AirLift for Rapid, Stabilized Vehicle Extraction

In recent military conflicts, protection against vehicle underbody blasts has been a key survivability issue. Underbody blasts from buried mines and Improvised Explosive Devices have resulted in significant casualties. Despite the variety of occupant protection devices that have been, or are in the process of being, developed, significant injury risk still remains as a result of blast events. As such, in seating and vehicle design, it is important to consider how an injured occupant can be rapidly treated and evacuated post-event. Given the limited space within the vehicle, what is needed is a system by which the patient can be stabilized in the seat and extracted in the seated position. To this end, InnoVital Systems, Inc., in collaboration with ILC Dover and BAE Protection Systems, propose to develop the AirLift seating system. The novel AirLift system leverages the combined team’s expertise in emergency medical devices, blast attenuation systems, and inflatable structures to yield a retrofittable seating subsystem that improves the standard of care for rapid and stabilized patient extraction.