Rapidly Deployable Lightweight Shelters for Austere Environments

Federal Fabrics-Fibers Inc. (FFF) produces several sizes and versions of AirBeam supported shelters. These shelters range in size from 15 to 40 wide with lengths ranging from 15 to 70 feet. The shelters are designed for rapid setup, high reliability, and relatively long term deployment. Standard designs are for normal military specifications including operation temperatures ranging from 40 to 125 degrees F (-40 to 52 degrees C), steady winds of 55 mph, with gusts up to 65 mph, and snow loads of 10 Lb/ft2 (PSF). FFFs shelters are rapidly deployable using minimal man power, with very fast Time Under Canopy. Shelters have been produced with man doors and cargo doors of various sizes. An FFF AirBeam supported shelter, even up to 30 wide, can easily be set up by only two persons in under 20 minutes, additional time will be necessary to fully secure the system to meet full load capabilities. Shelters to meet the austere environments called out in this proposal request will be exposed to winds of 100 mph, temperatures of -58 to 140 degrees F (-50 to 60 degrees C), and 20 PSF. These conditions are a bit more stringent that those for which FFFs shelters are typically designed, however, with minor modifications they are not outside FFFs shelters capabilities. The goal of this Phase one effort will be to expand the design criteria of Federal Fabrics-Fibers Inc. existing AirFrame supported shelters to meet the additional demands imposed by Austere Environments.