GREEN ARMY TECH
currently, she said, there is a lot of basic and advanced research being conducted regarding hexavalent chromium and corrosive coatings, especially in guns.
“When you think about acquisition, you’ve got a current prob- lem right now, but any reflection on the catalog we’re looking at in the best scenario five years, and that’s very lofty—very, very lofty,” she said. “I would say we’re looking at a 10-to-15-year lag, so any heads up on research that we could get [is going to help]. If we are looking at trends maybe in Europe from the REACH, if we could get on that kind of schedule, we might be a little bit more competitive in a green way.” REACH is a European Union regulation that affects the supply and use of substances and aims to ensure a high level of protection of human health and envi- ronment against harmful materials.
BUILT TO SERVE While built to serve the munitions community, the preventa- tive features of TRND hold promising potential for adaptation to serve other customers (government agencies, departments, industry) in the future.
In the short term, Hubbard said, “TRND provides the capability to rapidly search the JPEO A&A portfolio for critical chemi- cals and materials that are contained in fielded end items. And it enables JPEO A&A to respond to quick-turn information requests asking if certain chemicals are used in Army materiel.” In the long term, TRND may evolve to include developmental items, and enable material developers to identify impacts from the rapidly changing environmental regulatory landscape—before a technology or end item transitions to a program management office and or program of record. “Tis could allow material devel- opers to pivot to less hazardous, alternate chemicals/materials and mitigate risks before transition,” he said.
Copp said 6.1 Environmental Basic Research funding was secured for TRND a year ago but will run out in June. She also applied for a grant from the DOD Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP)—the gatekeepers of environmental research, who steer the DOD’s environmental research funding lines.
Each year the SERDP/ESTCP hold a symposium for all grant applicants, and at last year’s Department of Defense Energy and Environment Innovation Symposium—held Nov. 28 through Dec. 1, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia—other project management offices and program executive offices outside of JPEO A&A were
briefed on TRND and its benefits for potential use with their product or commodity areas.
“Our biggest goal going forward is to chemically map our items down to such an elemental level, so we can have the greatest impact and also avoid those supply chain issues from regulations,” Copp said. “And we’re also trying to see where we can make head- way with onshoring the chemical production.”
Copp and her team at the Armaments Center say they are work- ing with chemists on building chemical mapping functionality into TRND to assess potential environmental regulatory impacts during the development of alternate synthesis of some energetic polymers and plasticizers, with cohorts across the Army, on better alternatives to synthesize these into working energetics to deter- mine the “greenest route.”
CONCLUSION Te goal of TRND is to identify potential threats to acquisition from increased regulatory scrutiny or perceived liability which may result in supply chain deficiencies and an inability of the Army and DOD to produce and field munitions.
Copp said TRND, which is still in the testing phase, is currently limited to Army partners, while efforts on design and enhance- ments continue. “Right now, it consists of taking current environmental policies and comparing those to chemicals, not Army or DOD catalog items yet,” she said. “But in the next year, we’re hoping to have a prototype out and available, on a wider scale.”
“Is it going to be a perfect solution? Absolutely not,” Copp said. “But I think it could help steer research away from those regret- table solutions.”
For more information, go to the JPEO A&A website at
https://jpeoaa.army.mil.
CHERYL MARINO provides contract support to the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center (USAASC) at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, as a writer and editor for Army AL&T magazine and Network Runners Inc. Prior to USAASC, she served as a technical report editor at the DEVCOM Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal for five years. She holds a B.A. in communications from Seton Hall University and has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience in both the government and private sectors.
https://asc.ar my.mil
21
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
