Page 16 - Luke AFB Thunderbolt August 2016

August 2016 NEWS
16 www.aerotechnews.com/lukeafb
Battle eld Airmen use science to beat heat
by
KIM BOWDEN
711th Human Performance Wing
Of all the threats facing battle eld Air-
men and other special operations forces,
heat doesn’t typically come to mind; how-
ever, heat-related illness is a critical factor
for personnel operating in extreme tem-
peratures.
Dr. Reginald O’Hara and his exercise
physiology research team at the U.S. Air
Force School of Aerospace Medicine, part of
the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th
Human Performance Wing, are working to
reduce that heat stress.
“Military personnel exposed to excessive
heat for an extended period of time may
experience reductions in both physical and
cognitive performance,” O’Hara said. “Those
reductions could severely limit their abil-
ity to carry out their duties during intense
ground and ight operations.”
Essentially, if battlefield Airmen are
working at decreased capacity, the risk of
mission failure increases.
Though there are many effective ways to
mitigate high temperatures, most are not
realistic solutions for the battlefield. For
example, most devices are heavy and bulky,
adding too much weight for troops to carry
practically. What’s more, many require a
power source or a means of “re-cooling,” which
might not always be available, and they are
often too noisy to use safely in the eld.
Working under a cooperative research
and development agreement with Gawi
Healthcare LLC, the USAFSAM team has
developed an alternative — a small, light-
weight, passive cooling technology. Under
the three-year technology transfer col-
Fifth gen fighters play critical role in air dominance
by Tech. Sgt.
STEVE STANLEY
Air Combat Command Public Affairs
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Air Force
Gen. Hawk Carlisle, Air Combat Command
commander, recently discussed the impor-
tance of air superiority and the need to assure
it by modernizing the Combat Air Force dur-
ing a hearing of the House Armed Services
Committee Tactical Air and Land Forces
Subcommittee in Washington, D.C.
This is the second of two hearings where
ACC leaders have testi ed on the importance
of air superiority to the defense of the nation. reduce procurement timelines and life cycle
Carlisle’s testimony followed a similar hear-
ing in June with Maj. Gen. Jerry Harris,ACC
vice commander, at the National Museum of
the Air Force.The purpose of the hearing was
to discuss America’s future air dominance and
the key role of fth generation ghter aircraft
like the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II.
“America cannot effectively wield its mili-
tary as an instrument of national power with-
out the means to control the skies,” Carlisle
said.“When our means can be challenged, our
ability to deter and dissuade washes away
and is replaced with an adversary who sees
a weakness; a weakness to be exploited and
used to reinspire thoughts of armed con ict.”
An Air Force-invented cooling sleeve for a water bladder and cooling inserts for a spe-
cially designed undershirt are two ways that Dr. Reginald O’Hara and his research team
at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine hope to help battlefield Airmen and
other special operations forces avoid heat-related illness while in hot, humid conditions.
laboration with Gawi, which had acquired
the assets of Arctic Ease, USAFSAM hopes
to develop and commercialize a variety of
hydrogel cooling technologies.
O’Hara and his fellow researchers have
started testing two variations of the tech-
nology to date. One is an Air Force-invented
cooling sleeve or wrap for the water bladder
that battle eld Airmen and other special
ops forces carry, and one is cooling inserts
for a specially designed undershirt.
Currently, the U.S. Air Force conducts the
air superiority mission with aircraft consist-
ing of the F-15C, F-15E, F-16, F-22 and F-35.
“Today’s air superiority mission rests upon
a mix of fourth and fth generation ghters,
supported by a highly re ned command and
control network, and own by the world’s
best trained Airmen,” Carlisle said.“However,
balancing future capacity, capabilities and
readiness at the desired levels is near impos-
sible within current nancial constraints.”
He stressed that while ACC continues to
design and advocate strategies to de ne re-
quirements, increase acquisition agility, and
costs, these efforts can only go so far without
the talented men and women who carry out
the mission.
“American Airmen are the best problem
solvers in the world,” Carlisle said. “We need
to give them the resources to solve this one –
the future of air superiority, and we need to
do everything in our power to keep them in
our Air Force.”
He went on to explain that while our
air superiority capability remains at the
highest level, our near-peer adversaries are
modernizing their capabilities to threaten
See FIGHTERS, Page 23
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“The sleeve was tested during 60-minute
Courtesy photo marches in 90-degree F temperatures and
40-percent humidity, and it successfully
demonstrated a 20-degree drop in drinking
water temperature,” O’Hara said. “Subjects
drank up to two liters more cooled water
when compared to non-cooled water.”
“The devices act through a form of con- Additional test plans include incorpora-
duction,” O’Hara said, “transferring heat tion of quick-dissolve amino acid supple-
from the water in the hydration pack blad- ments to enhance hydration, energy and
der or the Airman to the hydrogel. performance during training.
The team conducted eld-based testing Testing of the shirt inserts had similarly
of the sleeve to see if it would maintain or positive results, according to O’Hara. Subjects
even reduce the temperature of the water wearing the special undershirt with cooling
during extended exposure to high heat and inserts experienced lower core body tem-
humidity, making it more palatable and peratures and signi cantly lower peak body
thereby encouraging Airmen to drink more temperatures after a 70-minute weighted
and stay hydrated. vest treadmill-walking test than subjects
in the standard undershirt with no inserts.
“During sustained operations, even a few
degrees can make a tremendous difference,”
O’Hara said. “If these cooling devices can
lead battle eld Airmen and other special
ops forces to drink more or help keep them
from over-heating, the risk of heat stress
and other heat-related illnesses goes down.
And that means their focus can be on ac-
complishing the mission.”
(Editor’s Note: USAFSAM’s partnership
with Gawi Healthcare LLC is one of the
711 HPW’s many cooperative research and
development agreements. A CRADA is a le-
gal agreement between a federal laboratory
and one or more nonfederal parties, such
as private industry or academia. The end
objective of a CRADA is to advance science
and technology that not only meets Air Force
mission requirements but also has viability
in other potential commercial applications.
In scal year 2015, the 711th HPW had 76
active CRADAs.)
Staff Sgt. Natasha Stannard
A U.S. Air Force F-35A fighter pilot flies over the Atlantic Ocean for the aircraft’s first
transatlantic flight June 30, 2016. The F-35A is a part of the Air Combat Command
Air Force Heritage Flight Team, which flew to Fairford, England, for the Royal Inter-
national Air Tattoo.