Understand (ACD&P)

Abstract

The Understand Advanced Component Development and Prototypes (ACD&P) Project provides the Joint Force the ability to continually receive information about the CBRN situation at a desired time and place by detecting, identifying, and quantifying Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) hazards in air, water, or on land, and on personnel, equipment or facilities. Efforts also develop a clear understanding of the current and predicted CBRN situation; collect, query, and assimilate information from sensors in real time to inform decisions and provide impacts of CBRN hazards. Efforts included in this Project are: (1) Advanced Emerging Threat Defense (AET DEFENSE), (2) CBRN Support to Command and Control (CSC2), (3) Compact Vapor Chemical Agent Detector (CVCAD), (4) Proximate Chemical Agent Detector (PCAD), (5) Biological Defense Improvement Program (BDIP), and (6) Surveillance and Pathogen Characterization-Enhanced Biodefense (SPCHAR-ENBD) The AET DEFENSE program continues to address the highest priority CBRN gaps and supports the Chemical Biological Defense Program (CBDP) Strategic Line of Effort to meet current and emerging threats by anticipating CB hazards and developing capabilities to counter emerging and future threats. The AET Defense program collaborates with the Joint Services, interagency, and international partners to align RDT&E resources to determine readiness against emerging threats, to include NTAs, such as Novichoks and Pharmaceutical-Based Agents (PBA) (e.g. synthetic opioids), emerging biological threats, and other advanced and emerging threats as they are identified across the entire CBDP enterprise portfolio. In FY23, AET Defense activities continue to focus on demonstrating and evaluating technologies to assess performance against emerging threats, particularly biological threats. CSC2 is predicated on rapidly deploying CBRN situational awareness and understanding capabilities to the Joint Force through Capability Development Packages (CDPs). CSC2 will pull technology from Science & Technology (S&T) partners as well as integrate mature technologies into a baseline framework that enables risk based decision making. IEW Campaign Plan Lines of Effort are the driving bodies for service requirements and rapid capability development and deployment. Applicable technologies within the CBDP will be experimented, integrated, networked, and deployed through software acquisition pathway. In FY23 CSC2 will continue the integration of the CBRN sensor portfolio through a common sensor management system and conduct automated warning and reporting/analysis to support operations, planning & execution. The prototype from FY22 efforts will be refined for service specific Common Operating Environment (COE) and Computing Environment (CE) interfaces for a delivery of a minimally viable product in FY23 meeting CDP-1 requirements. Investments will accelerate the advanced development of next generation warning, reporting and hazard prediction capabilities. Initial investments will be made in artificial intelligence and machine learning applications and processes. Digital engineering and model-based systems engineering will be used to develop a common architecture in order to reduce risk and accelerate development and deployment of the CSC2 capability. CVCAD is designed to be an unobtrusive, low-profile chemical detection capability that will continuously, and autonomously, monitor and alert general and specialized units to an unsafe environment without further burdening the warfighters payload or interfering with the primary mission. The small form factor is amenable to both man-worn and unmanned aerial or ground system operations to enable timely personnel protective action and other force protection decisions. In FY22 CVCAD Science & Technology (S&T) prototypes will transition into the program of record and continue in Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) phase and conduct development testing and early user feedback events to inform design changes. In FY23 the four competing prototypes will undergo down selects based on performance to prepare for Milestone B/Middle Tier Acquisition (MTA). PCAD will transition from Science & Technology (S&T) to a program of record in FY23 and will be a handheld standoff, liquid and solid trace chemical agent detector to detect a wide range of chemical threats. The technology will provide detection and location of chemical agents on various surfaces and under a variety of environmental conditions. The BDIP will enhance the set of biodefense capabilities to significantly improve its ability to rapidly understand, prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from a vast array of future biological threats. BDIP will support the Department of Defense (DoD) CBDP mission through enhanced capabilities to understand, and protect against threats. BDIP will address joint and service gaps and priorities related to biodefense, and will develop and execute a biodefense strategy. It considers the BW threat and vulnerabilities to give biodefense the agility and speed necessary to provide relevant, effective, affordable, and sustainable capabilities that can be ubiquitously deployed on the battlefield against current, emerging and future biological threat. The DoD with academia, industry and other interagency departments will partner to gain opportunities to accelerate technology, adopt surge capacity and advance consumable and alternative solution across the entire Biodefense portfolio. FY23 funding will conduct market research to support the refinement and the building of technologically mature prototypes. SPCHAR-ENBD will enhance the flow of surveillance data and samples through a network of laboratories, expand deployed analytical capabilities to expedite pathogen characterization, and integrate contact tracing capabilities to provide case management contact tracing and digital proximity tools that enable commanders to identify, notify, monitor, and case manage service members that test positive for an emerging threat. This enhancement delivers early detection and characterization, which informs protection capabilities needed for biodefense and pandemic preparedness.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2023
• Source ID: UN4_0603884BP_4_0400_PB_2023

Tags

Readers

• Critical Infrastructure Protection in CBRN and WMD Threats.
• Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
• Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

• AI & ML
• AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy
• Autonomy
• Autonomy - UAVs
• Fully Networked C3
• Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control