NEW AND POTENT CLASSES OF CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS, AS WELL AS THE EASE WITH WHICH THESE AGENTS CAN BE MANUFACTURED, HAVE MADE CHEMICAL WARFARE A LIKELY SCENARIO IN ANY FUTURE CONFLICT.

NEW AND POTENT CLASSES OF CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS, AS WELL AS THE EASE WITH WHICH THESE AGENTS CAN BE MANUFACTURED, HAVE MADE CHEMICAL WARFARE A LIKELY SCENARIO IN ANY FUTURE CONFLICT. ACCORDINGLY, THE U.S. ARMY IS DEVELOPING NEW TECHNOLOGIES THAT WILL ALLOW OUR TROOPS TO SURVIVE AND FIGHT ON CONTAMINATED BATTLEFIELDS. INTEGRAL TO THIS EFFORT ARE METHODS OF DECONTAMINATING AMBIENT AIR CONTAINING TOXIC AGENTS. IN THIS PROGRAM WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING MEMBRANE-BASED PROCESSES IN VARIOUS DECONTAMINATION SYSTEMS. WE WILL PERFORM LABORATORY STUDIES DESIGNED TO SCREEN THE CANDIDATE TECHNOLOGIES, AND WE WILL CONDUCT LIMITED PARAMETRIC STUDIES TO GENERATE THE DATA NEEDED FOR DETAILED DESIGNS OF PROMISING MEMBRANE-BASED DECONTAMINATION SYSTEMS. IN THE PHASE II PROGRAM WE WILL FABRICATE, TEST, AND DELIVER A PROTOTYPE MEMBRANE-BASED DECONTAMINATION SYSTEM FOR FIELD-TESTING BY THE ARMY.