ADF Force Protection: DMTC to focus on personnel survivability | ADM September 2011
Gregor Ferguson | Sydney
Defence has agreed to support a new five-year research program by the Melbourne-based Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC) focussing on Personnel Survivability.
The $20 million program will build on R&D work the DMTC and its research and industry partners are already undertaking in ceramic armour manufacturing. The DMTC Personnel Survivability research program – Program 7- aims to tackle personal protection in a holistic way. As well as improving physical protection against a range of threats Program 7 will also tackle weight, bulk and integration issues to reduce the burden on the individual soldier and, if possible, increase his operational effectiveness.
The DMTC Program 7 research will include:
• Ballistic, Blast and Flash Protection
• Signature Reducing Activities
• Environmental Threats
• Utility, Fit and Comfort
• Human Systems and Injury Modelling
• Integration with Mounted Operations
DMTC’s CEO, Dr Mark Hodge said the Personnel Survivability program will be managed using the successful collaborative model DMTC has developed for its existing programs. This includes commercialisation and technology transfer mechanisms that generate solutions quickly which industry can then provide to the end user.
Program 7 draw together a range of program partners from industry, government and academia, said Hodge:
• Australian Defence Apparel (ADA)
• Ballistic and Mechanical Testing
• Bruck Textiles
• CSIRO
• DSTO
• Tectonica Australia
• The University of Wollongong
• RMIT University
• Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing (VCAMM)
Several other companies have also expressed an interest in joining the program, said Hodge.
Over the initial five years the federal Government will provide more than $9 million towards Program 7 through the DMO and DSTO, with industry already committing the equivalent of $11 million in cash and kind.
“This represents a significant outcome for the broader defence sector, including of course the companies and research sector organisations that committed their support to the bid,” according to Hodge. “We’re most grateful for the support and commitment of our partner organisations, and of course that of Defence, which was the final piece of the puzzle, allowing each party to leverage contributions from the others through DMTC’s collaborative business model.”
The Program 7 research team will work closely with the Army’s Diggerworks whose Head, COL Jason Blain, told ADM that the first stakeholder meeting between the Diggerworks and DMTC teams was scheduled to take place shortly after this edition closed for press. This meeting, which will also be attended by representatives from HQ JOC, CDG, DSTO and the Counter-IED Task Force (CIEDTF), would workshop operational requirements based on priorities set by Army HQ and refine these into specific research projects for formal endorsement by the Program 7 Steering Committee.
Diggerworks and DSTO will appoint representatives to the individual project teams, Blain told ADM. These projects will not tackle problems which can be solved by an off the shelf solution delivered by a Rapid Acquisition Project (RAP). Instead they will look at longer-term requirements – 12-18 months and beyond – and support Diggerworks in its own mission to develop and refine enhanced soldier combat system ensembles under Projects such as Land 125 Ph.4 and its successors.
The Personnel Survivability research program provides an opportunity to do some ‘out of the box’ thinking, but in a systematic way, according to Blain. He told ADM the researchers may examine things like incorporating ballistic protection into textiles and clothing. This could enhance pelvic protection, for example, as well as helping prevent second-order effects such as infection caused by dust and fragments driven into wounds by IEDs.
The research may also examine technologies such as cooling and power generation in partnership with subject matter experts in research organisations such as CSIRO, and shaping body armour to improve fit and comfort across a wider range of body types. These could all feed into later variants of current equipment such as the recently introduced Tiered Body Armour System (TBAS).
The involvement of research partners such as RMIT, the University of Wollongong and Tectonica will be important, said Hodge, as these organisations have particular strengths in textiles research (RMIT), human factors ( Uni of Wollongong) and power generation and management, and general systems integration (Tectonica).
The systems integration and power management issue is an emerging pre-occupation of Diggerworks. Dismounted troops will carry a range of sensors and communications devices all contributing to collective and individual Dismounted Situational Awareness (DSA), COL Blain told ADM. Solving the weight and configuration challenges they pose mustn’t create or compound similar problems elsewhere, he said.
To avoid the ‘christmas tree effect’, where troops end up burdened with equipment and cables and weapons in an ad hoc way, Program 7 aims to integrate separate streams of research so that the solutions they deliver are practical and properly integrated: lighter, less bulky, and with equivalent or superior protection to the best currently available.
Defence’s $9 million investment in DMTC Program 7, amounting to less than $2 million a year, comes on top of the $1.6 billion the Australian Government has invested in enhanced force protection measures and has the potential to deliver a very significant pay-off in terms of both lives saved and new business opportunities for Australian industry.
DMTC has already demonstrated how its commercialisation model can deliver just such a payoff with the recent announcement by Australian Defence Apparel (ADA), VCAMM and CSIRO of a pilot plant to produce an enhanced ceramic strike face for combat body armour which can be shaped to fit the contours of the human body.
This industry capability will provide for the first time in Australia a sustainable, cost-effective source of ceramic strike face armour products which can be designed, prototyped, tested and put into production rapidly. This means local industry can respond more quickly and flexibly than overseas suppliers to short-notice contingencies, sudden surges in demand and emerging requirements for new designs and configurations.
It also provides a local manufacturer with a competitive advantage in both the domestic and export markets which in turn should help sustain a Priority Industry Capability (PIC) without any external intervention.
Defence’s investment in DMTC Program 7 would seem to be an endorsement of the research and commercialisation model the DMTC has developed since it was established in 2008.
Although it receives a significant minority of its funding from Defence, like the CRCs, the DMTC is administered through DIISR. This arrangement builds on the proven CRC model for governance and the delivery of business outcomes through applied research conducted with and by industry partners. The CRCs’ bottom line is a stronger, more competitive industry sector contributing to a stronger economy.
The DMTC extends this model a stage further to deliver direct operational and financial benefits to Defence and to the ADF war fighter, says Hodge.
Each of the DMTC’s research projects directly supports either a Priority Industry Capability (PIC) or a Strategic Industry Capability (SIC). Because the DMTC is integrated or closely aligned with organisations such as the CRCs, Defence Industry Innovation Centre (DIIC), Enterprise Connect and the CTD programs, its delivery process ensures robust and sustainable industry outcomes which strengthen those PICs and SICs with no (or minimal, at most) intervention required from Defence.
Importantly, the DMTC also provides an arm’s length mechanism for channelling funds, Intellectual Property (IP) and scientific and technical expertise to Australian industry without disrupting or compromising the core functions of the DMO and DSTO.
The DMO’s arms-length relationship with industry via the DMTC allows it to support defence industry development without compromising its independence. Similarly, DSTO is the ADF’s scientific and technical authority and conducts Technical Risk Assessments (TRA) on major capital equipment programs. By working closely with the DMTC it can share IP, knowledge and expertise with industry (and benefit in turn from this knowledge sharing) without compromising its core function.
Subject: Defence Industry