An M776 howitzer's corroded chrome-plated standard obturator spindle sits next to a newly plated production at the US Army Aberdeen test center in Maryland, US. Photo Conrad Johnson, RDECOM.

8 April 2014 army-technology.com

The US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's (RDECOM) Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) is working on a project to identify, evaluate and implement an improved coating process for howitzer breech spindles.

Working in collaboration with the Product Manager Towed Artillery Systems (PM TAS), the ARDEC has shortlisted three new coating and application processes for further testing based on performance and cost. It had been evaluating 12 material formulations in small samples.

The selected processes include high power impulse magnetron sputtering from Sheffield Hallam University, accelerated plasma arc from Phygen Coatings, and electroless nickel plating.

The team had developed a list of ten primary metrics necessary for a new coating and application process, which included resistance to corrosion, mechanical wear and high temperatures.

In an effort to ensure that the coatings withstand the rigours of soldier use, the team has joined forces with the Aberdeen test center for live-fire testing on a howitzer range.

After the first round of firing, the spindle undergoes 30 days of weathering in a caustic and acidic propellant byproduct, called a swab water. This is to replicate potential combat conditions, and is followed by another round of firing and then a final weathering cycle.

ARDEC project technical lead and materials engineer Dr Christopher Mulligan said the new processes are vastly outperforming the legacy chrome electroplating in terms of corrosion and wear.

"The new technique will boost the howitzer performance, reduce the logistical burden on the soldier, and reduce environmental hazards."

The team has also identified and funded a newly developed chemical vapour deposition type coating known as Carbonyl from Canada, and is planning to start testing over the next few months.

A final decision is expected to be made within 90 days of the completion of testing of all processes, with an aim for a production-ready coating within six months to a year.

The new technique will boost the howitzer performance, reduce the logistical burden on the soldier, and reduce environmental hazards. According to Mulligan, it will save the government more than $2m each year.

The evaluation of foreign processes and materials is being funded through the foreign comparative testing (FCT) programme.

Jul 9, 2013 ASDNews Source : U.S. Army

The U.S. Army has transferred to France technical test data on a rocket-propelled grenade defense system that is vital to its military operations in Mali, officials announced.

The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, known as RDECOM, through its International Technology Center-France, helped to facilitate the exchange between the allies, said Lt. Col. Robert Willis, who led the project for RDECOM.

"The French Army wants the best thing out there," said Willis, commander of ITC-France under RDECOM Forward Element Command-Atlantic. "They are a professional and highly capable Army, and they want to protect their troops. They are determined to rapidly acquire the best technology, based purely on technical performance of the system."

The French Army had purchased an early version of a rocket-propelled grenade, or RPG, defense system, Q-Nets, from QinetiQ North America, known as QNA, a U.S. company. Fighting in Mali spurred the need for increased capabilities to protect French soldiers.

When the company developed an improved version, Q-Nets II, the French Ministry of Defense wanted to review the test data from the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command before making a procurement decision. However, QNA could not release the data to France because the exchange must be made under an international agreement from one government entity to another government, Willis said.

Willis and his colleagues at the U.S. European Command's Office of Defense Cooperation in Paris stepped in to expedite the data transfer under an established agreement, "Survivability Technologies for Land Combat Systems." RDECOM's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, known as TARDEC, at Detroit Arsenal, Mich., provides technical oversight for the agreement.

TARDEC's technical project officer for the agreement then verified that the detailed test data could be transferred from the U.S. Army to the French MoD.

Without the international agreement in place, this transfer of data would not have been authorized, Willis said.

Willis is accredited as an attaché of defense cooperation for these types of exchanges, and he presented the data to the French MoD, June 10. He used his fluency in French and background in Army test and evaluation to explain the technical and statistical nuances of the report.

In addition to assisting a NATO ally in an area of operations where the United States has national interests but not a desire to intervene with ground troops, the U.S. Department of Commerce had officially granted advocacy to QNA in an otherwise European-only competition, Willis said.

Col. Collier Slade, chief of the ODC in Paris, said the advocacy process allows the U.S. government to promote an American vendor in its efforts in a foreign country. In this case, QNA was the only U.S. company in competition to provide an RPG defense system to the French Army.

"The effectiveness of our advocacy policy in this case was ensured by the unique skill sets and reach-back that the RDECOM international team provided," Slade said.

RDECOM maintains a robust international footprint to promote cooperation between the United States and foreign partners to advance science, engineering and technical capabilities in areas important to the U.S. Army, Willis said.

RFEC-Atlantic in the United Kingdom has ITCs in France and Germany, RFEC-Pacific in Japan has ITCs in Australia and Singapore, and RFEC-Americas in Chile has ITCs in Canada and Argentina.

"Our NATO partners, including France and others in Europe, are long-standing allies," Willis said. "They possess the state-of-the-art in many technologies that we do not."

Maintaining these international relationships allows RDECOM to accelerate requests such as the transfer of RPG test data to France, Willis said. He is responsible for 16 European countries and concentrates primarily on France, Italy and Spain.

"We maintain cognizance of the expertise areas in our countries," Willis said. "We maintain contacts with the critical government, industry and academia that develop these technologies that we can share."

"We transfer technologies in both directions," he continued. "In this case, it was U.S. to France in support of an urgent operational requirement. In many other cases, it is shared foreign know-how that alleviates the need for large technology investments and development on our own."

RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. AMC is the Army's premier provider of materiel readiness -- technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics power projection, and sustainment -- to the total force, across the spectrum of joint military operations. If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, eats it or communicates with it, AMC delivers it.