News

NATICK, Mass. – David Colanto, Ph.D., Jason Parker, Ph.D., and Damian Kubiak of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, or DEVCOM SC, won the prestigious Major General Harold “Harry” J. Greene Team Innovation Award in the warfighter category. The innovation award recognizes advances in research and development leading to technologies that enhance Soldier performance and readiness.

Colanto, Parker and Kubiak were chosen for the Fiscal Year 2023 award for developing a new way to process combat helmet preforms and their associated layer-by-layer-design. The team’s innovative efforts have led to the development of helmets that provide improved ballistic protection, while reducing the physical burden on the head by approximately 40 percent and by reducing bulk by 50 percent. The reduction in weight and bulk increases Soldier mobility and, therefore, Soldier lethality. The team’s work has been transitioned to industry through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements.

DEVCOM SC, in conjunction with its partners in industry, supported research leading to advances in polymers and processing that helped make the improved helmet possible. DEVCOM SC transitioned the technology to Program Executive Office Soldier, or PEO Soldier, which recently fielded the new helmet.

“The innovative efforts of our world-class scientists and engineers, combined with our numerous collaborations with academia and industry, enable us to work to overcome the challenges facing warfighters,” said Douglas Tamilio, director of DEVCOM SC. “The DEVCOM SC team winning the Major General Harold J. Greene Award reflects our commitment to developing technologies that ensure our warfighters are protected, optimized and lethal.”

Greene was killed in Afghanistan in 2014 while serving as the deputy commanding general of the Combined Security Transition Command, Afghanistan. From August 2009 to May 2011, he served as senior commander at the Natick Soldier Systems Center. DEVCOM SC is located at the Natick Soldier Systems Center, or NSSC, and many at NSSC and DEVCOM SC remember Greene as a revered Soldier, scientist and commander.

“It is a distinct privilege to be part of the team chosen for this prestigious award, especially since Major General Greene was a prior commanding general of NSSC,” said Colanto, program manager for the Integrated Multi-threat Headborne System in DEVCOM SC’s Soldier Protection Directorate.

To win the award, the team took a distinctive approach to a complicated problem.

“We were developing our unique way of preforming and consolidating a helmet,” said Kubiak. “We had the opportunity to work with some very new, higher performing materials and applying our new process. We were able to demonstrate increased protection without the need to add weight. The Soldier gets a much better helmet (higher level of ballistic protection) without making it heavier.”

The team faced difficult challenges developing a helmet that offered more protection while also reducing weight/bulk.

“In the early stages of research, there were many challenges,” said Parker. “At times, what we were trying to accomplish seemed impossible. But we stayed focused, learned from what didn’t work, and ultimately found sound engineering solutions to this challenging problem.”

The team is dedicated to serving the warfighter.

Kubiak is committed to doing “good work every day” and to “making a difference.”

Parker is driven to solve difficult engineering challenges.

“The reason I chose civil service is for the opportunity to work on equipment which will protect those who selflessly serve our country,” said Parker. “To see something that we worked on reach the heads of Soldiers is extremely satisfying. It really drives me to keep pushing every day to solve these tough engineering problems.”

Colanto feels privileged to have contributed to an invention that benefits the warfighter.

“It is extremely fulfilling that the team’s breakthrough innovation in the lab transitioned to enhance head protection and positively impact the warfighter,” said Colanto.

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About DEVCOM Soldier Center: The DEVCOM Soldier Center is committed to discovering, developing, and advancing science and technology solutions that ensure America’s warfighters are optimized, protected, and lethal. DEVCOM Soldier Center supports all of the Army’s Modernization efforts, with the Soldier Lethality and Synthetic Training Environment Cross Functional Teams being the DEVCOM Soldier Center’s chief areas of focus. The center’s science and engineering expertise are combined with collaborations with industry, DOD, and academia to advance Soldier and squad performance. The center supports the Army as it transforms from being adaptive to driving innovation to support a Multi-Domain Operations Capable Force of 2028 and a MDO Ready Force of 2035. DEVCOM Soldier Center is constantly working to strengthen Soldiers’ performance to increase readiness and support for warfighters who are organized, trained, and equipped for prompt and sustainable ground combat.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) outreach and mentoring the next generation of scientists and engineers are also an important part of the mission of DEVCOM Soldier Center. The mentoring of students by Army scientists and engineers benefits the students and their communities. It also increases young people’s awareness of potential Army job opportunities and helps provide the Army with potential new talent, helping to fuel innovative ideas that benefit the nation’s warfighters and the nation as a whole.

DEVCOM Soldier Center is part of DEVCOM. Through collaboration across the command’s core technical competencies, DEVCOM leads in the discovery, development and delivery of the technology-based capabilities required to make Soldiers more lethal to win our nation’s wars and come home safely. DEVCOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command.

By Jane Benson, DEVCOM Soldier Center Public Affairs