The National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) and the University of Nebraska System (NU) are known for their rapid response capabilities. By quickly expanding and delivering skills, research and resources, NSRI and NU support the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and U.S. Government in adapting to real-world events and managing evolving national security scenarios. In this period, NSRI and NU provided several deliverables to improve real-time action of responders and decision makers.
Since 2015, the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) has supported ongoing projects with U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) to develop a modified guardrail system that can protect military installations at home and abroad.
With funds awarded in this reporting period, the project reached nearly $7 million in total awards. Led by NSRI Fellow Dr. Cody Stolle, UNL research assistant professor in engineering, the MwRSF is currently developing a new barrier that can absorb a 15,000-pound truck impacting at 50 miles per hour (mph) at a perpendicular angle. The unique, low-cost system can be installed to upgrade the security of perimeter antipersonnel fences for robust resistence against a vehicle impact. Additional projects in progress will design and evaluate a swing gate for disrupting threat vehicles at speeds of 90 mph and draft enhanced guidelines for placement of traffic control devices that disrupt threat vehicles.
With a collective century of transportation experience, robust laboratory capabilities and access to NSRI and the UNL Holland Computing Center, the MwRSF provides a unique combination of capabilities the DOD can call upon.
MwRSF’s ongoing deliverables to USTRANSCOM for roadside and anti-ram barriers are keeping the Nation’s warfighters safe right now. They allow smooth access to military installations through entry control facilities and shield the Nation’s critical infrastructure.
With advancements in artificial intelligence and unmanned aerial vehicles, U.S. National Guard Civil Support Teams (CSTs), which are the Nation’s experts for countering weapons of mass destruction (CWMD), and others, must closely monitor and prepare for new threats.
In the summer of 2023, NSRI quickly evolved its applied biosurveillance sampling and analysis expedition course to provide hands-on field training with one of the newest tools available for disaster responders: the MinION genomic sequencer.
The full-spectrum operations biosurveillance experience constituted one of the first practical applications of the MinION device in an operational field environment to expand sample collection and analysis capabilities.
NSRI helped responders identify how to implement the MinION into their programming. The course also demonstrates a broader evolution for the NSRI field operations and training team — not only keeping pace with but setting the stage for putting new and emerging technologies in the hands of end users such as the CSTs.
To support the forward-leaning DOD program strategy for biosurveillance documented in the 2023 Biodefense Posture Review, NSRI deepened its capabilities and expanded its capacity for sample exploitation and advanced sequencing to help DOD program managers create actionable, decision-focused information.
NSRI added new scientific staff, bringing to bear 25 years of combined experience, including 12 years of work in BSL-3 laboratories with Tier 1 Select Agents. The institute also enhanced its sequencing capabilities, Illumina MiSeq, iSeq and MinION instrumentation in an ISO 17025 environment at the NSRI Space Coast Field Office and Laboratory, which expanded its footprint by 1,200 square feet in summer 2024.
NU also offers capacity through resources such as the Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Core at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). Led by NSRI Fellow Dr. Babu Guda, UNMC chief bioinformatics and research computing officer, the core develops methods and software tools for understanding biomolecular data illuminating scientific components such as protein structure, amino acids, DNA and RNA.
Rapid, confident decision-making based on reliable data can make a difference in threat mitigation. These projects apply a heightened level of foresight and anticipation of response needs. NSRI’s proactive investment in advanced sequencing capabilities activates a new level of responsiveness for DOD partners.
To help improve the U.S. military’s ability to leverage multiple drones for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions, the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory called upon the expertise and experience of the Nebraska Intelligent MoBile Unmanned Systems (NIMBUS) Lab at UNL. The lab is known for bringing drones closer to each other and the world. Notable projects have enabled drones to collect water, soil and air samples; enabled long-duration aerial sampling or ground-emplaced sensing; and leveraged the ability of a Group 2 unmanned aerial system (UAS) to deliver Group 1 systems further than they could reach on their own.
NSRI Fellows from NIMBUS, along with NSRI Fellow Dr. Ben Riggan of UNL electrical and computer engineering, developed an integrated system for delivering, controlling and monitoring a swarm of drones in an outdoor, austere environment without relying on Wi-Fi or other external networks, while leveraging commercial off-the-shelf components to lower acquisition costs.
The team of UNL researchers and students successfully demonstrated a 10-drone ISTAR swarm at the Joint Interagency Field Experiment in Camp Roberts, California. This research is one step forward toward enabling field testing of swarm algorithms, low-cost swarm platforms and systems that can work in communication-denied environments.
U.S. Strategic Command’s (USSTRATCOM) archive is the Nation’s nuclear history repository of original documents, photographs and films. It is accessed often by Joint Staff, Services, Combatant Commands, Components and military schoolhouses to support training and strategy.
In 2023, NSRI received a USSTRATCOM contract to make physical archive records electronically accessible and searchable — a vital step in activating the usefulness of the archive for empirical uses. Over three years, NSRI staff will index, digitize and add metadata to the records.
The USSTRATCOM archive provides critical daily decision-making support for military leaders who need to understand the why and how of past military events to successfully support impending missions. The project makes the information more accessible and actionable.
In the field, every second and every pound counts. Continuing its long-time CWMD efforts with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), NSRI scientists and engineers evaluated thermal lance technology, a key piece of the breaching tool kit used to rapidly cut through barriers. Exploring chemistries and mechanical designs, the team down-selected and modified thermal lance properties to increase cutting performance for end users. The NSRI team ensured the lance could function with an existing oxygen-generation system.
Now in the hands of active breaching teams, the lance is an essential asset commanders and their units can employ to complete missions more effectively and efficiently.
