The warfighter needs lighter weight, less burdensome, and more efficient clothing and equipment for respiratory and percutaneous protection as well as improved systems and shelters for collective protection. Improvements in respiratory protective equipment will be demonstrated including a 50% reduction in breathing resistance, 50% increase in field of vision, an increase in protection to guard against potential future threats, improved system integration and compatibility with weapon sighting systems, and 25% improvement in communications capabilities. Respiratory protection technology is scheduled to transition to the Land Warrior program and Dem/Val for RESPO 21. Technologies for lightweight respiratory protection are being considered for potential applications by Special Forces, USMC, and USAF. Joint Service application of RESPO 21 technologies and hardware are planned.
For percutaneous protection, an overgarment based on selectively permeable membrane technology which is 20% lighter in weight than the standard battle dress overgarment will be demonstrated. Further membrane development will lead to an overgarment which is 20% lighter in weight than the Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology (JSLIST) overgarment and also 25% more durable and 25% less costly than the first generation membrane/fabric garment. Ultimately, an agent protective duty uniform which eliminates, or at least minimizes, the need for an overgarment will be developed. Additional efforts involve a stretchable, permeable/adsorptive material with flame retardant properties for lightweight undergarments, socks, and gloves; thermoplastic elastomers for improved overboots and special purpose clothing; improved closure systems for ensembles; microencapsulated phase change materials for special purpose applications, and evolving test methodologies for evaluating new materials. Transition opportunities include Land Warrior, JSLIST II, and advanced development programs. Clothing items resulting from JSLIST II will demonstrate enhancements to JSLIST I items. JSLIST II items will be lighter in weight, less prone to causing heat stress, more durable, launderable up to 10 times, decontaminable for reuse, and wearable for a minimum of 45 days.
Protection must also be provided for individuals and for troops inside vehicles, ships, aircraft and shelters. The collective protection (CP) technology area seeks to develop improvements to existing protective equipment that will allow individuals and groups of personnel to operate in contaminated areas as well as to anticipate future threat CB agents that may be able to compromise current protective equipment. Specifically, air purification systems will allow extended, unencumbered operations in enclosures in an agent contaminated environment and reduce the logistics burden of filter exchange with resultant down-time. Protection against potential filter-defeating chemicals by using regenerative filtration processes will be a major improvement. Regenerative filtration systems are in development for applications such as the Comanche helicopter and armored vehicles. Improvements in materials and engineering to extend usable filter lifetimes are also sought for current single-pass filtration systems used throughout the military.
3.2.2.1 Goals and Timeframes. The goals of the Protection subarea are to maintain a high level of protection against CB agents while reducing the physiological and logistics burden associated with wearing protective equipment; to integrate CB protection with protection from environmental, ballistic, and other threats; and to provide a protective environment for personnel operating in aircraft, armored vehicles, ships, shelters, and other large area enclosures. In FY96/97, applied research efforts will continue to focus on development of a lower bulk/weight general purpose mask to meet Joint Service requirements. New concepts include flexible filter media, advanced lens materials with semi-flexible optical properties, a single piece cylindrical wrap lens design, and an enhanced aerosol filtration system. RESPO 21 technology will transition to demonstration/validation in FY99.
In FY96, a selectively permeable membrane laminated to lightweight textile fabrics will be evaluated in the laboratory and field tested for durability and subjective comfort. The goal is to develop a CB protective overgarment which is 20% lighter in weight than the standard battle dress overgarment. Extensive developmental and operational testing will be conducted during FY97-98. During FY96-98 development efforts will continue to identify alternative selectively permeable membrane candidates. By FY01, the goal is to develop an overgarment which is 20% lighter in weight than the JSLIST overgarment and also 25% more durable and 25% less costly than the first generation membrane/fabric overgarment. By FY03, the goal is to develop a CB protective duty uniform which eliminates the need for an overgarment.
Technology efforts in collective protection have the objective of developing a fundamental understanding and predictive capability for the purification technologies under investigation. This fundamental understanding will lead to the design of hardware with improved reliability and reduced logistical requirements as compared to current filtration systems. Advanced technology will be used for military platforms currently in development and expected to be fielded within 10 years. Each application (vehicle, aircraft, etc.) requiring collective protection will select an optimum approach (single-pass, Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA), etc.) early in its development cycle, prior to transition to demonstration/validation (6.4).
3.2.2.2 Major Technical Challenges. Approaches to reduce breathing resistance and improve comfort of respiratory equipment include bonded carbon flexible filters, improved aerosol filtration media, novel low-resistance respiratory valves, and development of improved sealing and blown air systems. To increase protection and meet future threat levels, approaches include development of improved materials for facepieces, lenses and seals. Compatibility with current and future optical and weapon sighting systems will be achieved through flexible lens designs and reduced lens eye relief.
Reduction of heat stress associated with CB protective ensembles will be achieved by developing selectively permeable membranes laminated to lightweight shell fabrics, resulting in thin, lightweight materials with low thermal insulation and high levels of water vapor transport for evaporative cooling. Also, the use of microphase change material will be demonstrated for application on extreme temperature protective clothing.
Collective protection poses numerous technical challenges. Inroads are being made on several fronts including advanced catalysts, engineered adsorbent materials, and improved reactive impregnants. These efforts are based on relationships between filtration performance and physical/chemical parameters in the existing data base. The lack of new concepts or Service requirements for collective protection hinders the development or investment in research for new materials and technologies.
3.2.2.3 Related Federal and Private Sector Efforts. Individual respiratory protection concepts and technology are being considered by 3M Corporation for application in the next generation occupational safety equipment. Battelle is currently marketing electronic devices developed for advanced respiratory protection for commercial applications. Cooperative industrial efforts are being discussed with Geomet Technologies for commercial application of respiratory protection concepts in escape and limited exposure conditions.
W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc. has developed selectively permeable membrane technology which is being thoroughly evaluated for clothing applications. The Department of Energy has an effort for the development of apparel for hazardous waste cleanup personnel which is being leveraged. Continuous coordination and collaborative efforts with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) regarding individual protection technologies is essential.
For collective protection the Project Manager for Aviation Life-Support Equipment (PM-ALSE) is evaluating the possibility of retrofitting a regenerative filtration system based on catalytic oxidation into an existing helicopter. The Project Manager for Comanche is designing a regenerative filtration system based on PSA technology for application in its new helicopter. Private sector efforts incorporating advanced filtration or separation techniques span a wide range of applications from waste stream pollution abatement to gas (air) separation. Regenerative filtration has been used extensively in industry for several decades for gas separation and purification. Application to purification of breathable and separation of trace contamination from high-flow air streams is only now receiving consideration. Other potential applications include environmental remediation, pulsed-power plasma destruction in the electrical power industry, establishing a protected area within a chemical plant in case of accidental chemical spill, odor reduction in vehicle cabin space, development of non-chloro-fluoro-carbon (CFC) conditioning systems, and PSA-based oxygen concentrators (for high performance aircraft applications).
3.2.3 CB Protection S&T Investment Strategy
3.2.3.1 Technology Demonstrations. Individual respiratory and percutaneous protection technology will be demonstrated in a Dismounted Battlespace Battle Lab Warfighting Experiment during FY97. Subsequently, selected technologies will transition to the Land Warrior Program. Respiratory protection technologies will also transition to FY99 demonstration/validation for RESPO 21. A key transition opportunity for clothing materials, in addition to Land Warrior, is the JSLIST II program. Specific improvements targeted by JSLIST II are launderability up to 10 washings without loss in protective capability, decontamination for reuse, lighter in weight and less prone to causing heat stress while having a minimum wear life of 45 days.
3.2.3.2 Technology Development. Applied research efforts in respiratory protection are focusing on prototype development and incorporation of new materials, designs, and manufacturing techniques for lenses, filters, seals, and other mask components. For lightweight CB protective clothing, selectively permeable membranes and membrane/fabric laminates are being developed to meet the goals in this area which include eliminating the dependency on activated carbon. Further work will insure the durability of garments fabricated from these materials as well as their launderability and potential decontaminability for reuse. Additional efforts are being focused on materials and designs for improved closure systems.
The limited resources for collective protection S&T efforts are being focused on improving existing technologies and systems. Technology development is also continuing in the areas of regenerative filtration (PSA modeling), advanced aerosol filtration materials and approaches, and fundamental efforts to correlate adsorbent composition and filtration performance. Examining new collective protection concepts such as using monitors embedded into filter systems to maximize filter life and reduce the overall life cycle cost and logistics support, will require additional funding.
3.2.3.3 Basic Research. Basic research in agent reactive
materials is being sponsored by the Army Research Office at Emory
University and Oklahoma State University. These materials have
the potential to be incorporated into clothing items to provide
self-detoxification in future garments. The Office of Naval Research
is sponsoring the development of microencapsulated phase change
materials for heating and cooling in response to extreme temperature
changes. Participants in this work are the Naval Surface Warfare
Center, Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility, Naval Health
Research Center, and the University of Minnesota. Cooling systems
for special purpose clothing utilizing these materials have the
potential to relieve heat stress. For respiratory and collective
protection, fundamental studies of adsorption properties seek
to unify several models that describe the adsorption properties
of materials based on measured adsorption equilibrium data.