Soldiers to test and integrate capabilities in a denied and degraded environment.”

Connecting with joint, industry and multinational partners

This year’s PNTAX hosted a variety of participants. Government, industry and academic partners converged on the range with their technology in tow, seeking to test advanced abilities in a challenging environment. Partners were encouraged to experiment with their technology, at any readiness level, to understand its strengths and limits. This approach allows for continuous improvement, a greater understanding of the environment and ultimately, better equipment in Soldiers’ hands.

Allied partners from Canada and Australia joined to observe and scope future participation, while partners from the United Kingdom conducted land navigation experiments with their Soldiers. Multinational participants worked alongside their participating Soldiers and U.S. Soldiers to replicate what operations will likely look like in future, combined force settings.

Partners are welcome to participate in the experiment with any relevant technology, as long as they agree to share data and lessons learned following the event. This exchange of information allows the Army to continue developing relevant scenarios for experimentation and advancement.

Navigating in contested environments

The open-air denied, degraded, intermittent and limited environment at PNTAX was achieved through jamming and a variety of other threat interfaces that resembled real-world, layered approaches Soldiers might face in a multi-domain operating environment. Because of the unique environments the team can create within the electromagnetic spectrum, the team is able to address a multitude of learning objectives.

“So much of our Soldiers’ mission and safety hinges on their ability to effectively operate in contested environments,” said Andy Hotaling, integration director of the APNT/Space CFT. “Events like PNTAX give the Army and its partners the opportunity to ensure the technology they may see in the future can perform in these operationally focused, intelligence-informed environments.”

What’s next?

“We have a lot of valuable data to interpret following our experiment,” Monteleone said. “This data is a crucial stepping stone that informs a variety of Army needs.”

He added that the Army intends to expand opportunities for allied partners, increase the number of Soldier training activities and broaden the scope of electromagnetic spectrum experimentation for participants during next year’s event.

Next year’s experiment is already in the early planning phase alongside our partners within the United States Air Force’s 746th Test Squadron and the Joint Navigation Warfare Center, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command and the Army Test and Evaluation Command.

By Madeline Winkler, Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing Space Cross-Functional Team

WASHINGTON — There are three things that the Chinese military has that the U.S. military, allies and partners in the region do not have, said Army Gen. Charles A. Flynn, commander of U.S. Army Pacific.

“They have interior lines,” he said. He noted that they’re just 100 miles from Taiwan, and they have anti-access, area-denial means to keep opposing forces at a distance — such as missiles, aircraft and ships, as well as cyber and space capabilities.

“The second thing they have is mass,” he said, meaning they have a very large military force.

“The third thing they have is magazine depth,” he said, which would include large quantities of stand-off munitions.

Flynn spoke Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, on a panel about land power in the Indo-Pacific region at the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting & Exposition in Washington.

The goal of U.S. forces along with allies in the region is to take time and space away from China to deny them key terrain “and to keep our physical presence forward with hard power to deter a war from happening,” he said.

“The goal is no war. We already have a war in Europe. We have another war that just started this past week in the Middle East. We do not need another war in Asia. That is the land powers’ contribution to the joint force to prevent that from happening,” Flynn said.

The anti-access, area-denial arsenal that the Chinese military possesses “is primarily designed to defeat our air power and maritime power. And, secondarily, it’s designed to degrade, deny and disrupt our space and cyber capabilities. It’s not, however, designed to find, fix and finish distributed, mobile, fixed, semi-fixed, reloadable, lethal and non-lethal land power,” he said.

“We present a dilemma to them that they did not design into the A2/AD arsenal that they built. And this has proven out in war game after war game after war game,” he said, referring to anti-access, area-denial.

The general went on to speak about the importance of the U.S. and allied military presence in the region to deter Chinese aggression.

While air and sea power are crucial, land power is, as well, he said. Flynn added that militaries in the region are composed of anywhere from 65% to 80% ground forces.

“Land power and the armies in the Indo Pacific are an absolute central part of defending [nations’] national sovereignty and protecting their territorial integrity,” he said.

Flynn highlighted steps the U.S., allies and partners are taking to deter China’s aggression, including increased bilateral and multilateral training exercises, the U.S. Army’s new training center in the region, and nations beefing up their defense spending and working together on improving interoperability.

By David Vergun, DOD News