Rapidly Deployable Lightweight Shelters for Austere Environments

The Cricket System has proposed using the Rapid Deployment Module (RDM) to address the Army's requirement to develop a new shelter that is lightweight and rapidly deployable for the future Modular Force. The shelter will be used to house various small unit functions ranging from human operating centers to vehicle maintenance facilities. It must be able to withstand environmental extremes and meet demanding theatre deployment operational needs. The RDM is a hybrid building, combining the robustness of a hard-walled structure with the setup ease of a tent. The RDM is designed from the ground up for rapid response in a crisis: easy transport, quick setup, modularity, simple maintenance, rapid disassembly and robust construction to ensure repeated deployments. We propose leveraging this commercially available crisis response structure and have demonstrated it meets deployment (and re-deployment) requirements and withstands winds over 100mph. Material research on a radiant barrier wall panel confirms thermal performance will maintain comfort level over the broad temperature range and will greatly reduce HVAC energy consumption.