Air Warrior Col. John W. Thompson - KMI Media Group

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff Clean Water, Sanitation Systems Avert Sickness, Death Among Troops When you consider that 18.5 percent of U.S. military personnel deaths in Vietnam were caused by disease, not by enemy fire, it becomes clear that clean, safe drinking water is a vital necessity, not a luxury. While enemy fire killed 47,424 personnel, disease killed another 10,785. Often, the cause of death was in drinking polluted water. But that doesn’t have to happen again. Several contractors are offering systems to provide potable water to troops, helping to keep them healthy even in combat zones filled with impurities and polluted streams. Now, troops heading out to clear an area can carry ample drinking water with them. For example, CamelBak makes a backpack that can carry 70 ounces, and another backpack carrying 100 ounces of pre-treated sterile water, complete with a hose that the soldier may drink from in the field. Blackhawk also offers a 100-ounce water storage backpack with hose to ensure proper hydration for troops. Those systems take on water that already has been purified. But Worldwater & Solar Technologies Inc. makes a much larger system that stores potable water, and also purifies polluted or saline water. It cranks out up to 30,000 gallons a day, enough to fill an enormous number of backpacks. Mounted on a trailer, the system uses solar energy charging batteries to power a mini-water treatment plant that uses various systems to treat water, including ultraviolet rays. Thanks to the solar power and batteries, the system works 24 hours a day, is silent and doesn’t pollute the environment. 18 | SOTECH 8.9 L-3 VideoScout-MXR Gives Troops Situational Awareness L-3 has created the VideoScout-MXR that can provide command center-level intelligence from multiple sources, including full-screen video, to dismounted personnel in theater. The unit, much like a laptop, can pull in intel data from multiple sources including manned and unmanned aircraft. That could mean gaining full motion video from a tiny unmanned aerial vehicle, providing a panoramic view of terrorist insurgents as they move. VideoScout runs Microsoft Windows, and comes with analog/ digital radios. “Our new VideoScout-MXR provides warfighters with a compact, easy-to-use tool, allowing them to exploit their video anytime, anywhere,” said Larry Vernec, senior director of marketing and strategic business development at L-3 IEC. “Users can better leverage captured imagery, as well as their own applications, to create actionable video for on-the-move mission execution, planning and post-mission analysis.” A new type of Kevlar helmet gives forces 20 percent better protection against enemy ballistics while also weighing 20 percent, or half a pound, less, DuPont announced. The material, called Kevlar XP for hard armor, uses DuPont Jeep Hot Formed Armor Cuts Weight, Aids Safety Jeep is offering a vehicle armoring process that reduces weight while increasing protection and cutting procurement and life cycle costs, according to the company. The armor process will be used on Jeep J8 4x4 utility vehicles, where molten ballistic steel is pressed to the contours of the vehicle. Then the armor steel is cut with lasers to create new body panels. They then take the place of the original body shell, which is removed to save 660 pounds. Kevlar KM2 Plus fiber technology and an advanced thermoplastic resin. DuPont says the material provides 20 percent better protection for forces and lighter weight without sacrificing durability and backface deformation Personnel can capture, display and record live video with full DVR features, extract actionable subset video, create JPEG and NITF image files with metadata for reference and dissemination, and annotate and archive video and images search, retrieval and dissemination. To allow INTEL operations to share a common view of the battlespace, VideoScout-MXR can be connected to a network, large monitors, keyboards or peripherals to create a full, shared workstation environment. DuPont Kevlar Helmet Is Lighter, Tougher standards. The hard armor product will be used initially for military and police helmets, and for tactical plates used in ballistic protective vests. DuPont also makes Kevlar fiber (similar to heavy thread) that other firms use to make those vests. When completed, the armored body has fewer welds that might fail in the blast of an IED or other enemy weapon, and the body affords greater rigidity thanks to armored steel pillars and box construction. The armored body, being hot formed, doesn’t have many tell-tale signs of armoring such as thick door frames, and the new body also affords more interior room than conventionally armored vehicles of that size. www.SOTECH-kmi.com
NFS Fights Fires Multiple Ways NFS LLC is providing multiple ways to fight fire. For example, Hartindo AF21 is a treatment for fabric that means the material won’t burn, even when exposed to fire. Flames from fully involved nontreated material aren’t able to ignite the Hartindo-treated material, according to the company. AF21 can be applied to all porous materials including uniforms, furniture and building materials Another way of combating flames is with fire suppression. The Hartindo AF11E can be a drop-in replacement for Halon 1301 (LPC UK LPR6. 2000), so that the Hartindo substance uses the existing Halon system to fight fires. AF11E can be used as both a total flooding gas as well as a streaming agent for use in portable fire extinguishers, according to the company. AF11E leaves no residue and is suitable for use in command centers, generator rooms, hospitals and labs. Protonex Technology Corp. will develop a soldier-worn portable power manager under a $3 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory. The company will improve its power manager systems to cut size and weight while bolstering reliability, usefulness and efficiency. Further work will strengthen ruggedization and lower overall costs. The company also offers AF31, a water-based solution that extinguishes fire while preventing re-ignition. AF 31s unique characteristics provide the effectiveness of a wetting agent and foam in a single product, according to the firm. AF31 is suitable for Class A, B, C, D and F/K applications. ATK Modular Turret Loads Under Armor ATK is offering a Modular Remote Turret that it would like to see on the future Army Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV), the company announced. The turret can be bolted on many types of vehicles, where it can be equipped with a variety of weapons and can be loaded under armor. ATK noted that the turret and its weaponry can be operated from inside the safe confines of the vehicle. “There are very few turrets out there on the market that will give you a remote weapons station with the capability to load under armor,” said Clay Bringhurst, senior business development manager for Ground Combat Systems at ATK. He spoke at the recent Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, D.C. ATK developed the turret with ADVS UK Ltd., to go on a combat vehicle for the Kuwaiti military, and unveiled the turret at AUSA. The new turret protects against 7.62 mm armor- piercing ammunition but can be upgraded, Bringhurst said. It features a main gun section that can house a number of weapon systems, such as the M2 .50 caliber machine gun or ATK’s Lightweight 30 mm, the cannon on the AH-64 Apache helicopter. The turret also features a coaxial weapon station alongside the main gun. It can be outfitted with a 7.62 mm machine gun. And the turret can be outfitted with the ATK Commander’s Independent Weapon Station, an asset that can handle weapons systems from 5.56 mm to .50 caliber. All weapons are controlled from ATK’s Advanced Fire Control System from inside the safety of the vehicle. Aside from offering the system as an option for the Army’s future GCV program, the turret also fits onto Stryker wheeled vehicles, M113 armored personnel carriers and versions of the mine resistant ambush protected vehicle. Protonex Devising Soldier Power Manager for AFRL Power managers slash weight that a soldier must carry by reducing the number and type of batteries powering gear. Managers ensure adequate power for equipment while facilitating battery recharging from different types of power sources. Power managers also provide solar power support and energy harvesting technology to charge batteries and simultaneously power FLIR Systems Offers 3-D Thermal Binocular- Camera FLIR Systems Inc. is offering a thermal binocular system that gives users the ability to see with depth perception. While this involves incorporating two cameras in one binocular system, an expensive step, FLIR says this will permit users to judge the distance to an object under surveillance, or the distance between two objects. In the Recon BN6 and Recon BN10 versions, there is one thermal camera for each eye, a step forward from existing bi-ocular systems that have only one camera serving both eyes so that depth perception is limited. “Largely due to cost reasons, a true thermal binocular has not been available until now,” explained Bill Sundermeier, president of FLIR Government Systems. But now, “we are able to offer a true binocular for less than the price of a typical bi-ocular system.” The binocular systems offer long battery life, light weight and full immersion capability, according to FLIR. radios, computers and other portable military gear. “Our power managers are universal, plug-and-play power solutions for our military customers, addressing both on- and off-mission requirements,” Greg Cipriano, Protonex vice president for marketing and business development, said. greg.cipriano@protonex.com www.SOTECH-kmi.com SOTECH 8.9 | 19
Page 1 and 2: Air Warrior Col. John W. Thompson C
Page 3 and 4: Sp e c i a l Op e r at i O n S te c
Page 5 and 6: Compiled by KMI Media Group staff B
Page 7 and 8: Compiled by KMI Media Group staff p
Page 9 and 10: www.SOTECH-kmi.com Co u n t e r m e
Page 11 and 12: and in many ways can limit overall
Page 13 and 14: Mulholland Wish List Co m m a n D e
Page 15 and 16: Averting Personnel Injuries weight
Page 17 and 18: LORD MR Suspension Systems are acti
Page 19: sp e C i a l o p s p e r s o n n e
Page 23 and 24: Q&A Needed: More Air Assets, Better
Page 25 and 26: mission ready Honeywell Defense Log
Page 27 and 28: Being Let Down Gently olD C H u t e
Page 29 and 30: the standard cable loop canopy rele
Page 31 and 32: compatible with JP8 fuel such as mi
Page 33 and 34: www.atvcorp.com Purpose Built COTS,
Page 35 and 36: And Transparent also does assessmen
Page 37 and 38: The advertisers index is provided a
Page 39 and 40: Next Issue Cover and In-Depth Inter

Air Warrior Col. John W. Thompson - KMI Media Group

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?