DOD LABS A KEY CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEFENSE MISSION

by BRETT CUSKER, AUSTIN LEACH, and WILL SWEARINGEN

One important way the Department of Defense (DoD) accomplishes its mission is by transferring its inventions to industry for fnal development and manufacture. This allows the U.S. military to leverage the innovative skills, fnancial resources, and rapid-

response capabilities of the American private sector and beneft from discoveries in DoD’s own nationwide network of research and development labs.

CUSKER is executive director of TechLink, DoD’s national technology transfer partnership intermediary. He retired as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force in 2016.

LEACH, TechLink’s associate director, oversees the organization’s technology licensing program for the DoD laboratory system. He has a PhD in materials science and engineering.

SWEARINGEN, TechLink’s senior advisor, served as TechLink’s executive director from 2000 to 2018. He has a PhD in geography.

The authors can be contacted at brett.cusker@techlinkcenter.org, austin.leach@techlinkcenter.org; wds@techlinkcenter.org.

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This article describes how transferring DoD lab inventions to industry benefts the U.S. defense mission. First, it provides a brief overview of technology transfer (T2). Then, it explains the various ways that license agreements (one of the major T2 mechanisms) directly support the defense mission. Next, it addresses how businesses and entrepreneurs fnd DoD lab inventions available for licensing. Finally, it highlights several examples of DoD lab-developed technologies that are now benefting the U.S. Warfghter.

What Is Technology Transfer? Technology transfer, in simple terms, is the exchange of technology between the public and private sectors. This exchange can fow in either direction—for example, from a DoD lab to a company, or vice versa. Alternatively, new technology can be collaboratively developed by a DoD lab and a company for their respective applications. However it occurs, T2 clearly assists DoD with its defense mission.

The prevailing guidance for DoD T2 is summarized in Directive 5535.03: “Domestic T2 activities are integral elements of...the DoD national security mission. ... T2 supports a strong industrial base that the Department of Defense may utilize to supply DoD needs.

Those activities must have a high-priority role in all DoD acquisition programs and are recognized as a key activity of the DoD laboratories and all other DoD activities (such as test, logistics, and product centers and depots and arsenals).”

DoD has a comprehensive suite of T2 mechanisms to enable partnering with industry. Of these, license agreements are one of the most important. DoD frequently patents inventions made by its approximately 35,000 scientists and engineers. The 65 or so major DoD research facilities nationwide generate approximately 600 patented inventions a year in virtually all technology areas. Through the use of license agreements, many of

these inventions, along with certain unpatented inventions (such as software and biological materials), are transferred to industry.

L i ce n s e a g re e m e n t s e n a b l e companies to transform DoD inventions into new products that support the defense mission and benefit the U.S. economy. They are used when companies intend to produce so-called “dual use” technologies (which have both military and commercial applications), products that have strictly commercial uses, or products for sale to friendly U.S. military allies. License agreements are not needed when companies produce DoD inventions exclusively for U.S. Government use.

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Supporting the Defense MissionLicense agreements support the The alternative—contracting with a and wanes in direct response to the defense mission in several essential ways. First, unless DoD lab inventions are transferred to industry, they are not likely to be put into operational use. DoD is not in the business of manufacturing equipment, weapons, and supplies. Instead, it needs to transfer its inventions to companies for conversion into new products that the U.S. military can procure.

Second, license agreements provide a cost-effective way to get new technology to the U.S. Warfighter. Only a minor part of the cost of a new product is the expense of developing the underlying technology to the patent stage. By licensing its inventions to industry, DoD is able to offload the very substantial costs of transforming early-stage technologies or lab-bench prototypes into new defense-related products. Industry covers the majority of the product development costs.

defense contractor for custom design and production of a defense-related product—is usually far more expensive.

Third, license agreements leverage industry’s capabilities in developing and maturing technologies. While universities and federal labs conduct most basic research in the United States, industry undertakes the majority of the nation’s applied research and advanced technology development. License agreements harness industry’s capability to help get DoD inventions into the hands of the U.S. Warfghter in a timely way.

Fourth, license agreements reduce the cost and improve the supply chain for military products that also have civilian applications. Often, the commercial market for “dual use” technologies is larger and more continuous than the military market, which waxes

How Businesses Find and License DoD Inventions How do businesses f ind DoD inventions available for licensing? Some DoD labs list available inventions on their websites, promote them at trade shows, or send out technology availability announcements. However, the majority of DoD license agreements occur through the brokering eforts of TechLink, DoD’s national T2 partnership intermediary. Since 2000, TechLink has helped DoD labs establish more than 850 license agreements with industry. It currently facilitates or brokers nearly 80 percent of DoD license agreements. TechLink’s activities are funded through a line item in the annual Air Force research, development, test and evaluation budget.

To help companies and entrepreneurs find DoD inventions available for

licensing, TechLink manages the only public-access, continuously updated database of all active DoD patents, accessible at techlinkcenter.org. Entities seeking licensing opportunities can search this database by keywords, technology area, and DoD lab. The database provides the platform for TechLink’s nationwide marketing of DoD inventions. This involves targeted outreach to industry and the use of social media to promote specific licensing opportunities, communicate licensing success stories, and build awareness of the DoD lab system as a major source of innovation.

Using th is p latform, TechLink identifies qualified companies and entrepreneurs interested in licensing DoD inventions. It subsequently helps

ebb and flow of military operations. Commercial sales enabled by licensing create economies of scale that reduce DoD’s procurement costs. In addition, ongoing commercial sales help sustain the defense industrial base and ensure a more reliable supply of the military versions of these products.

Finally, license agreements engage innovative, agile companies that are not traditional defense contractors. Most DoD licensing partners are small or medium-size businesses that have not previously interacted with the DoD. Many are highly innovative and entrepreneurial. Their capabilities strengthen the U.S. defense mission. Licensing its inventions to these companies enables DoD to expand its industrial base to innovative, nontraditional defense contractors.

them with their license applications and commercialization plans, to ensure they fully meet federal government requirements. In parallel, TechLink helps DoD labs develop effective licensing strategies. The goal is to maximize the benefits of their inventions. More generally, TechLink is helping DoD expand its use of T2 authorities to provide even greater impacts on the defense mission and U.S. economy.

Once prospective licensees have applied for a license, TechLink remains involved in the ensuing negotiations as an objective, third-party facilitator or “honest broker.” This helps reach mutually acceptable agreements and increases the likelihood of practical application of the DoD inventions.

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Specifc ExamplesThe following are three representative examples of technologies developed in DoD labs—one each from the Army, Navy, and Air Force—that were successfully transferred to industry and subsequently converted into products supporting the U.S. defense mission. All three are also benefting the national economy and/or improving the lives of American citizens. The inset box summarizes still more examples of successfully transferred DoD lab inventions.

(1) New miniature laser resonator for rangefnders/target designators

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A soldier with a STORM 2 rifle-mounted laser rangefinder.

U.S. Army photo

To reduce the size, weight, and cost of laser rangefinders and target designators, enabling their use on individual soldier weapons, the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, C5ISR Center, Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (Fort Belvoir, Virginia), invented a small monoblock laser resonator. This invention combines several laser components into a single strong structure (“monoblock”) that produces short-pulse, eye-safe lasers. Most notably, it is able to operate in harsh environments and withstand enormous shocks, such as those generated by

the weapon systems to which the monoblock lasers are attached.

After this novel laser was patented, the Army licensed it to Scientific Materials Corporation (Bozeman, Montana), which used its unique capabilities to manufacture the needed laser crystals and components for use in the U.S. Army’s Small Tactical Optical Rifle Mounted (STORM) Micro Laser Rangefinder (MLRF). Subsequently, Scientifc Materials was acquired by FLIR Systems (Wilsonville, Oregon), the world’s largest designer and manufacturer o f thermal

imaging cameras, components, and imaging sensors.

The Army laser invention now is widely deployed throughout the U.S. military on weapon systems ranging from special operator rifles to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), attack helicopters, and armored fighting vehicles. NASA also uses this laser to assist docking on the International Space Station. Commercially, the monoblock laser is used in fash lidar systems for various 3D mapping and imaging applications, including in the medical feld.

(2) Communication systems interference minimizer and clarity enhancer The Air Force Research Laboratory, 711th Human Performance Wing (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio), developed and patented a unique spatial processor to address an operator problem in command and control centers throughout the U.S. military. The challenge involves monitoring multiple, often overlapping conversations and making split-second decisions based on what is heard. The Air Force invented a device that creates the sensation that the multiple voices being monitored come from diferent spatial locations. This optimally differentiates these voices, making them more readily understandable

and reducing operator stress and fatigue. The invention allows operators to effectively monitor five to eight conversations at once, compared to a maximum of three without the technology.

The Air Force licensed this unique spatial processor to Compunetix (Monroeville, Pennsylvania), a leading developer and manufacturer of digital collaboration systems. The company used the invention to develop state-of-the-art voice communications systems designed specifically for mission control centers.

Today, these systems are widely used for mission-critical operations by all branches of the U.S. military. In addition, they are used by NASA, the Department of Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Agency, Centers for Disease Control, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other federal agencies. Outside the U.S. Government, these spatial processors are used by oil, gas, and power companies; airlines, railroads, and mass transit organizations; and major manufacturers needing to monitor large-scale industrial processes.

U.S. Army soldiers in 613th Air and Space Operations Center at Hickam Air Force Base.

U.S. Air Force photo

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U.S. troops using explosive detection kit in Afghanistan.

U.S. Central Command photo, courtesy of American Innovations, Inc.

(3) Detection kit for improvised explosive devices The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Exp los ive O rd nance Disposa l Technology Division (Indian Head, Maryland) developed a deceptively simple invention to address one of the most challenging problems in modern warfare—the constant threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are deployed using roadside bombs, car bombs, or suicide vests. One reason for their prevalence is that IEDs can be made using low-tech methods and readily available materials. To counter this threat, the Navy invented a simple, rapid, low-cost way to detect the basic energetic materials used in IEDs. These “explosive precursors” include ammonium nitrate, urea nitrate, potassium chlorate, and sodium chlorate.

In areas where IEDs are prevalent, such as Afghanistan, these materials, although illegal, flow freely through the local economy and are difcult to

detect. They are easily disguised as bags of cement, sugar, four, or other bulk goods. Also, they are difficult to differentiate from legal fertilizer materials. Further complicating matters, combat zones often are highly contaminated with explosive residues, making trace-detection methods, such as the sample swabs used in U.S. airports, virtually useless.

The Navy invention enables an easy rapid test that requires little training: a pea-sized sample of a suspected explosive material is placed in a test tube containing a small amount of water, the tube is shaken, and a test strip is inserted into the tube. If the test strip turns red or purple within 5 seconds, nitrate is present. If it remains white, a different test strip is combined with a reagent to test for chlorate, which turns the strip blue or black within 10 seconds if this chemical compound is present.

This Navy invention was licensed to American Innovations, Inc. (Monsey, New York), which used it to produce the Bulk Homemade Explosives (HME) Precursor Detection Kit, known as AiHME. Each AiHME kit is able to perform 33 full detection tests and has a shelf life of at least three years. It weighs only 6 ounces, and can be strapped onto Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment or attached to a belt. The kit comes with simple illustrated instructions in 25 languages, including Dari, Pashtu, Arabic, Somali, and Urdu, to enable use by partner-nation security forces. The AiHME kit is credited with detecting 440 tons of illegal IED component materials in Afghanistan in 2012 alone. By helping collapse the supply-chain for IED source materials, this Navy lab invention has substantially increased safety in confict areas for U.S. troops, coalition forces, and civilians.

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only full-service forensic laboratory, now part of theDefense Forensic Science Center (Forest Park, Georgia). This unique software-based system enables rapidanalysis of the DNA of up to three people in a singlebiological sample. The Army exclusively licensed thesystem to NicheVision Forensics (Akron, Ohio), whichused it to develop a product called ArmedXpert, nowused worldwide in crime laboratories.

• Innovative metal coatings developed by the NavalAir Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (Patuxent River,

Other Successfully Transferred DoD Lab Inventions• Rapidly deployable port security barrier (PSB) to protect Maryland) that prevent corrosion, increase paint

valuable assets within a harbor area from attack byexplosives-laden watercraft traveling at high speeds.This innovative, cost-efective PSB was developed by the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (Port Hueneme, California) in response to theattack on the USS Cole. It subsequently was exclusively licensed to Truston Technologies, now Oceanetics(Annapolis, Maryland). The company has extensivelyinstalled PSBs at Navy installations worldwide. Othercustomers include the U.S. Coast Guard, NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration, andcommercial port facilities.

• Geospatial application for smartphones called ATAKdeveloped by the Air Force Research Laboratory,Information Directorate (Rome, New York). ATAKdisplays an interactive layered map showing thelocation of team members and other critical positions,and enables information-sharing from multiplecommunication sources. ATAK now is used throughout the U.S. military, particularly by special operator teams, as well as by frst responders, law enforcement, and the recreational industry. It has been licensed to more than 100 companies.

• Next-generation tool for DNA analysis developed by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory—DoD’s

Next-generation DNA analysis is just one of the many developments by DoD Labs.

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cohesion, and meet strict environmental regulations. These metal coatings have been licensed to multiple major paint and coating manufacturers. They are used extensively for U.S. military aircraft, UAVs, marine vessels, and ground vehicles, saving the DoD hundreds of millions of dollars per year in maintenance costs. These Navy-developed coatings also are used on hundreds of consumer products.

• Attenuating Custom Communication EarpieceSystem (ACCES), which was developed by the AirForce Research Laboratory 711th Human PerformanceWing (Wright- Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio) incollaboration with Westone Laboratories (ColoradoSprings, Colorado). ACCES was developed to optimizehearing protection for pilots while providing clearcommunications in high-noise environments. The AirForce subsequently exclusively licensed ACCES toWestone, which has developed an improved productthat is widely used by both air and ground crews. Byreducing noise by an average of 30 A-weighted decibels (dBAs), ACCES has signifcantly reduced the cost oftreatment and disability for hearing loss.

• Shock-absorbing concrete known as SACON, developed by the U.S. Army Geotechnical and StructuresLaboratory (Vicksburg, Mississippi) for use in fringranges and targeted structures. This unique, fiber-reinforced concrete absorbs bullets and hand-grenadefragments and eliminates ricochets, greatly increasingsafety during live-fre exercises. In addition, by trapping the lead from munitions, SACON substantiallyreduces the costs of hazardous waste disposal andenvironmental remediation. SACON has been licensedto multiple companies and is widely used in constructing live-fre training facilities for the U.S. military, NationalGuard, law enforcement personnel, and commercialshooting ranges. n