Decontamination (ACD&P)

Abstract

This project supports the development of Contamination Mitigation (ConMit) systems that reduce operational impact and logistics burden, reduce sustainment costs, increase safety, and minimize environmental effects associated with decontamination and contamination mitigation operations. These efforts align with the National Defense Strategy by prioritizing preparedness for war and sustaining Joint Force military advantage and resilient force posture. Efforts included in this project are: (1) Tactical Contamination Mitigation System (TCMS), (2) Wide Area Decontamination System (WADS), (3) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Covers, Coatings and Protective Overlays (C3PO), (4) Mass Personnel Decontamination (MPD), (5) Service Equipment Decontamination System (SEDS), and (6) Tactical Disablement System (TacDS) TCMS is a FY22 new start program and is one of two respond components (along with the Wide Area Decontamination System) of the Interdependent Contamination Mitigation concept and intends to address gaps related to the decontamination of sensitive equipment, personal equipment, individual & crew served weapons, and it will reduce the time and logistics associated with decontamination. TCMS will limit the spread and mitigate the effects of Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) contamination to allow warfighters to continue their mission for an extended period of time in a high threat, CBR contaminated environment. The Program's intent is to mitigate the risk to personnel and limit the potential spread of CBR contamination by minimizing contact and transfer hazards. TCMS will greatly enhance or eliminate the need for subsequent decontamination to mitigate contamination on military equipment by allowing the Warfighter to see areas of contamination, target contamination for treatment early, with minimal expenditure of time and material. Following application of TCMS, combined with weathering, Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) levels may be reduced without further decontamination, depending on the surface or material being decontaminated and the agent. In FY22 the TCMS program will initiate market research, award a prototyping Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contract and draft program documentation for a Milestone A decision. The WADS is a FY22 new start program that will provide contamination mitigation capabilities against chemical and biological warfare agents on various types of terrain and exterior of fixed site facilities. The WADS will be employed to conduct Airport of Debarkation, Seaport of Debarkation, Terrain, Fix Site and Anti-access/Anti-denial decontamination operations. The WADS will be a replacement for the M12. The M12A1, Power Driven Decontamination Apparatus (PDDA) system is an Army lead program that consists of a pump unit, a 500 gallon tank unit, and a 600 gallon per hour liquid fuel water heater with a spray bar mounted to the system for terrain decontamination. The WADS will use the principles of the PDDA to further enhance terrain decontamination capabilities. In FY22 the WADS program will initiate market research, release the Request for Prototype Proposal, and draft program documentation for a Milestone A decision in FY23. The C3PO program uses a Family of Systems approach to provide contamination mitigation capability to critical equipment and assets prior to a CBRN attack to mitigate the effects and amount of CBRN contamination exposure allowing the Joint Force to be better prepared for war, maintain a resilient force posture, and remain lethal. These capabilities include but are not limited to CBRN protective covers, coatings, paints, and other preventative measures. In FY22, the C3PO program will continue user testing through iterative (test-fix-test) prototyping to improve system performance. The MPD program will provide Warfighters with the capability to reduce the hazards associated with mass casualty decontamination efforts for protected and unprotected personnel, causalities and contaminated human remains potentially exposed to CBRN hazards. The program will develop an array of rugged and reliable best-of-breed hardware in a manageably sized, easy to erect, modular system that can be quickly tailored to different Mass Casualty events in order to support decontamination of ambulatory and non-ambulatory patients, and allow for the processing of contaminated human remains. This reduces and limits the spread of contamination among potentially contaminated population groups through a standardized, modular system scalable to increase capability, aligning with the National Defense Strategy by prioritizing preparedness for war in order to remain lethal. The MPD program funding ends in FY21 and all program contract, test, and acquisition documentation will be archived and the Joint Requirements Office will enter the Draft Capability Development Document into Knowledge Management/Decision Support tool for archiving. The SEDS program will develop reliable and modular hardware intended to decontaminate military equipment including personal effects, and weapons to pre-contamination conditions, which sustains Joint Force military advantages and a resilient force posture, and align with the National Defense Strategy. SEDS will provide contamination mitigation capabilities for critical equipment that have been exposed to chemical and biological contamination and achieve efficacy levels that allow unprotected post-decontamination exposures for long periods with less than negligible severity effects. In FY22, the SEDS program will initiate Special Operations Forces (SOF) combined Developmental Test/Operational Test (DT/OT) and conduct Early Developmental Testing (EDT) for remaining Services, and prepare for Preliminary Design Review (PDR). The TacDS program is a family of systems (FoS) that will provide tactical commanders a suite of products to disable (delay, disrupt, and/or degrade) or defeat (destroy) small quantities of chemical or biological materials of concern (C/BMOC) contained in munitions and bulk containers. The TacDS will operate in locations both remote and accessible, during hostile and non-hostile conditions, and within established time periods, to reduce or eliminate the employability of C/BMOC against the Joint Force and/or prevent state adversaries and non-state actors from acquiring, proliferating, or using weapons of mass destruction, a defense objective in the National Defense Strategy. The TacDS suite of capabilities will provide a new warfighter capability at the tactical level and play a critical role in DoD's ability to respond effectively to WMD crises and C/BMOC. Development of two products was initiated in FY19; Product #1, Thermite Bag, a man-portable destruction capability, and Product #2, Epoxy Kit, a delay capability. Development and evaluation of Products #1 and #2 through delivery of advanced prototypes and associated technical data/training packages was conducted in FY20 as part of approved closeout activities. For Product #2, development was accelerated in FY20 to include operational testing with USSOCOM forces to allow USSOCOM to procure/field the product under their Title 10 Authority. Data/Intellectual Property (IP) and documentation for both products as well as the overarching TacDS program are archived to facilitate further development in the future if funding becomes available and the program is revived; archived information will be shared with USSOCOM as needed. In FY21 and beyond, the Defense-Wide Review (DWR) reduced the program for higher priorities. Advanced prototypes and associated technical data packages for these two products will be delivered in FY20 and archived along with programmatic documentation for future efforts, consistent with the approved close-out strategy.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2022
• Source ID: DE4_0603884BP_4_0400_PB_2022

Tags

Readers

• Critical Infrastructure Protection in CBRN and WMD Threats.

Technology Areas

• Fully Networked C3
• Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control