ARMY AL&T
have four times the production capacity for military-grade carbon for masks and filters. Having a more certain supply of a material that is vital for keeping warfight- ers safe is a comforting feeling, according to Keith Scheffler, the Title III Office’s executive agent for the effort and a project manager at the Air Force Research Labora- tory. “Tis is an acquisition success story. We now have supply chain redundancy, which is how you ensure the stability of the industrial base and better assist the warfighter.”
HIGHER STANDARDS
DEVCOM CBC, working with several of its defense agency partners, developed a new standard that quadrupled the nation's production capacity for military-grade carbon to go into protective masks and filters, ending 30 years of reliance on a sole supplier. (Photo by T. Anthony Bell, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Lee Public Affairs)
A key feature of the new standard is that it is based on detailed measurements of the length of time it takes for agents to break through the carbon. Different chem- ical agents take different lengths of time to break through a carbon layer and render it no longer protective. Other variables that need to be measured are the breakthrough times of each agent at different carbon-bed thicknesses and airflow velocity.
CONCLUSION DOD accepted the updated standard, now known as MIL-DTL-32101Bw/AMD2 as the official standard in 2020. It uses the new data to pass or fail batches of carbon material with a high degree of confidence so that users of protective masks and filters know they will be safe.
Te new standard was used to qualify Molecular Products, Inc. It now has two production lines in operation at its Louis- ville, Colorado facility and is finalizing the qualification of its second line after getting the first line approved in March 2021.
Te new standard will also be used to qualify a second facility for the long-time sole supplier, Calgon Carbon, Inc., which it plans to open in Louisiana. Teir orig- inal facility near Pittsburg will continue production, too. Te diversity of operat- ing locations provides DOD with security against losing capacity due to natural disasters.
Having two suppliers and four manufac- turing lines means that the nation will
https://asc.ar my.mil 73
Tis expanded capacity is truly a national security benefit, according to Brooks. “For 30 years we were only one factory fire away from a complete supply disrup- tion. For something as vital as respiratory protection for our warfighters, that had to change. And, by working together as a team with JPEO-CBRND, TACOM and the Title III Office, it did.”
For more information, go to https://
www.cbc.devcom.army.mil/.
BRIAN B. FEENEY, Ph.D., is a public affairs specialist at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities
Development Command
Chemical Biological Center where he writes news and feature stories on the science and engineering achievements of the center’s researchers. He has written for the center since 2014, and wrote stories, fact sheets and strategic communications plans for the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity, and the U.S. Army Environmental Command, since 2000. He holds a Ph.D. in risk communication from Temple University, an M.A. in communications from Cornell University, and a B.A. in history from Colorado College.
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