Energy and Self-Sufficient Operations
Establishing and maintaining a forward position is extremely costly both in investment and in the price paid to defend supply lines. The Energy and Self-Sufficient Operations thrust is aimed at eliminating the critical resource limitations, especially energy, that degrade DoD mobility and that limit operations. Within this thrust there are two synergistic technical efforts: tactical energy generation/harvesting/distribution and tactical energy storage. Efforts in tactical energy generation/harvesting/distribution include development of renewable energy technologies that can power all facets of a brigade for at least a month without resupply. Tactical energy storage efforts include development of sufficient energy storage to power a brigade command post for over 100 hours at a weight and volume that can be transported by existing military vehicles. Technologies/systems that can reduce energy usage are also of interest. For energy self-sufficiency in maritime operations, concepts for energy storage and distribution that can sustain autonomous distributed sensor fields for 6-12 months will be investigated.
In addition, this thrust will examine technologies that enable energy independent forward operating bases, the rapid deployment and sustainment of small units with minimum footprint, and the sustainable generation of fuels to reduce the reliance of DoD systems on fossil fuels.
