provide the needed increases in lethality and survivability. Millimeter wave technology is being pursued to permit a sensor to see and terminal homing missiles and artillery rounds to engage targets through battlefield smoke, fog and dust. Advanced visible and infrared technology is making a major contribution to our ability to passively detect and identify targets at night and under adverse weather conditions. This past year we demonstrated the first uncooled sensor array for night vision. AirLand battlefield environment tactical decision aids will provide information on terrain, weather and battle-induced contaminants and intelligence regarding the effectiveness of friendly or threat weapon systems and operations. • Command, Control and Communications (C3)- Distributed C3 technologies and networks will enhance communications and the reliable distribution of information to all levels of command. Digital burst transmission techniques, millimeter wave and higher frequency spectra, and fiberoptics are being pursued to improve jam and intercept resistance and continual information transmission. • Battlefield Lethality-Self-contained munitions technology will allow munitions after launch to autonomously search, acquire, select and home in on hostile targets. Benefits include increased kills per missile or round fired, greater survivability for the launch vehicle or battery and lower cost per kill. Advances in fiber-optics, infrared, electro-optical, radar, fuse, warhead and delivery system technologies are being pursued. Our Armament Enhancement Initiative Program is focusing technology efforts on defeating the armor threat of the 1990s. Recent accomplishments in battlefield lethality include the successful flight demonstration of the ground launched fiber-optic guided missile (FOG-M). • Battlefield Sustainment- Logistics R&D is being expanded to improve weapon systems reliability and maintainability, reduce consumption, reduce manpower intensity and reduce operating and supportcost. Expert system technology for helicopter diagnostics and condition monitoring is being demonstrated to reduce the number of inspections and scheduled maintenance tasks by monitoring flight data. The cognitive skills of the expert maintainers and diagnosticians are instantly made available to the lesser experienced maintainer. Our food technology program has demonstrated a light weight mobile combat feeding system for the soldier in the field that provides high nutrition, prepackaged, labor-free hot meals for the unit on the move. • Soldier and Unit Performance Enhancement- Proper soldier-machine interface is receiving increased emphasis not only in the design and development of our equipment, but also during the concept formulation and technology development stages. Soldier-machine interface technologies will improve training, expand individual capabilities and make it easier to operate sophisticated equipment. Robotics, expert systems and artificial intelligence will reduce the workload, enhance the performance of human operators and reduce the number of required operators. Computer generated imagery and display technology for more realistic mission simulators and embedded training technology are but two of the advanced technologies contributing to rapid training advancements. Our 6.1 basic research program supports both theoretical and experimental research by Army laboratories, industrial laboratories and over 200 universities. These universities and labs are the birthplace of the emerging, high leverage technologies of the future. This year's budget includes the University Research Initiative (URI) for ten scientific areas vital to our Army of Excellence. This is part of a DoD-wide competitive program initiated in FY86 with U.S. universities. The successes of our Centers of Excellence for Rotary-Wing Aircraft Technology at Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Maryland and Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute prove the mutual benefits of this program to the Army, industry, universities and the nation. The URI program stimulates fundamental research vital to the Army, provides a valuable pool of high technology expertise, speeds the infusion of emerging technologies from academia to industry, promotes a stronger university/Army laboratory interface and produces scientists and engineers educated in disciplines critical to the Army. The URI addresses ten vital technology areas: manufacturing science; reliability and maintainability technology; electro-optics; signal processing and image understanding; advanced propulsion systems; geosciences; fast reaction kinetics; intelligent control systems; high frequency microelectronics; ultra dynamic performance materials; biosystems and biotechnology and advanced construction technology. MEDICAL RESEARCH Together with modern battlefield weapons systems, the soldier must be considered a "System" and, as the operator, is the most vulnerable and critical component in the array of battlefield systems. The Army medical research and development program is geared to address performance degradation factors that could make this system inoperable or cause it to operate at reduced efficiency due to physical, psychological, or disease-related stresses in a variety of climates and hostile environments, both in peacetime and during periods of hostilities. Many of the normal, daily hazards to the soldier come from sources such as blast overpressure from artillery, combustion fumes from explosions, and radiation from laser, microwave, and radar systems. Army Medical Research addresses these environmental and occupational hazards. Advances are also being made to aid the soldier in dealing with natural stresses. These include heat, cold, altitude, sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and the psychological strain of the battlefield. Our personnel are more likely to become casualties from infectious diseases that have decimated military forces during past wars than from any manmade weapon system. Exploiting high payoff technological opportunities in development of drugs, vaccines, and devices for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of communicable diseases is crucial for success in this area. Monoclonal antibody productions, genetic engineering, novel drug delivery systems, immune enhancement and biomicrosensor development are being actively pursued. Recent advances in biotechnology are being utilized to speed the process of vaccine development. A notable accomplishment in this area was the development of a vaccine against falciparum malaria. This strategy is being applied to develop vaccines against other parasitic diseases to include African sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis. Recombinant DNA and monoclonal antibody techniques are being used to prepare diagnostic reagents field kits for use in rapid identification of BW agents and natural diseases in the field. Ribavirin, an anti-viral drug was found to have a curative effect against Korean and Argentinian hemorrhagic fever viruses. A recombinant Rift Valley fever vaccine was found to be very effective in animals. During periods of hostilities, the soldier may be incapacitated or at reduced efficiency due to the effects of chemical, nuclear, or biological weapons. In support of the soldier on the modern battlefield, new techniques in disease prevention, self-treatment, patient management, resuscitation, and decontamination have been and are being developed. The cyanide antidotes, sodium nitrite and sodium thiosulfate were repackaged and included into the chemical treatment set at battalion aid stations. A prototype vital signs and heart rate monitor has been developed. we have completed operational testing on a prototype patient wrap. Development was completed on a prototype individual soldier resuscitator. We also initiated a soldier performance battery testing with pyridostigmine. Improved treatment of combat casualties requires earlier diagnosis and treatment of hypovolemic shock. In addition to improved resuscitative fluids, drugs that may "buy time" until adequate volume replacement can be effected are under investigation. Research aimed at reducing mortality and morbidity due to head missile wounds is a high priority. Improved management of burn wounds is sought through improved dressings, skin substitutes, and epithelial growth systems. Combat medical materiel items being developed include field production of oxygen and medical grade IV water, field medical refrigerator, heated patient liner for the transportation of casualties, and wheeled litter carrier. Research in the area of combat dentistry currently includes the following major efforts: the development of synthetic, biodegradable implant materials to replace missing facial bone segments that will accelerate wound healing and simplify final surgical reconstruction; completed advanced development and field testing of a computer-aided post-mortem identification (CAPMI) system; sucessfully laboratory tested a second prototype light-weight hand-held field dental x-ray. Research in stresses to the soldier-operator produced by materiel systems, battlefield environments, and natural environmental extremes has resulted in a data base and performance criteria for acute mountain sickness. We also conducted field testing of the Combat Feeding System, the largest test ever undertaken of a military field feeding system. Anticipated FY87 efforts include: field testing vaccines such as malaria, Korean and Argentinian hemorrhagic fever viruses, Rift Valley fever virus, salmonella-shigella (dysentery) vaccine,and antimalarial drugs. We plan to test prototypes of on-site oxygen generation systems, resusciatative fluid production systems and a high capacity x-ray system. Other efforts will include work on: pharmacological intervention of soldier performance to include jet lag, fatigue and sleep reversal. Futher efforts include: work/rest cycle, family/individual/soldier cohesion, development of artificial skin and a blood preservation system. Furthermore the following are also planned for FY87: field testing of CAPMI; clinical trials of wound dressings; preparation of sustained time release microencapsulated antibiotics for prevention of wound infection; oral pyridostigmine; production of a patient wrap; a full scale production of chemical warfare agent decontamination resin; and development of a second generation nerve agent pre-treatment and antidotes. These accomplishments are merely a few of the highlights of an extremely complex and broad research effort encompassing all aspects ofpotential hazards to the soldier, the crucial "system" on the technologically complex modern battlefield. STRATEGIC DEFENSE Since the 23 March 1983, speech by the President in which he announced the goal of eliminating the threat posed by ballistic missiles, a program called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) has been established. The SDI, under the centralized management of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO), Office of the Secretary of Defense, is charged with pursuing technologies for defense against ballistic missiles. Emphasis in the program is being given to non-nuclear weapons for defense. The funds for this critical research program are controlled by SDIO and allocated to the Services for execution on a task basis. The Army portion of the SDI has been in being for more than 25 years and received renewed interest and direction with the formation of the U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command (USASDC) on 1 July 1985. The Commanding General, USASDC, acts as the single point of contact in the Army for SDI matters. After the Congressionally directed termination of the Army-developed BMD SAFEGUARD system in 1975, the U.S. has not had a deployed BMD SYSTEM. However, a continuing R&D program in BMD technology verification and functional experiments has evolved. It promises new technologies and refined system concepts to provide reduced risk and technically advanced options for consideration for future full-scale development. The potential for highly effective defensive systems has never been greater. New systems concepts possess potential for countering attacking ballistic missiles in all phases of their trajectories. Progress has been dramatic in expanding and advancing the technology base from which these future BMD systems will evolve. As a result, the program is in a position to make substantial contributions to the Strategic Defense Initiative technology efforts. The Army strategic defense program has been conducting R&D aimed at increasing the capabilities and effectiveness of defensive systems for over 25 years. Because of these efforts, the Army has established a highly experienced BMD organization with an extensive technical data base. The Army is therefore uniquely capable to support the Strategic Defense Initiative through early demonstrations of defense capabilities. Major program thrusts are aimed at demonstrating system and subsystem concepts and developing the mature technologies necessary to support them. Significant effort will be put into defense definition, experiments of aircraft mounted optical sensor adjuncts, terminal imaging radar, advanced radar discrimination, and nonnuclear kill interceptors. Nonnuclear Kill (NNK) mechanisms both within the atmosphere (Endoatmospheric NNK) and outside the earth's atmosphere (Exoatmospheric NNK) and outside the earth's atmosphere (ExoatmosphericNNK) are the major thrust of the program. In addition, experiments will proceed on a terminal defense radar, command, control communication/battle management (C3/BM) system, and data processor. Advanced technology work, to expand the base from which new systems will evolve, will continue |