Mitigate (ACD&P)

Abstract

The Mitigate Advanced Component Development and Prototypes (ACD&P) Project provides the Joint Force the ability to conduct decontamination and medical actions that enable the quick restoration of combat power; maintain/recover essential functions that are free from the effects of Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) hazards; and facilitate the return to pre-incident operational capability as soon as possible. Efforts included in this Project are: (1)Service Equipment Decontamination System (SEDS), (2)Tactical Contamination Mitigation System (TCMS), (3)Biological Warfare Defense Prototype (BIOPROTO), (4)Chemical Warfare Defense Therapeutics (CHEMTX), and (5)Discovery of Medical Countermeasures Against New and Emerging Threats (DOMANE) The SEDS, which was a FY21 new start 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 FY23, Developmental Test (DT) will continue for sub-systems and the integrated system as a whole to verify the SEDS system for safety, suitability, and effectiveness. In FY23, the Program will integrate system components into full prototype system(s), complete Special Operations Forces (SOF) Developmental Testing (DT) and Joint Service Early Developmental Testing (EDT), conduct Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for Other Services, and Technology Readiness Assessment (TRA), update Milestone documentation and conduct MS B Decision Reviews. 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 FY23 the TCMS program will complete Milestone A and procure prototypes of systems that meet the draft Capabilities Development Document requirements. The program will conduct a Systems Readiness Review (SRR), Test Readiness Review (TRR), begin prototype testing. BIOPROTO supports early-phase clinical development and supporting non-clinical safety, tolerability and toxicity data for candidate vaccines and therapeutic drugs prior to transition to System Development & Demonstration. This work provides safe and effective medical defense against validated biological threat agents and emerging infectious disease biothreats including bacteria, toxins, and viruses. This work also involves the evaluation of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved therapeutics for operational use, as well as generation of novel drug products and formulations, to enhance level of protection and/or operational utility for the Warfighter. This effort reduces programmatic risk of failure in the advanced development phase. CHEMTX will focus on therapeutic and prophylactic strategies to effectively minimize injuries and/or death resulting from exposure to Pharmaceutical Based Agents (PBA), including opioids. This will allow the Warfighter to maintain operational capacity in a chemically contested battlefield scenario. This effort involves the evaluation of FDA approved therapeutics for operational use, as well as generation of novel drug products and formulations to enhance level of protection and/or operational utility for the Warfighter. Efforts in this area are designed to develop drug candidates that will ultimately be submitted for FDA licensure or to identify previously licensed products for new uses in the treatment and pretreatment against chemical warfare injury. DOMANE supports prototype development of emerging technology platforms and technologies to identify medical countermeasures (MCMs), MCM targets, and disease pathogenesis and toxicity using the combination of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, organs-on-a-chip, high-throughput screening as well as novel imaging platforms. Additionally, MT4 supports early-phase clinical development of prophylaxis treatments and therapeutic drugs through the use of adaptive clinical trials to provide safe and effective medical defense against validated biological threat agents and emerging infectious disease biothreats including bacteria, toxins, and viruses. This effort reduces programmatic risk of failure in the advanced development phase by developing validated prototypes and generating clinical and supporting non-clinical safety, tolerability and toxicity data for candidate prophylaxis treatments and therapeutic drugs prior to transition to System Development & Demonstration.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2023
• Source ID: MT4_0603884BP_4_0400_PB_2023

Tags

Readers

• Critical Infrastructure Protection in CBRN and WMD Threats.

Technology Areas

• AI & ML
• AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy
• Biotechnology