Watervliet Arsenal makes being a tanker cool

WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. (April 9, 2009) Aca,!aEURc Price of the Abrams tank - $4.3 million. Price of a Stryker vehicle - $4.1 million. The price of a U.S. tank crew in Iraq being able to comfortably operate this summer when the outside temperature is more than 110 degrees - priceless.

Whether one is a tanker or an artilleryman, the one thing all servicemembers have in common during their tour in the Middle East is dealing with the intense heat. For example, the average temperature in Kuwait during August, where Soldiers and units first deploy prior to their onward movement into Iraq, is 112 degrees, according to weatherbase.com.

Most of us back in the States get angry and frustrated when our car air conditioners don't kick on fast or cold enough. And, although working the night shift may not be the prime shift for most American workers, it may very well be the preferred shift in Iraq where summer temperatures often drop by nearly 30 degrees from day to night.

Think of the Soldiers who must button-up in a heavily reinforced armored vehicle in such places as Iraq and Kuwait without air conditioning. In this extreme heat environment, they must remain cool, at least in an emotional sense, because the battlefield information they must quickly decipher and the split decisions they must make require Soldiers and leaders to remain calm and collected regardless of the harsh operating environment.

This is where the U.S. Army Watervliet Arsenal comes in to make our troops cool.

It may seem strange for some to hear the Arsenal, which is widely known as the nation's premier manufacturer of cannons and mortars, has been working on crew cooling kits for the Abrams tanks.

But for those who know the Arsenal's workforce, understand the folks at Watervliet are committed to doing everything they can to support the warfighter.

According to Jack Henry, prototype programs manager at the Arsenal, "There is no job too small when it comes to supporting our troops and therefore, we are excited to have shipped out our first five Abrams Crew Cooling Kits to Kuwait."

Although the Arsenal does not manufacture any parts for the kits, it does have the contract to assemble, package, and ship approximately 330 cooling kits to U.S. forces in Kuwait, said Henry. Some of the kits will be installed in Kuwait, while other kits will be installed in forward operating bases in Iraq.

The Arsenal was able to capture this non-standard mission through its unique relationship with the U.S. Army's BenAfAt Laboratories. It was actually BenAfAt that received the mission from the Army's Abrams Project Manager late last summer. BenAfAt's role as project manager is to coordinate the manufacturing, assembling, and the shipment of the kits.

"Due to our collocation with the Arsenal manufacturing base, we have been able to foster a special relationship between those who do project design with those who work in production," said Victor Nerses, BenAfAt project engineer for the Abrams Crew Cooling Kits.

Nerses said that when BenAfAt received the mission it could have gone to any number of civilian or military contractors for the assembly and packaging of the kits.

"What we could not replicate with other contractors is BenAfAt's ability to walk across the street to the Arsenal production bays and within 10 minutes get instant and visual feedback as to how our project was going," said Nerses.

"Through the years, BenAfAt and the Arsenal workforce have built a tremendous relationship and I know that when the Arsenal is involved in a project, the project will be delivered on time and to a high standard," added Nerses.

Nerses explained that although this mission may get lost among the more expensive defense-related projects within the U.S. Department of Defense, after all the total dollar value of the cooling kit contract is just a little over $11 million, it nonetheless was a challenge to fulfill. The BenAfAt and Arsenal portion of this contract amounts to a little of $5 million.

"The Arsenal gave us Frank Collins who has been like a ramrod guiding his team of packers through the more than 30,000 individual parts packages," said Nerses. "Although our delivery schedule was tight, Frank and his team have worked tirelessly achieving the first milestone of the first cooling kits in Kuwait well before this summer."

BenAfAt and the Arsenal plan to ship 48 kits to Kuwait this week and then ship at least 48 kits per week until the job is done.

Although it is too early to get Soldier feedback regarding the first shipment to Kuwait, we do know from comments provided from the testing of these kits last year at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., that they will be well received by the troops.

From that test, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Mark Welch, of the Directorate of Training Doctrine and Combat Development at Fort Knox, Ky., said, "The vest allows the crew to perform normal tasks comfortably. It allows the crewman to concentrate solely on the task at hand and not be distracted by uncomfortable excessive heat."

The original design for the cooling kits came from earlier cooling systems used in the Army's Air Warrior program for the Apache helicopter. The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), and the Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center (NSRDEC) developed the kits to provide heat relief to Soldiers so that they could successfully and safely accomplish their mission.

Each cooling kit is capable of reducing the body temperature of four Soldiers through a water-cooled vest that each Soldier wears. Unlike earlier prototypes, these kits have controls enabling Soldiers to adjust the temperature of the water in the vests to as low as 70 degrees. During the winter months, the Soldiers will swap out their water chillers and reinstall vehicle heaters.

Although BenAfAt is located on the Arsenal, it falls under the command of the U.S. Army Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC). Their research and design capability is often leveraged by the Arsenal to improve production methods and products.