Technologies are being developed and tested that enable Soldiers to focus more on mission and not more on logistics and resupply, said Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the military for Installations, Energy and Environment.
Hammack was regarding the bottom Camp Systems Integration Laboratory, or B-CIL, at Fort Devens, Mass. There, new technologies has been spinning out to Soldiers in Afghanistan and elsewhere because the unit stood up in June 2011.
Hammack, in addition to Lt. Gen. Raymond V. Mason, deputy chief of staff, Army G-4, and Kevin Fahey, program executive officer, Combat Support and Combat Service Support, toured B-CIL Nov. 5. They later discussed their impressions of the ability, and mentioned the nice work B-CIL have been doing.
About 70 to 80 percent of resupply weight in Afghanistan includes fuel and water, Hammack said. That weight is being reduced through new technologies popping out of B-CIL.
For example, Soldiers at the moment are using an intelligent microgrid computer system that distributes reliable power matched to demand loads and peak demand times at a cheaper price per kilowatt hour than the purpose generation of the ancient grid, she said.
A lot of that energy is renewable, like solar, she said, and when it isn’t getting used , it really is stored in batteries for later use. This reduces the logistics burden of fuel transport on Soldiers by greater than 30 percent.
The shower water reuse system, another B-CIL technology, reduces shower water demand by 75 percent, because the water is recycled.
Another product is the Rigid-Wall Camp, she said, that is replacing traditional tents in theater. It houses 10 to twelve Soldiers, is twice as energy efficient as a conventional tent, may be quickly install and brought down, or even has ballistic-resistant capabilities. Furthermore, Soldiers say it’s comfortable.
BUDGET UNCERTAINTIES
The return on investment in what B-CIL have been doing is proven, Hammack said. However, continuing resolutions and sequestration have put a damper on research and development.
“We will not be capable of test as many new technologies as we’d want to someday,” she said. “We can have to continue with most of the things we have already got available and we might be unable to explore the art of the potential.”
Mason was more blunt.
“The continuing resolution is caustic. You can’t do any new starts and you’re stuck with the former fiscal year cash flow. And sequestration is Armageddon. It’s a double-whammy,” he said. “The effects spell uncertainty for the military and its industrial partners, especially small businesses. You can’t run a business efficiently not knowing what the subsequent year goes to seem like.”
Despite the budget woes, Hammack said the military is partnering with academia, the national labs, industry and the opposite services to come back up with creative and price-effective solutions and products like those she mentioned to support the warfighter.
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