tion of military problems; and forming a part of 

 the base for (a) subsequent exploratory and 

 advanced developments in Defense-related 

 technologies and (b) new or improved military 

 functional capabilities in areas such as commu- 

 nications, detection, tracking, surveillance, pro- 

 pulsion, mobility, guidance and control, naviga- 

 tion, energy conversion, materials and struc- 

 tures, and personnel support. 



Role of Basic Research 



The Army's policy concerning support of re- 

 search is to: 



• Maintain a strong and progressive research 

 base by conducting a broad and continuing 

 research program, including an adequate in- 

 house capability, to provide fundamental 

 knowledge with emphasis on those areas of 

 special promise to the Army. 



• Encourage and ensure investigation of new 

 ideas and concepts that may contribute to the 

 Army mission and/or reduce the cost of 

 maintaining and operating Army systems and 

 equipment. 



• Encourage multiservice support of those fac- 

 ets of research that will affect the develop- 

 ment programs of more than one military 

 service. 



• Support and conduct research in the fields of 

 training and education for the broad purpose 

 of reducing training time and costs and in- 

 creasing training effectiveness. 



• Maintain effective contact between the De- 

 partment of the Army and scientists of the 

 United States and, when appropriate, other 

 nations of the free world. 



Examples of Basic Research 



During the past 10 years there have been many 

 significant research projects (intramural and extra- 

 mural) that have been supported or accomplished 

 by the Army. Twelve of these projects, which 

 show the breadth of the Army research spectrum, 

 are listed below. 



Trace Chemistry of Tropical Atmospheres 



Dr. J. P. Lodge, Jr., and his team from the Na- 

 tional Center for Atmospheric Research devel- 

 oped or adopted a series of tests for precise mea- 

 surement of trace gases at remote tropical field 

 sites. Using these tests, they conducted extensive 

 studies in the American tropics to determine the 



temporal and spacial atmospheric trace substance 

 concentrations in a variety of tropical environ- 

 ments, shoreline vs. inland, open vs. forest, be- 

 low vs. above the forest canopy, ground vs. aloft, 

 and dry vs. wet season, for which information 

 had been unavailable. They succeeded in charac- 

 terization of sinks and sources of the various nat- 

 ural and anthropogenic atmospheric contaminants. 

 They contributed to the closing of a large gap in 

 definition of global concentration of trace sub- 

 stances for incorporation into global models of net 

 source and sink strengths of the various natural 

 and anthropogenic atmospheric contaminants. The 

 findings also contributed to: 



• Design and development of the chemical per- 

 sonnel detector (SNIFFER) used in Vietnam 

 after 1967 (and considered for the Sinai 

 peacekeeping in 1976) 



• Understanding of the mechanism for deter- 

 ioration of material in the tropics 



• Test and evaluation of material by the US 

 Army Tropic Test Center 



• Techniques for measurement of trace gases 

 in the field 



• Background measurements for pollution, air 

 quality, and global monitoring for climatic 

 change. 



References: 



Lodge. J. P., Jr. and Pate, J. B., I%6: "Atmospheric Gases 

 and Particulates in Panama," Science, l.'i.t, 408-410. 



lodge, J. P., Jr.. Machado, P. A., Pate, J. B.. Sheesley. D. C. 

 and Wartburg, A. F., 1974: "Atmospheric Trace Chemistry in 

 the American Humid Tropics," Tellus XXVI, 250-253. 



Miles. D. L., Pate, J. B.. and Lodge, J. P., 1970: "Atmospher- 

 ic Nitrous Oxide Concentrations in the Humid Tropics," J. 

 Geophys Res., 75, p 2922-2926. 



Polyphosphazenes 



Professor H. R. Allcock, Pennsylvania State 

 University, has found that polyphosphazenes, 

 consisting of an inorganic backbone , high polymer 

 system based on alternating phosphorous and ni- 

 trogen atoms, possess exceptional resistance to 

 fuels, oils, and lubricants in addition to low tem- 

 perature flexibility. The practical utility of the 

 polyphosphazenes lies in the ease with which dif- 

 ferent side groups can be attached to the back- 

 bone. Because different side groups impart differ- 

 ent properties to the polymers, materials with 

 specific technological applications can be tailor- 

 made. Polyphosphazenes are now used in non- 

 burning gaskets, seals, 0-rings, pipelines, and 

 expanded foam applications where oil and solvent 

 resistance and low temperature flexibility are criti- 

 cal properties. Future uses are envisioned in the 

 areas of biomedical reconstruction plastics and 

 nonburning textile fibers. 



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