Continuous Mode Rapid Cooking Appliance for Military Field Feeding

Feeding troops in the field is arguably the most critical component of force sustainment.The Army has been engaged in a multi-year effort to improve the fuel-fired appliances used in field kitchens for preparing UGR-A ration menus.This effort is primarily intended to improve the energy efficiency and environmental conditions of field kitchens.A range of different appliances are provided in field kitchens to enable military cooks to correctly prepare each menu component to a high quality level so that it has maximum appeal to soldiers.However, even using the latest appliances, ration preparation requires significant time by well-trained cooks to produce a quality result.The potential exists to improve the efficiency of military field feeding by developing a single cooking appliance that combines the rapid cooking capability of microwave combination ovens with the continuous (and rapid) cooking capability of jet impingement conveyor ovens.This would enable a single appliance to prepare any UGR-A menu item in a more compact kitchen using fewer personnel who require less training, while maintaining the level of quality achieved by fully equipped field kitchens.