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TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. The Air Force Civil Engineer Center CE laboratory is leveraging innovation to give engineers a fighting edge to prepare and keep installations mission ready.

The lab, part of the AFCEC Readiness Directorate at Tyndall AFB, is responsible for researching, developing, testing and evaluating a portfolio of installation and contingency engineering technologies for Department of the Air Force civil engineer use.

Our CE lab has a lot of different groups that are all doing different work and we are trying to feed all of that to the Airmen and get things out into the field as quickly as possible, said Dr. Robert Diltz, the labs airbase recovery subject matter expert. We are fielding new technologies multiple times throughout the year. There has been significant investment for the procurement of new material, systems, equipment and vehicles weve developed over the last several years since becoming part of AFCEC, which we have been able to move to Airmens hands.

The Air Force restructured the research, development, test and evaluation lab and acquisition mission in 2013 to bring all capabilities back to one location at Tyndall. Since then, the lab has successfully acquired 10 product patents and currently has a new patent pending.

The development process begins when the lab requirements branch identifies a gap or need. The team creates an annual capability report to identify program focus areas. The report is provided to the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center after being shared with major commands and other stakeholders to collect more CE development needs.

Our projects always look at resiliency and the civil engineering gaps that need to be covered in order to better posture the Air Force and give commanders the ability to generate sorties in a fight, said David Roman-Castro, hardened infrastructure technical lead for the Readiness Directorate Airbase Protection Program.

Airfield damage repair, or ADR, is one of the labs ongoing programs that continually improves the Air Forces ability to rapidly assess, mitigate and recover damaged airfields. The program has paved the way with solutions such as small, unmanned aircraft systems, manned or unmanned rapid explosive hazard mitigation for unexploded ordnance removal and explosive ordnance disposal, and fully autonomous heavy equipment to navigate and perform saw cutting for the rapid airfield damage repair process.

Alternative repair materials formulated at the lab using indigenousmaterial and waste resources to refine concrete have also helped evolve runway repair. Lab scientists developed a material for capping airfield craters called CSA-set, which uses calcium sulfoaluminate and maximizes use of locally available materials to optimize logistics for expeditionary airfield repair in austere locations. This procedure allows a significantly smaller footprint to be sent to these locations.

Everything ADR tests and implements is aimed at reducing repair time and the amount of material and equipment required to make our airfields passable rapidly after sustaining damage, Diltz said. These methods accomplish that, while meeting or exceeding requirements, reducing our carbon-footprint and increasing safety for our engineers and Airmen.

The airbaseprotection program supports investing in critical operations functions and protecting assets to ensure the ability to deter conflict. One of its projects, expedient small asset protection, built shelter systems designed to protect fighter aircraft and support equipment from adversary and environmental threats. Two types of the shelter systems are deployed in select Pacific Air Forces locations, including Andersen AFB, Guam, where they proved successful against Typhoon Mawars environmental threats.

Those two types are in the acquisition phase, Roman-Castro said. We also developed a third variant, deployed to another PACAF location that meets requirements but has a higher wind resistance, increased structural capability, better terrain adaptability, and a reduced footprint and manufacturing cost.

The firefighting research program is also looking for ways to help the environment while increasing aircraft protection with water mist fire suppression systems.

Since the Department of Defense is moving away from extinguishing foams, we are trying to find a technology that is environmentally friendly, provides safety and gives the increased ability to put out a fuel fire to keep our aircraft protected, said Brian Skibba, AFCEC Airbase Technologies Branch chief.

The system in testing atomizes high-pressure water into tiny mist droplets to create a cooling effect and disperses oxygen to quickly suffocate a fuel fire. The first experiment showed great success in achieving the desired results, Skibba said.

The lab recently applied for a patent for a new hardened cement product that is suited for multiple uses, but especially for 3D-printed construction. The lab opened the first functional 3D-printed building in the Air Force at Tyndall. The team led the effort to fabricate the hurricane-resilient building to replace its robotics range control facility that was destroyed by Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Multiple lab teams are further evaluating the printed building technology with a recently constructed 3D printed barracks hut designed for expeditionary military construction to include energy efficiency research and blast protection.

These projects are just a handful of innovative processes and products we are exploring and developing to equip our engineers and Airmen with the capabilities to generate readiness in support of reoptimizing the Air Force for the Great Power Competition and power projection, Skibba said.

The rest is here:

Civil engineer lab innovations advance Air Force readiness - Eglin Air Force Base