Almost everyone knows that the DoD – especially the Air Force and now Space Force – use composites extensively. But did you know that the Army and Marine Corps also are huge users of composites. While the Army was initially afraid of them for several reasons, starting in the 1980’s composite materials came into general use in the Army. And, you can take that directly from the horse’s mouth, because I was part of that initial application of composites to Army weapon, soldier equipment, and vehicles – including composite armor for the Bradley.
Now, however, almost all vehicles used by the military, whether by land, sea, or air, have at least some composite materials. And of course, in the case of some of the aircraft in the picture above like the B2, the primary structure of the aircraft is made using high performance composites. The B2 would not exist if it weren’t for composites. The whole idea of a flying wing needed the right mix of light weight, flexibility, stiffness, and strength that only high performance carbon fiber composites can achieve.
And, initially the laggard in the composites game, the Navy has also gotten on the composites bandwagon in a very significant way. What you see to the left is all of the parts of the Zumwalt stealth destroyer that are made using modern composites. Composites are actually what makes the Zumwalt a stealthy destroyer. The entire upper deck and superstructure is made using carbon fiber / vinyl ester composites over either a balsa or a foam core very much like modern high performance yachts are made – only with carbon fiber and not glass. With the flat panels, tumblehome upper structure (slanted inward rather than outward), and angled surfaces, the radar cross section of the Zumwalt is tiny in comparison to the destroyer’s actual size. And the ship is extremely stable because the weight above the water line is reduced significantly because it is light weight composite.
All of what I have added to this newsletter is very positive and upbeat, for a reason. It didn’t always work out that way with the Department of Defense. There has been this “Valley of Death” in DoD for decades where organizations like DARPA, the National Labs, Skunk Works and the like have come up with brilliant ideas only to come face to face with DoD acquisition regulations and the requirement for a “Program of Record” sponsored by some branch of the military to adopt the new technology. There is a great illustration of that in the pic below. I’m of course very aware of this just because of the nature of my career – 40 years in R&D – mostly defense – has made me clearly understand the pitfalls of getting a great idea funded and actually in service with one of the branches of the military.
I will have to say though, that when you can convince an Admiral, or a General who is responsible for getting out there and defending the U.S. against all of the bad actors around the world that want to do us harm, the money flows rather freely.
In another post in this series, I want to talk a little bit about how the foot soldier has had his load lightened up through the use of composites. There are several things initially developed for the military and specifically for the foot soldier, marine, or airman that you can now buy down at your local REI. This is actually a good thing. The Government pays for the development of these things to make our military more capable, and that allows the sporting goods industry to flourish with all sorts of new light weight gear.
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