ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (April 23, 2020) – The Army’s modernization and sustainment communities are helping to keep life-saving ventilators running during COVID-19 pandemic response efforts.
The U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency (USAMMA) is deploying the Eagle 754 Uni-Vent ventilator to Army active duty and National Guard units engaged in COVID-19 support across the country. However, compatible batteries for these ventilators were on a six-to-eight-week backorder as the vendor had none in stock.
“Ventilators are crucial to treating and saving the lives of those affected by coronavirus. Medical personnel at COVID-19 hot spots need them for at least the duration of this pandemic; they can be the difference between life and death. It's essential that we have a steady supply of ventilator batteries,” said Tom Dolan, supply management officer at USAMMA.
Needing an alternative battery source, USAMMA contacted the Power Sources Center of Excellence (PSCOE) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. In less than 24 hours, lifecycle and sustainment engineers from the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) and the Communications-Electronic Command (CECOM) found solutions to address USAMMA’s immediate and resupply needs.
“Our CECOM partners extensively searched the Defense Logistics Agency database and located more than 1,400 compatible batteries that could meet their immediate needs. As a science and technology center, we frequently partner with industry, so we also leveraged our relationships to find a vendor who manufactures this type of lead-acid battery to ensure a regular delivery of additional batteries,” said Mark Caringi, Generator/Environmental Control Unit/Special Projects Office chief for the CCDC Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.
In short order, the PSCOE was able to eliminate the battery order backlog, allowing USAMMA to service, rebuild, deploy and sustain more ventilators significantly faster while providing a less expensive source to support future requirements.
The C5ISR Center also proposed a contingency plan to Army depots for manufacturing an adapter that would make other numerous in-stock batteries compatible with the Impact 754-model should more ventilators be needed to respond to the crisis.
“We value our partnership with the C5ISR Center, and we rely on their expert technical knowledge to tackle logistics and readiness challenges from a variety of angles. Our support to USAMMA is just one example of how we as teammates can quickly respond to urgent C5ISR sustainment needs,” said Cecilia Black, Power and Environmental director for CECOM’s Integrated Logistics Service Center.
As part of its greater S&T mission, the C5ISR Center provides lifecycle engineering support to C5ISR acquisition programs of record and CECOM for sustainment of these systems.
“We provide an engineering bridge for capability needed in the field. Our engineers are uniquely positioned with technical subject matter expertise and professional networks that include the science and technology, acquisition and sustainment communities. In situations such as this, we are able to leverage our collective expertise and strategic partnerships to rapidly find the best solution available to meet our Warfighters’, and in this case our nation’s, needs,” said Al Visconti, C5ISR Center director for Product Realization Systems Engineering and Quality.
For more information, contact the C5ISR Center Public Affairs Office: usarmy.apg.ccdc-c5isr.mbx.pao@mail.mil.
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The C5ISR Center is the Army’s applied research and advanced technology development center for C5ISR capabilities. As the Army’s primary integrator of C5ISR technologies and systems, the center develops and matures capabilities that support all six Army modernization priorities, enabling information dominance and tactical overmatch for the joint warfighter.
The C5ISR Center is an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. Through collaboration across the command’s core technical competencies, CCDC leads in the discovery, development and delivery of the technology-based capabilities required to make Soldiers more lethal to win our nation’s wars and come home safely. CCDC is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command.
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Army Futures Command: https://www.army.mil/futures
Army Combat Capabilities Development Command: https://www.army.mil/ccdc
Army C5ISR Center: https://c5isr.ccdc.army.mil/
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