Marines create power, filter water on the go.

• Author: Parsons, Dan
• Position: Inside Science + Technology

* Both the Army and Marine Corps hope to one day deploy troops that can operate at length with little or no resupply. But there are limits to how much an individual can carry and how long those supplies will last.

Marines especially can count on being far from base for days on end during amphibious forced entry operations. And once in combat, they can't count on resupply.

There are two schools of thought on how to mitigate the risk of running out of supplies in the field. One is to artificially increase a Marine or soldier's load-bearing capability. The less expensive, simpler avenue is to develop ways in which necessities can be foraged.

Short of developing Tony Stark's Iron Man suit and disregarding farsighted exoskeletons that would allow troops to carry hundreds of pounds, Marine Corps engineers want troops to gather what they need to survive and communicate where they fight, rather than lugging water and batteries into battle.

The Marine Austere Patrolling System, or MAPS, may go a long way toward achieving that goal. Wearing MAPS on a chest rig, a Marine can harness solar energy and purify found water without any peripheral equipment. It moves in the direction of making a Marine's communication and other equipment "transparent," said Capt. Frank Furman, logistics program manager for the Office of Naval Research's expeditionary maneuver warfare and combating terrorism department, and a Marine infantry officer with two tours in Afghanistan.

Creating a sense of seamlessness between Marines and their equipment--making systems "transparent"--has been one of the main challenges of the program, Furman said in an email to National Defense. "The ideal form factor is for it to be completely transparent to the user," he said. "We're not quite there."

ONR has teamed with the Naval Research Laboratory to develop the photovoltaic cells that are incorporated into the rig. The solar panel can be worn on a Marine's back to draw power while on the go, or laid out on the ground when stopped.

The water filtration system is made by Cascade Designs, an outdoor equipment company. MAPS is assembled at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va.

Furman described how the system would be used during a 48-hour operation--a period during which he would likely need at least three disposable batteries. He would likely pack double that number to create a buffer in case one is a dud, or he had to stay in the field longer than expected.

The number of batteries a...