Oil and Water

Written by Marty Kauchak

The PM PAWS organization, which reports to the Program Executive Office for Combat Support and Combat Service Support, understands the impact their office is making to address and correct emergent and long-standing requirements from the Army and joint logistics community. Several technology initiatives and new products are solving challenges from Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

Innovations

In the near-term, PM PAWS is engaged in efforts to dramatically increase the water and petroleum sustainability of forward- operating based forces. Such a development would help the service decrease its reliance on convoys and other infrastructure needed to support expeditionary forces on the battlefield.

One innovative PM PAWS water technology focus seeks to extract water from air and vehicle exhaust. “These efforts are a huge item at this time,” said Receniello. Five companies have contracts with the organization to support this initiative, including LexCarb LLC, Hamilton Sundstrand, Honeywell, MesoSystems and Aqua Systems LLC.

LexCarb, LLC, of Lexington, KY, has investigated the conversion of exhaust into water for 10 years, according to Dr. Marit Jagtoyen Mazzetti, a member manager of the company. “We have fielded two prototypes, one to convert generator exhaust to water and another to convert HMMWV exhaust to water. Both are successful prototypes but would need some further optimization before use in the field. We can obtain about one-half gallon of water from one gallon of burnt fuel.”

A second evolving project is the Expeditionary Water Bottling System (EWBS). An operational need statement, approved in May 2007, allows the EWBS program to go forward. The project addresses one recurring lessons learned for logistics operations dating back to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm—there is no expeditionary water packaging capability for early entry operations, forward operating bases or austere operational environments.

The EWBS plant is in a 20-foot ISO container that can produce up to 7,000, 1-liter bottles of water a day. At press time, an in-theater technical demonstration was scheduled to evaluate the concept of a forward-deployed portable water packaging system utilizing prime contractor DRS Technologies’ WBP 700-A Model Expeditionary Water Bottling System.

Fiscal 2007 project funding allows DRS to procure one EWBS. “This is going to be a very neat item, because it is containerized and it is going to help keep water convoy trucks off the road,” said Receniello.

Jointness

PM PAWS regularly collaborates with the other services on joint projects for petroleum and water systems. The efforts of frequent collaboration are paying dividends for joint logisticians.

Through the Joint Common Pump

Concept, PM PAWS is looking for a joint solution with the Marine Corps to address material shortfalls with the current generation of petroleum and water pumps. The Army estimates that since 2000, it has approximately eight different pumps churning out 350-gallons-per-minute (gpm) and two reaching 600-gallon-per-minute rated capacities in service.

“Our office wants to go to a common pump capable of a 350- and a 600-gpm capacity. You will turn it down to a 350-gpm level and then turn the flow rate up to the 600-gpm level,” Receniello said. The transition to a single system is expected to produce budget savings for the Army, with the new pump’s cost being the same as a lowerprice, 350-gpm contemporary pump. “This is key,” Receniello said. “Instead of having eight-to-10 different pumps out there, I will only have this single pump. This will reduce our logistics and other costs, as the 600- gpm is extremely expensive.”

Three prototype pumps were planned for deployment in September to the Iraqi and Afghanistan theaters for limited evaluation and user comments.

A formal product description of this requirement will be provided in the next three to five months. The envisioned common pump is expected to be fielded in 18 to 24 months.

The current generation of fuel bags has not fared well under the Iraqi theater’s punishing summer sun and other environmental and operational factors. A third, evolving joint project addresses this material shortfall and seeks to provide replacement models.

The Joint Performance Based Bladder Specification (JPBBS) project includes the Air Force, Army and Marine Corps, and is being prepared to be issued in the next nine months. The JPBBS will supply next-generation 210,000- and 50,000-gallon fuel bags.

“It will be a lot nicer now to have just one contract which will cover all of us,” said Receniello.

Other Fuel Program Solutions

The Modular Above Ground Tank (MOAT) is a semi-autonomous structure with hardened walls which can be constructed, on demand, with in-theater personnel. This semi-permanent storage solution would eliminate the requirement for berms and accompanying infrastructure found at the services’ fuel farms and would further decrease the wear and tear on deployed fuel bags. “The longest the fuel bags last in theater is about three years. This is based on the heat, their high-use rate and other factors. These structures would prolong [their in-service life] about three-times as long,” said Receniello.

The MOAT prototype is being tested and evaluated and is expected to be deployed to the Iraqi theater this fall. DRS Technologies is the prime contractor. A second project looms increasingly larger on the PM’s action list.

PM PAWS is also seeking a solution in response to a termination letter issued in May 2007 from Claude Bolton, assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, for the Modular Fuel System (MFS).

The MFS is a rapidly deployable and recoverable fuel storage/distribution system. The system has a 35,000 gallon capacity and is transported by Palletized Load System (PLS), HEMTT-LHS (Load-Handling System) and PLS Trailers. The system can be manifolded and placed into operation in one hour or less using four-trained 92F (Petroleum Supply Specialist) personnel. The MFS can also be disassembled and packed for transport in one hour or less. The system consists of 14 2,500-gallon tank racks and two 600-gpm pump filtration modules.

The MFS brings a bulk storage capability in the battle space without being encumbered with bags on the ground and berms. The system also enables modular brigade combat teams and support brigades to carry the required three days of supply while remaining highly mobile.

Secretary Bolton’s decision to terminate MFS has sparked much debate on how to fill the logistics gap. One early solution increases the number of HEMTT prime movers which could each tow several of the MFS tank racks. But, such a move has the implication of an increase in force structure and may not see the light of day in the Pentagon’s E-ring, which continues to find ways to wring-out savings to support a burgeoning, wartime defense budget.

The legacy-era Petroleum Quality Analysis System (PQAS), which successfully deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, covered all of the services’ aviation fuel monitoring requirements. The system was transported by a HMMWV. As a result of the uparmoring of in-theater vehicles due to the Improvised Explosive Device threat, the PQAS was also forced to shed weight and evolve.

The PQAS Fully Armored System (FAS) was developed and is 75 percent smaller than the Dual Semi-Trailer Fuel Laboratory it will replace, reducing significantly the laboratory’s battlefield footprint. The PQAS-FAS has the latest instruments that commercial technology offers.

Successes

At the top of the PM PAWS success list is the 600-percent increase, between fiscal years 2005 and (projected) 2007, in fielding eight systems in the PM PAWS portfolio which are in production. Two representative increases were for the Tactical Water Purification System (TWPS) and the Light Weight Water Purifier. Sixteen TWPSs were fielded in fiscal year 2005 and 95 in 2007, and 20 Light Weight Water Purifiers were fielded in fiscal year 2005 and 197 in 2007.

“This is a huge, good news story in that we are getting these items to the soldiers who need them,” Receniello said. Army and Marine Corps logisticians are making yet another quantum-leap forward in jointness and water production capability with the roll-out of the TWPS. The system is replacing the legacy 600 Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit (ROWPU). Four of the many improvements offered by the TWPS compared to the 600 ROWPU are:

• The TWPS can treat high salinity water sources (up to 60,000 milligram (mg)/liter) such as found in the Middle East; whereas the 600 ROWPU can only treat water with a salinity of 35,000 mg/liter or less.
• One TWPS weighs 11,700 lbs, less than two, 600 ROWPUs.
• The TWPS allow a single truck to transport twice the water capacity of a 600 ROWPU.
• The TWPS is a containerized load that is stackable for ship transport.

Challenges

Approximately 90 percent of PM PAWS’ current contracts are with small businesses. This relationship provides the command with increased access to technical innovations and insights from a broader section of the U.S. industrial base. However, some say the very nature of a small business does not allow it to have in-depth engineering, contractual and other competencies found in defense contracting behemoths.

Collaboration and an open dialogue are critical pieces of PM PAWS’ working relationship with small businesses. In particular, the command often helps these entities navigate the bureaucratic shoal waters of military contracting, engineering and other requirements to support the program.

While this outreach effort can tax the resources of many PM offices, at the end of the day, these actions ensure the smooth functioning of a government-industry working relationship, officials say. ♦