NEW CAPABILITIES AND CONCEPTS
Using a Grizzly UGV instead of a warfighter to get a sensor dangerously closer to a hazard benefits the warfighter’s health and also improves the fidelity of information gathered, further increasing mission success.
of “the bird” and took it away to process the sample collected. “Te birds [UAVs] are relatively cheap and are line replaceable units. If there is a live bioagent on it, commanders can deter- mine [if they need to decontaminate] or replace [the unit],” said Stephens.
To further display the wide array of sensing capabilities that could be used to carry out the mission, handheld lateral-flow immuno- assays were available in the DR SKO for presumptive screening of biological hazards, along with the Joint Handheld Biological Identifier. Te identifier uses polymerase chain reaction for higher fidelity identification of biological samples, while the lateral flow assays can screen for bioagents of concern.
CONCLUSION Maj. Gen. Antonio V. Munera, then-commanding general of the 20th CBRNE Command, said the NBCRV SSU capability provides maneuver commanders with the ability to make deci- sions much quicker. “We enable their lethality,” said Munera, who commanded the U.S. military’s premier all-hazards command from June 2020 until September 2022. “Launching these auton- omous and semiautonomous systems will, at standoff distance, allow commanders to understand there’s something ‘bad’ out there early, giving commanders the freedom to maneuver and the opportunity to make proactive decisions. All while safeguard- ing the force by detecting hazards in the environment without standing in it.”
Several leaders who had witnessed the evolution of the capabil- ity set noted how far it had come since its inception. “I think it’s worth noting that it was only in 2019 that the chief of staff of the Army decided to accelerate the development of this proto- type,” said Scott Kimmell, deputy commandant of the U.S. Army CBRN School. “With work beginning in 2019, we are only three years later. Tat’s pretty amazing, that progress that was made in three years to go from basically a sketch to seeing the NBCRV
https://asc.ar my.mil 57
SSU perform—not with all of its bells and whistles, but a lot of them. I’m not saying this to be less critical; we need to be as crit- ical as possible because this is going in the hands of a Soldier. But it’s good to smell the rose once and go, ‘Wow, this is pretty impressive.’ ” Eric Moore, Ph.D., then the director at DEVCOM CBC, said of the capability set, “I think this is really impressive and I think we need to get it out to Project Convergence.”
Tis demonstration allowed key decision-makers to see the status of the program, ask questions and provide feedback afterward, and gave end users an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the capability set. Integrated within the demonstration were the DR SKO, CBRN sensors integration on robotics platforms and the screening obscuration module.
Once fielded, these innovative capabilities will help keep CBRN Soldiers safe, ultimately minimizing the need for them to enter potential CBRN threat environments.
For more information, go to
https://www.jpeocbrnd.osd.mil.
ADAM LOWE is the public affairs officer for JPEO-CBRND at Aberdeen Proving Ground – Edgewood. He holds an M.S. in couple and family therapy from the University of Maryland, College Park as well as a B.S. in psychology and a B.A. in philosophy and religion from James Madison University.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132
