INNOVATION ENGINE
Trough the SBIR program at RDECOM’s ECBC, the Smoke & Tar- get Defeat Branch, which is housed in the Toxicology and Obscurants Division at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, has partnered with small businesses around the country to solve complex problems. Te Army SBIR Program Management Office usually allocates one or two SBIR projects a year to the Smoke & Target Defeat Branch.
MAKING SMOKE SAFER Air Force SSgt Alex D. Braatz, a joint terminal attack controller assigned to 2nd Air Support Opera- tions Squadron in direct support of 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment (2nd Cav), throws a smoke grenade to mark a landing zone for incoming UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters at Smardan Training Area, Romania, during the multinational Exercise Wind Spring in April 2015. ECBC’s Smoke & Target Defeat Branch undertook a SBIR project to identify nonexplosive dispersal technolo- gies for the Army’s obscurants to spread solid particulate aerosols without the hazards of pyrotechnic dissemination. (U.S. Army photo by SGT William A. Tanner, 2nd Cav)
SBIR’s; it is a percentage set-aside from the Army’s extramural R&D budget that increases every year. STTR is executed in essentially the same manner as SBIR, but with distinct differences:
• While STTR and SBIR have the same objectives, the STTR program requires participation by universities, federally funded R&D centers and other non- profit research institutions.
• Each STTR proposal must be submit- ted by a team including a small business as the prime contractor, for contract- ing purposes, and at least one research institution. Te small business must perform at least 40 percent of the work and the research institution(s) at least 30 percent; the remaining 30 percent of the work may be performed by either party or a third party.
76 Army AL&T Magazine January-March 2016
Te difference made by SBIR and STTR spans the breadth of RDECOM activities, from cutting-edge warfighting capabili- ties to more effective test and evaluation techniques and better components for major weapon systems. While not every SBIR or STTR project has a big impact, following are three success stories.
SMOKING OUT A SOLUTION Te Army has used smoke grenades since at least World War I. Recently, the Smoke & Target Defeat Branch of the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Cen- ter (ECBC), which is responsible for the development of obscurants, has breathed new life into old warfare technology by bringing in fresh perspectives in techno- logical advances. Te branch partnered with small technology firms from the private sector that are on the cusp of devel- oping the next generation of obscurants.
Technical Team Chief Jim Shomo said that ECBC has benefited from several SBIR contracts. “We’re very fortunate. We have more of an inside track because we’ve had a consistently good experience with our SBIR partners. We’re maxi- mizing our potential by leveraging this program,” Shomo said.
Facing budgetary constraints, as most governmental agencies do, ECBC has found the SBIR program to be a windfall. Business units like the Smoke & Tar- get Defeat Branch can tap into some of the nation’s best technological minds at small technology firms without spending from their own budgets, because funds for these projects come directly from the SBIR program budget to the contractors who win the award.
Te smoke grenade project focuses on developing nonexplosive dispersal tech- nology for the Army’s obscurants to spread solid particulate aerosols. Obscu- rants are key to the warfighter’s ability to hide friendly forces, confuse the enemy and enhance survivability and lethality. But explosive dispersal can present some fragmentation hazards to friendly forces. Pyrotechnic dissemination can cause fires. An alternative but highly efficient and inherently hazard-reducing dispersal method is being sought for a nonexplod- ing grenade.
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