REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (March 23, 2015) – Among the “101 Rocket City Inventions” on display at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are three innovations created by the Aviation Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, or AMRDEC.
In conjunction with the center’s featured exhibit, the “101 Inventions that Changed the World,” the center included local patents ranging from a poultry watering system to the four AMRDEC contributions.
AMRDEC’s exhibited inventions include the high-mobility, multi-wheeled vehicle crew extraction d-ring, the shadow unmanned aerial vehicle communication relay system, and the enhanced fiber optic guided missile.
Each featured AMRDEC invention was created to provide solutions to benefit the Soldier in communication, protection, and combat readiness beginning with the Iraqi War, and continuing through the current engagement.
“Pieces that came out of the AMRDEC really show the ingenuity that goes into the development of these systems whether it is communications, weapons, or in the case of the crew extraction d-ring, you are talking about a very simple concept applied in a very unique and creative way,” said Edward Stewart Huntsville’s the Space and Rocket Center’s exhibits director. “AMRDEC’s engineers, scientists, and technicians apply the creativity and ingenuity to all of their inventions that are beneficial to the warfighter.”
AMRDEC’s featured inventions include:
Crew extraction d-ring: During the Iraqi War, the high-mobility, multi-wheeled vehicles, or HMMWV, were attacked and Soldiers would be pinned inside their rollover vehicle with no way to escape. AMRDEC’s prototype integration facility designed a d-ring to provide an anchor point for emergency removal of damaged doors. There is a d-ring on every up-armored HMMWV in the military inventory.
The unmanned aerial vehicle communication relay system, also known as the UAV CRS, provides Soldiers with early warning and intelligence information through enhanced communications between the ground control station operators and company commanders. This technology gives the shadow UAV operators a way to communicate with Soldiers who are on the ground. Due to the high success of this system, the communication relay system has been used for situational awareness, call for fire support throughout the theater and a way to communicate danger to troops at the ground control station.
The enhanced fiber optic guided missile, or EFOG-M, is a deployable missile system able to defeat armored vehicles, rotary wing aircraft and other high-level targets. AMRDEC designed the EFOG-M with a high resolution infrared video camera on the front nose of the missile, providing the gunner a visual from the missile’s perspective. This missile utilizes a fiber optic data link to transmit and receive command and sensor inputs to seek out and defeat threats hidden behind hills, foliage, or even urban settings.
The 101 Rocket City inventions, and its partner exhibit, 101 Inventions that Changed the World, remains at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center through Dec. 31. Admission is free for active-duty military (with discount for spouses and children). Admissions is also free for NASA employees.