LAUSR

Material susceptibility to biodegradation is related to both chemical/structural composition and the environment(s) to which the material is exposed. DoD planning in the recent past has focused on areas of operations that are primarily desert environments, however DoD is in the pro-active preparatory stages for a South East Asia-Pacific Rim thrust. Much of this arena is located in deep-tropical regions. No other natural environmental regions are as aggressively detrimental to materials as the deep-tropics. Materials and military forces are distinctively challenged by the high humidity, heat, rainfall, fungi/mildew and numerous other factors which combine synergistically to reduce performance. It is critical to enhance material lifetime predictive capabilities in the natural tropical environment so as to accurately identify potential material degradation, total system weaknesses and ultimately ensure successful future military operations.