Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
MIT 2009 Volume: 13 Issue: 10 (November)
With generators identified as the single largest consumers of fuel on the battlefield during wartime, the Army has shown a sizable interest in trying to diminish the amount of fuel transported for generators. The result is a push for “green” renewable energy sources for field operations.
The Army’s Project Manager, Mobile Electric Power (PM MEP) displayed some of its “green” command post (CP) technologies this summer at the Joint Users Interoperability Communications Exercise at Fort Monmouth, N.J. There, a Global Rapid Response Information Package (GRRIP) system ran nearly 100 percent of the time from a solar power system provided by Solar Stik. The GRRIP is a fully deployable communications center, tailored around a secure satellite network.
The Solar Stik is a tripod system with a pair of 50-watt rigidpanel solar arrays used to capture solar energy. The tripod can also be outfitted with an optional wind turbine capable of producing up to an additional 200 watts of power. Setting up the lightweight, easily transportable system is simple. The first step is identifying the sun in the area of setup. Next, the user aligns the system’s mast to bring in a maximum amount of sunlight.
“Within literally minutes you can have the system up, connected and pulling in power,” said Paul Richard, deputy DoD project manager for mobile electric power. “They can probably have these systems easily set up much faster than they would all of the communications gear that is in the command post tent. So it’s quick, it’s fast and it’s easy to set up.”
The renewable energy technologies that sat inside and surrounded the “green” CP are being examined by PM MEP as future options for powering the battlefield. The green CP has not been tested in actual battlefield terrains, however, or during an actual unit’s pre-deployment rotation at a combat training center. Today, solar energy is only used to charge batteries on the battlefield.
So far, tests have shown that renewable energy is most useful for smaller power levels of up to about three kilowatts, Richard said. “For small power applications, the terrain isn’t so much of an issue, as long as you have enough sunlight,” Richard said. “If you want to try to go for large power applications, then you may need a football-field-size piece of land to be able to set up enough solar panels to generate the larger power output.”
This doesn’t negate “green” power’s suitability for the battlefield. But it needs to be applied in niche applications where the amount of power required and the available terrain and climatic conditions are suitable for the use of renewable energies such as solar power. PM MEP is partaking in studies with the National Renewable Energy Lab in Denver, Colo., to identify cases in which solar, wind or other renewable energy technologies might be advantageous.
Homeland Centers Gain Classified Access
The departments of Defense and Homeland Security have launched an initiative under which select state and major urban area fusion center personnel will be granted access to classified terrorism-related information residing in DoD’s classified network.
Under this initiative, select fusion center personnel with a federal security clearance will be able to access specific terrorism-related information resident on the SIPRNet. This classified data will be accessed via DHS’ Homeland Security Data Network. DHS will be responsible for ensuring that proper security procedures are followed.
“With this action, DoD continues its work in supporting states and localities who are leading our efforts to secure the nation from domestic terrorism attacks, said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs Paul N. Stockton. “We look forward to exploring other opportunities where DoD can help our state and local partners effectively defeat terrorism."
The departments of Defense and Homeland Security have launched an initiative under which select state and major urban area fusion center personnel will be granted access to classified terrorism-related information residing in DoD’s classified network.
Under this initiative, select fusion center personnel with a federal security clearance will be able to access specific terrorism-related information resident on the SIPRNet. This classified data will be accessed via DHS’ Homeland Security Data Network. DHS will be responsible for ensuring that proper security procedures are followed.
“With this action, DoD continues its work in supporting states and localities who are leading our efforts to secure the nation from domestic terrorism attacks, said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs Paul N. Stockton. “We look forward to exploring other opportunities where DoD can help our state and local partners effectively defeat terrorism. ♦
