CECOM, Night Vision and Electronics Sensors Directorate, ATTN: AMSEL-RD-CD-MN, 10221 Burbeck Road, Suite 431, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5806

A -- COMPOSITE DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF CREW PROTECTION KIT FOR TACTICAL WHEELED VEHICLES DUE 090595 POC Contact Point, Noel J. Wright, (703)704-2461 NVESD Countermine Division has developed a prototype Crew Protection Kit (CPK) for tactical wheeled vehicles. This kit improves crew survivability when a light vehicle encounters a land mine. The kit deflects blast shock waves, absorbs acceleration energy from blasts, and reduces fragmentation. Presently, the kit is made of steel and aluminum. NVESD seeks to identify potential commercial sources for the design and fabrication of kit components made with composite materials. The potential benefits are significant reductions in component weight and important increases in the energy-absorbing performance of deflectors. The one-time performance of the blast deflectors must attenuate the explosion and acceleration effects, and resist fragmentation damage from the detonation of full-size antitank blast mines. The mine blast must be mitigated on the order of 75%. Composite materials must perform as well as, or better than, steel and aluminum. Respondents should provide their mailing address and point of contact so that within 30 days, NVESD can provide data on the present kit design, including component weights and blast loads. After receiving the design data, respondents have 30 days to submit white papers describing their approach to designing composites for this application. White papers must be limited to ten pages and delivered to the address indicated above. The paper should indicate the type of materials which may meet the requirements, the expected weight reduction, and the expected performance of the design as an energy absorber. Proven, existing modeling software should be used to select/design materials and/or processes to fabricate the components. The paper must characterize the projected cost of designing and/or fabricating components in small quantities (up to 25 articles per batch, the smaller the batch the better). The paper may address the source's capability to conduct validation testing on fabricated test articles. However, NVESD reserves the right to design, fabricate and test with separate sources, including universitites and government laboratories. Interested parties should indicate whether they are a small business. Funding is not available, however, all interested parties will be included in a market survey of NVESD's database and informed as appropriate on opportunities to compete for design and fabrication tasks if funding becomes available. The government shall not incur any cost for this information. (0215)

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