LYNNTECH INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: A17-069

Description

One of the tenets of Army doctrine in Field Manual 100-5 Operations is agility. A crucial component of agility is the soldiers load. Today the average US soldier carries at least 60 pounds of gear, with an extended patrol often doubling that weight. Lightening the load a soldier carries into combat is essential as the challenges during field operations continue to evolve and expand. Army rations are an integral part of any soldiers gear, and therefore, reduction of the water content and volume of ration components while ensuring nutrient retention has been identified as an important object of research and development lately. In response, Lynntech proposes to develop and mature a novel, versatile, high-efficiency food concentration technology that promises to produce lower weight and volume rations with increased stability and uncompromised nutritional value and quality. In the Phase I effort, we will aim to demonstrate the technical feasibility associated with our proposed technology towards reduction in weight of the food. Target foods will be identified and a detailed assessment of the applicability of the proposed technology towards concentration of different food types will be performed, along with estimation of processing costs and savings from the use of the developed technology.