FOAM AIR DECOYS

THIS PROJECT WILL RESEARCH MATERIALS AND DEVELOP A CONCEPT FOR MAKING TWO AND THREE DIMENSIONAL DECOY DEVICES REPRESENTING TACTICAL MILITARY MAJOR END EQUIPMENT. ADDITIONALLY, A PROTOTYPE DECOY DEVICE WILL BE MANUFACTURED. THE DECOYS WILL BE DUPLICATES OF AN ORIGINAL TACTICAL VEHICLE AND WILL HAVE HIGH FIDELITY VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS THROUGH THE USE OF BEAM MOLDING TECHNIQUES. VARIOUS TYPES OF MATERIALS WILL BE RESEARCHED TO INCLUDE FOAM AIR AND HARD FORM PRODUCTS. EMPHASIS WILL BE PLACED ON THE DECOYS HAVING THE CAPABILITY OF BEING LEFT IN THE FIELD AND SUBJECTED TO THE ELEMENTS AS WELL AS BEING SUFFICIENTLY STURDY TO ACCOMODATE FIELD HANDLING DEPLOYMENT. THE DECOYS WILL BE IN MODULAR/COMPRESSED FORM AS NECESSARY TO FACILITATE HANDLING AND STORAGE BUT STILL ALLOW RAPID DEPLOYMENT. EACH PIECE WILL BE LIGHT ENOUGH TO BE MAN PORTABLE. THE UNASSEMBLED/COMPRESSED DECOY WILL OCCUPY A SMALL FRACTION OF THE SPACE OF AN ORIGINAL PIECE OF MILITARY HARDWARE AND BE TRANSPORTABLE BY ORGANIC TACTICAL CARGO VEHICLE. WHILE BEING EMPLACED IN THE FIELD, THE PIECES COULD BE ASSEMBLED/ERECTED BY UNTRAINED INIDIVIDUALS IN LESS THAN 1 MAN HOUR. THE ASEMBLED DECOY WILL BE LIGHT ENOUGH SO THAT IT CAN BE MANEUVERED INTO PLACE AND REPOSITIONED BY HAND. FIELD MAINTENANCE WOULD BE ACCOMPLISHED BY THE SERVICE MEMBERS WITH READILY AVAILABLE MATERIALS SUCH AS TAPE AND VEHICLE PAINT.