An executive team from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center visited the three agencies of the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) in Oberjettenberg, Germany recently. The three visits to the Technical Center for Protective and Special Technologies in Oberjettenberg, the Research Institute for Materials, Fuels and Lubricants in Erding, and the Technical Center for Information Technology and Electronics in Greding, provided a platform for the ERDC, U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command and BAAINBw to discuss current and future research and development cooperation, tour facilities, and discuss areas of interest with BAAINBw that have the potential to lead to formal R&D cooperation, either through data and information exchange agreements or collaborative projects. ERDC team members Deputy Director Dr. David Pittman, Environmental Laboratory Director Dr. Beth Fleming, and Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory Director Bart Durst were accompanied by International Research Office Director Dr. Russell Harmon, James Davis, GSL, Dr. Andy Martin, EL, and Ed Poniatowski, Army RDECOM-Atlantic Liaison to BAAINBw).
GSL has a long-standing collaborative relationship with WTD-52 through several cooperation agreements and collaborative projects. Recently, there has been a significant increase in data exchange through the existing agreements that have facilitated collaboration and enhanced or leveraged R&D capabilities for both organizations. EL has an ongoing relationship with WIWeB through several data exchange agreements. The cooperation with WIWeB can be developed further, if new areas of common interest are identified. The visit to WTD-81 was the first by ERDC. The information received in presentations and tours related to information security, large- and small-scale simulations, evaluation of weapons platform systems, and electronic warfare were of interest and there is an opportunity here that has the potential to be pursued going forward by ERDC.
It was agreed by both ERDC and BAAINBw that additional dialogue should be facilitated at the researcher level to further develop areas of common interest and focused information exchange agreements or project arrangements, where applicable. In addition, the PIs should look into using existing or generating new data exchange agreements, Information exchange agreements, and/or partnership agreements. Use of the Department of Defense Engineer Scientist Exchange Program was also discussed as a potential avenue to further developed and exchange ideas and personnel to work at ERDC and BAAINBw. A visit to the BAAINBw headquarters in Koblenz and the three additional BAAINBw research centers – the Technical Center for Land-Based Vehicle Systems in Trier (WTD-41); the Technical Center for Weapons and Ammunition in Meppen (WTD-91); and the Research Institute for Protective Technologies and CBRN Protection at Munster (WIS) – is planned for April 2017.
Invitations to visit ERDC in the near future were extended to all three BAAINBw Technical Centers.