TARDEC and CTMA: A Proven Partnership

Since 1997, the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) has contracted through the Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities (CTMA) Program for several significant projects in physical simulation and testing, ground vehicle robotics, and materials, environment, and corrosion.

Partnerships in business are invaluable to an organization, and those that are highly successful and long standing can have a significant impact on entire industry base. The partnership between TARDEC and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) is one such pairing. NCMS administers the CTMA, a Cooperative Agreement with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).

“What makes CTMA valuable to us is the rapid contracting, the enhanced transitioning technology, and the collaboration with the public and private sectors,” said Scott Porter of TARDEC’s Materials – Corrosion, Coatings and Environmental Department. “The partnership with CTMA allows TARDEC to work outside our boundaries.”

TARDEC’s mission is to develop, integrate, and sustain the right technology solutions for all manned and unmanned Department of Defense (DoD) ground systems and combat support systems to improve current force effectiveness and provide superior capabilities for the future force. Its vision is to be the first choice of technology and engineering expertise for ground vehicle systems and support equipment – today and tomorrow.

As integration experts, TARDEC has focused on forming strategic partnerships with industry, academia, and other government agencies to combine the best talents, incubate the best ideas and accelerate the most innovative technology for those who fight for our nation’s interests.

Within the past decade, CTMA has assisted TARDEC in developing materials and processes that improve maintenance and sustainment operations.

Ground Vehicle Robotics

One of the projects the CTMA partnership produced for TARDEC was the Engineer Squad Robots, early explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) robots. The early EOD robots were used in Southwest Asia and were effective but costly to maintain as their parts were not interchangeable. The DoD developed an Interoperability Profile (IOP) for future acquisitions and a CTMA project was used to acquire two compliant systems for IOP validation.

The IOPs are also extremely relevant in today’s TARDEC projects.

“PM Force Projection has launched an initiative to identify and define interoperability standards to be organized and maintained within a Robotics and Autonomous Systems-Ground (RAS-G) Interoperability Profile,” said Paul Bounker of TARDEC’s Ground Vehicle Robotics department. “This IOP will be employed by RAS-G acquisition managers in the acquisition of future programs of record, the upgrade of fielded systems, and the evaluation/acquisition of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products.”

Another CTMA partnership-assisted project is the Applied Robotics for Installations and Base Operations (ARIBO) project. ARIBO focuses on developing the technology, user socialization, environmental controls, and the operational sustainment costs and benefits associated with moving large numbers of soldiers with automated vehicles.

Materials, Environment, and Corrosion

The CTMA Program also assisted
TARDEC with the following projects:

• The Advanced Thermoplastic Membranes for Water Filtration team investigated thermoplastic membranes for recycling gray water. The membranes could
  also be used for pre-filtration for reverse osmosis systems that produce potable water from gray water or seawater.
• TARDEC and CTMA partnered on the consolidation of an adhesives and sealants list for depot use. The list was loaded into the Material Selection and Analysis Tool (MSAT) database for ease of access by all of the DoD.
• The Multi-substrate Paint Adhesion Improvement team investigated multi-layer coating systems for improved adhesions to surfaces to produce joining
  multiple materials, including flexible materials.
• The Reversible Adhesives team developed and evaluated the reversible bonding behavior of thermoplastic adhesive reinforcement with graphene
  nanoplatelets and ferromagnetic nanoparticles for a combination of steel, aluminum, and glass-fiber reinforced composite substrates.
• Enhanced Environmental Performance for Safety Glass investigated materials and manufacturing processes for improvement in reliability and durability.
• Integrated Corrosion Systems investigated and developed an integrated corrosion system through multiple coating layers.
• Flame Spray and Powder Coatings provided information to increase powder coating use throughout the military, especially in the depots, by promoting
  an understanding of the application robustness.
• Lightweight and Joining developed joining solutions for dissimilar material joining that mitigated corrosion and characterized the behavior of the
  materials when subjected to high strain rate loads.
• The Advanced Chemical Agent Resistant Coating (CARC) Coatings for Cleaning and Condensing team investigated two issues: the clean-ability of CARC coatings while promoting resistance to mold and mildew and the development of condensation coatings that enhance creation of water from air.

Physical Simulation and Test

The CTMA Program administered
some assistance with these physical
simulation and test (PS&T) projects:

TARDEC acquired a Multi Axis Simulation Table (MASTEE) but needed an attached environmental chamber to enable full simulated environment testing of electronic systems. A CTMA project acquired, installed, and tested both the chamber and a safety enclosure for the system.

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Cable Reset, a reverse engineering project to develop the cables, needed to reset and standardize the existing fleet including commercial items delivered and to develop the technical data package(s) needed to ensure future readiness.

Degradation Prevention for Long-Term Tire Storage investigated to identify the driving force of tire degradation during long-term storage and developed a mitigation solution that shows at least 50 percent reduction compared to the incumbent system.

TARDEC provides leading-edge engineering research and development. It has executive management of more than $400 million in research, development, and engineering facilities, including more than 780,000 square feet of laboratory space with state-of-the-art equipment able to handle component and large-scale, full vehicle system integration projects. Its partnerships, like efforts with the CTMA Program through NCMS, are vital to continued growth and mission to serve the Warfighter.