EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE FORCE
The ICE program is exploring biologically- enabled materials for ways to control and manipulate ice to protect military personnel and assets.
Army and frostbite being the most common cold weather injury suffered. Terefore, being capable of preventing cold weather injuries, such as frostbite, can have a significant impact on Soldier readiness. “Tey [DARPA] are not just interested in using biolog- ical examples and products to control ice, but also, how can we help humans survive more effectively in this cold environment?” Asenath-Smith said. “Imagine you are going to wear a balaclava, which is like a ski mask, and every time you exhale the vapor in your breath freezes on the fabric. Now you’re at risk of getting frostbite on your nose and your lips because your gear is icing up.” She explains that while there is one commercialized prod- uct that can be used for the treatment of frostbite, there isn’t anything available yet to prevent it. “If you can prevent the freez- ing of tissues in fish internally, is there some way that we can leverage that to prevent freezing of tissues externally on humans?”
Te ability to provide medical treatment, ensure communication devices remain operational and managing ice accumulation on military equipment are a few additional challenges the military is facing in Arctic conditions. Imagine a medical emergency when intravenous (IV) fluids need to be administered, however the IV fluids are frozen solid. Or experiencing a loss of communi- cation because antennas and satellites have frozen and collapsed due to the weight of the ice that has accumulated. Te buildup of ice on ships can result in an increase in their center of grav- ity weight, causing them to capsize. Military aircraft can also experience increased weight if they accumulate ice. Additional negative impacts to aircraft can include frozen propellers, rotors and even their landing gear. Te ICE program’s research has all these obstacles in mind. Te IV&V team will continue to work with the performance teams and through ongoing testing and development efforts, while ERDC-CRREL aims to overcome some of these hurdles.
CONCLUSION Te ICE program’s recent research and development efforts are just the tip of the iceberg. Currently, the program is in Phase 1— also referred to as the discovery phase—and is broken out into two tracks. Bettinger explains that during Phase 1, performance teams are conducting field research, establishing testbed experi- ments, developing molecules, collecting and testing samples for ice-modulating proteins and making inferences about possible capabilities of certain proteins (such as preventing ice from grow- ing). “Te first phase is really broken out in those two efforts we have, basically. One track is discovering those molecules that might exist and then the [other] track is building testbeds to evaluate their prospective performance,” Bettinger said. Once Phase 1 is complete by August 2025, Phase 2 will be formula- tion and application-driven by taking the discovered proteins and researching how they can be engineered into a product. “You think about protecting our warfighters by having those same proteins that the bacteria use, right? But now maybe we develop them and formulate them into an applique or a lotion or a gel or a cream that we can put on our hands,” Bettinger said when discussing the future development of frostbite protection. “Tat’s already endowed to bacteria, but let’s bring them [the proteins] over to the human.”
As the climate continues to warm, developing eco-friendly ways to better protect warfighters in extreme weather conditions in the Arctic not only assists in the safety of our Soldiers, but in our national security objectives as well. Te ICE program continues to study and test methods to potentially overcome obstacles such as frostbite, hypothermia and loss of functionality pertaining to military assets in the extreme cold. Instead of viewing ice only as a hindrance, the ICE program’s research and testing on how ice can be used as a tool can better position the Army to protect Soldiers and safeguard our nation’s interest.
For more information, go to
https://www.darpa.mil/program/ ice-control-for-cold-environments or contact Emily Asenath- Smith at
emily.asenath-smith@
usace.army.mil or (603) 646-4131.
REBECCA WRIGHT is a writer and editor with Army AL&T and the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She has more than 15 years of experience writing and editing for DOD and the U.S. Department of Justice.
https://asc.ar my.mil
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