The Latest from PEO Soldier
Equipping the Warrior with Survivability
and Lethality from Head to Toe.
Since its founding nearly 10 years ago, Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier has worked to provide soldiers across the Army with equipment that makes them more lethal and survivable in any operating environment. This mission includes soldiers in the special forces community, who receive many pieces of essential equipment from PEO Soldier.
Though PEO Soldier has over 400 items in its portfolio, a few programs stand out in their service to the Special Forces. For Army aircrews, the portable helicopter oxygen delivery system (PHODS) and the electronic data manager (EDM) have improved situational awareness and safety; the ghillie suit has continued to give snipers and surveillance units a greater level of concealment; and, in response to soldier feedback, the medium ruck and the plate carrier system improve the quality of life and operational abilities of soldiers in Afghanistan. These five systems provide new and enhanced capabilities to the soldiers operating in some of the most challenging conditions on Earth.
SOLDIER PLATE CARRIER SYSTEM
In fall 2009, the Army introduced a plate carrier vest to provide soldiers serving in Afghanistan with a more lightweight alternative to the improved outer tactical vest (IOTV). The U.S. armed forces’ experiences in Afghanistan, with its challenging terrain, prompted the Army to seek a lighter-weight body armor system that would provide the soldier with vital protection while allowing for maximum mobility.
The Army chose the plate carrier solution because the technology does not yet exist to make the hard and soft armor components of body armor more lightweight. The plate carrier concept is designed as an alternative, not a replacement, for the IOTV, which is the core of the Interceptor body armor (IBA) system. Both systems serve to provide soldiers in combat with protection from enemy small arms ballistic threats.
PEO Soldier worked closely with the U.S. Army Infantry School, the Army Test and Evaluation Command, North Carolina State University, the Army Research Laboratory’s Survivability/Lethality Analysis Directorate, and the Rapid Equipping Force to assess the performance of commercial off-the-shelf plate carriers. The objective of these assessments was to gain a thorough understanding of plate carrier performance, both from the perspective of soldiers and through the perspective of scientists and engineers who have examined ballistic, burn, environmental and survivability data. This information was used to inform Army leadership of plate carrier capabilities and to refine requirements for future requests for proposal to industry.
The Army also conducted a Soldier Protection Demonstration (SPD) in May 2009. The goal of SPD VII, in which 36 soldiers took part, was to gather both objective and subjective data on the various designs by having the soldiers put a number of plate carriers through rigorous exercises. The soldiers put six commercial plate carrier vests and a scaled-down version of the currently fielded IOTV through a variety of exercises: road marches, obstacle courses, weapons familiarization, ingress/ egress drills and room-clearing exercises. The soldiers provided exhaustive feedback—more than 10,000 pages of comments—on the form, fit and function of each vest they tested. They also tested each plate carrier’s compatibility with Land Warrior, a soldier-worn computer system that increases mission speed and effectiveness and decreases risks to the unit by providing state-of-the-art situational awareness.
The results of SPD VII helped the Army further refine its requirements for the plate carrier vest, which were used as the basis to evaluate vendors’ proposals for the Army’s eventual contractor selection. In October 2009, the Army awarded a contract for 57,000 of the soldier plate carrier system with deliveries beginning at the end of December 2009. Fielding of the plate carrier began in January 2010, and production was complete at the end of March 2010. The initial receiving units, serving in Operation Enduring Freedom, were identified by U.S. Forces – Afghanistan. The first phase of fielding was completed in March 2010, and additional fielding is being planned.
PORTABLE HELICOPTER OXYGEN DELIVERY SYSTEM
The portable helicopter oxygen delivery system provides soldiers with a wearable, lightweight oxygen solution for high altitude operations in unpressurized aircraft. In mountainous regions like Afghanistan, it is necessary to take unpressurized aircraft above 10,000 feet in order to execute the mission. In these circumstances aircrews are at risk of hypoxia, a dangerous condition that results from exposure to a low-oxygen environment.
Though it is not always fatal, hypoxia is still a danger to aircrews. Symptoms can include dizziness, disorientation and impaired judgment, any of which could have catastrophic results when operating an aircraft.
The PHODS consists of a small, durable oxygen bottle worn on the soldier’s uniform. Tubing connects the bottle to a helmetmounted boom and canula that provides oxygen via the soldier’s nasal passageway. This delivery mechanism is designed not to interfere with the activities of aircrews.
The flow of oxygen is controlled with an advanced digital regulator, or oxygen pulse controller. The oxygen pulse controller monitors not only the aircraft’s altitude, but also the soldier’s respiration pattern. Using this information, the system delivers bursts of oxygen only when the soldier is inhaling above a pre-set altitude. This maximizes the system’s oxygen capacity, providing over two hours of support. Since some missions require more than two hours of oxygen in flight, a mission kit that contains extra oxygen bottles is also fielded with the system. Bottles are easily replaced using quick release connectors.
Along with the soldier-worn components, PHODS includes a mobile oxygen cylinder recharge station. With this system, oxygen is generated from ambient air and stored in 1.8 cubic feet capacity oxygen cylinders at operating pressures. PHODS bottles are easily refilled from these larger cylinders. The stations are completely automated, selfcontained and easily transportable, allowing PHODS to be leveraged wherever aircraft are in use.
The PHODS provides several advantages over the legacy system for high altitude operation in unpressurized aircraft. The old system weighed over 100 pounds, tethered aviators to the floor-mounted component, and could not be mounted on some aircraft because of its size. The weight and size was not only a hindrance to soldiers in the aircraft, but could also affect the aircraft’s flight range and operational readiness.
More than 2,000 PHODS units have been issued to aircrews as part of Air Warrior, a modular system of aviation life support and vital equipment issued to Army aircrews. Air Warrior and PHODS specifically have been extremely well received by soldiers in combat. Using the PHODS, aircrews can now operate faster and safer in and around their aircraft. Furthermore, the capabilities that the system provides are allowing for more versatile operations in more geographically-varied areas.
MEDIUM RUCK
In response to feedback from soldiers in Operation Enduring Freedom, the Army is poised to provide soldiers with a new pack that will give them more mobility in the challenging terrain of Afghanistan.
The medium ruck, as it is called, is designed to meet the needs of a growing number of soldiers conducting missions that take them away from their operating base for up to three days, perhaps to a remote outpost or on a long patrol or air assault. With 3,000 cubic inches of load-carrying capacity, the medium ruck will provide a more suitable alternative to the 5,000 cubic inch modular lightweight load-carrying equipment (MOLLE) or the 1,800 cubic inch assault pack that is part of the MOLLE system.
The Army is evaluating three prototypes of the medium ruck, all of which harness modern mountaineering technology, to determine which is most adaptable to the needs of soldiers in remote regions of Afghanistan, particularly airborne soldiers.
In addition to a main compartment, the designs offer two segmented pockets in front and webbing on the sides for attaching additional pouches and accessories.
The frame is intended to accommodate a 60 pound load and to be compatible with the body armor on a soldier’s back.
Program Executive Office Soldier could begin taking delivery of the medium ruck in summer 2010 and start fielding it as early as the first quarter of FY 2011.
ELECTRONIC DATA MANAGER
In order to provide more digital capabilities to all aircrews, the responsible product manager under PEO Soldier has developed and fielded the electronic data manager for aviators to better plan and execute missions. With the EDM, aviators can communicate over the horizon and see the position of their aircraft, the position of other aircraft and ground platforms nearby, and access vital technical information.
The EDM is built to fit unobtrusively into any Army aircraft. It is designed to be worn on the aviator’s thigh while sitting, with buckle straps to hold it in place. Feedback from soldiers who used early versions of the system contributed many valuable design changes, such as improved ventilation to keep aviators from becoming uncomfortably hot while wearing the EDM. The system is currently in its third design iteration.
Using a stylus on the sunlight-readable touchscreen, aviators can perform a number of pre-flight and in-flight activities with greater speed and accuracy. Weight and balance calculations, checklists, manuals, aircraft performance calculations and mission-planning capabilities are all integral functions of the EDM.
During flight, the EDM provides vital functionality to aviators. First and foremost is the integrated GPS that shows the aircraft’s current location over a geo-referenced moving map. In addition to its navigational capability, the EDM also supports two-way Blue Force Tracking-Aviation data for increased situational awareness. With these two capabilities displayed on the same screen, aviators can see where they are, where they are going, and where friendly forces are located. The EDM also allows aviators to communicate with those friendly forces with beyond lineof- sight text messaging.
All these capabilities are important for any successful operation, but especially in a rapidly changing mission environment. Using the EDM, aviators can adapt their flight plans and calculations on the fly to accommodate changes to their missions.
The EDM has been used in both OEF and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and proved its value to aviators in combat. To date, nearly 1,300 EDM systems have been fielded to aviators as part of the Air Warrior program. Fielding continues with a planned fielding of two EDMs per aircraft in the near future.
GHILLIE SUIT
The ghillie suit provides surveillance units and snipers with a fire-resistant base layer and various camouflage multifunctional materials. With those items, they can construct, repair and modify ghillie suits to meet unique mission and environmental requirements.
The end result gives the soldier improved protection from flame and thermal threats, as well as counter-surveillance protection, increased multi-climate protection and enhanced comfort.
For the first time, PEO Soldier fielded ghillie suits in the MultiCam pattern in fall 2009 to certain elements of the 82nd Airborne Division in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Now the MultiCam ghillie suit is transitioning to the Rapid Fielding Initiative equipment list.
PEO Soldier also recently upgraded the ghillie suit accessory kit. The upgrade kit consists of 17 items, including head net, over-whites, fire-resistant jute, universal netting, nylon cord, sewing kit, camouflage paste, zip ties, FR burlap mats, body net, seam grip, Cordura material, tubular nylon, fasteners, gun sleeve, hook and loop, and suspenders that are used to fabricate and maintain one ghillie suit.
The GSAK upgrade offers the soldier enhanced agility, multisystem operability and anti-odor/anti-microbial properties.
These products, and many others in the PEO Soldier portfolio, are indicative of the organization’s commitment to the individual soldier. By working to meet the needs of individual soldiers, PEO Soldier strives to improve the overall capability of the Army. Because soldiers are the center of the Army’s strength, their needs are the cornerstone of any successful acquisition and development project.
PEO Soldier’s commitment extends across all areas of Army operations, ensuring that all soldiers are the most lethal and survivable regardless of their operating environment. ♦