Nicholson Construction, a specialty subcontractor for Amentum’s project at Joint Base McGuire, Dix, Lakehurst (JBMDL) New Jersey, was recently recognized for its outstanding safety record of 369 consecutive workdays without a recordable injury. Nicholson’s team completed restoration work on 38 facilities and a playground project at Ft. Dix, from May 9, 2022, to September 28, 2023, in challenging environmental conditions while exceeding customer expectations. Their high quality, efficient, and safe work performance is reflected in Amentum’s exceptional monthly Performance Assessment Reviews (PAR) and annual Contractor Performance Assessment Reports (CPAR)s received throughout this project.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another,” words Shane Cournoyer, Amentum’s Site Manager, believes in. He further stated, “Our commitment to one another lays the foundation for trust, teamwork, and a common pursuit of excellence. This results in exceptional performance reviews from our customer, future growth, and financial success. I’m grateful for everyone’s efforts and dedication, from project level to corporate leadership.” 

In July, more than 300 Amentum programs were recognized by the National Safety Council (NSC) for their outstanding safety performance. Amentum’s Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) was one of those programs receiving their first NSC “Perfect Record” award and their second “Occupational Excellence Achievement” award this year.

The NSC recognizes safety excellence with the following programs:

Perfect Record Award Winners – Recognizing programs that have completed a period of at least 12 consecutive months without a recordable injury.

Occupational Excellence Achievement Award Winners – Recognizing programs with injury records better than or equal to 50% of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for their NAICS (industry identifier) code.

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Somewhere on a base in southeastern Poland, Amentum team members are answering calls from Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield about how to fix their U.S. donated equipment. Working with the U.S. military, the Amentum team uses encrypted programs and translators to chat with the Ukrainians, advising them on solutions in real-time. 

As the U.S. and other allies send equipment to Ukraine, help is a tele-maintenance remote expert away.

“The world and our technology are evolving at a rapid pace, and so should our ability to provide near-instantaneous support,” said the Amentum lead for its Sustainment and Analytics business line. “We don’t need to transport subject matter experts on-site, we can instead provide experts remotely – whether we need to advise on a vital repair to an M-1 Abrams tank, or simply conduct an audit on airframe systems.”

The work in Poland is part of a U.S. Army remote maintenance and distribution contract on which Amentum delivers equipment sustainment, remote maintenance assistance to support U.S. donated assets at forward operating locations, and managing the ordering, receiving, warehousing, and distributing of repair parts.

Currently, remote maintenance support is provided through phones and tablets using encrypted chatrooms. Soon, Amentum will integrate a new technology, introducing augmented reality headsets into its maintenance operations. The headset is fully calibrated for hands-free use so frontline workers can easily connect with remote experts in real time, from anywhere, using secure optimized video collaboration applications.

“The Amentum team has successfully integrated in the U.S. military operations cell,” said one on-site employee. “We realigned some job roles to gain efficiencies in information flow and synchronization of operations amidst multinational stakeholders.”

“We’ve also been evolving our transient maintenance capabilities as we go,” said another on-site employee. “An Amentum team was deployed out to another location in Poland and in just three days, conducted the equipment inventory, loading and unloading operations, and the vehicle maintenance to prepare the equipment for use at forward locations.”

In the first four months of the program, Amentum has filled 605 work orders, opened a 4,666 line supply support activity and maintained 100 percent accuracy, while supporting the movement of 534 pieces of equipment.

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Two Amentum teams have strengthened operational readiness for the warfighter. The teams performing critical vehicle maintenance support and procurement services at Soto Cano Air Base (SCAB), Honduras, provided immediate access to non-tactical vehicle and equipment repair parts and procurement status despite challenging conditions.

Providing procurement services in Honduras has unique challenges with heavy rainfall, high humidity, mountainous terrain, narrow coastline, the occasional earthquake or hurricane, and inadequate infrastructure throughout the country to meet continual supply chain demands. The government’s average lead time for receiving non-tactical repair parts for vehicles and equipment was 120 days when Amentum first arrived to begin operations and deliver logistical services.

APLS Logistics Director, Doug Bellah knew from experience his team could meet customer needs by improving the procurement process and overcoming obstacles. After seeking and receiving the procurement award from the customer, his first order of business was to reduce the lead time for arriving repair parts. Bellah immediately implemented a Maintenance Readiness Review (MMR) team to improve efficiency that resulted in reducing the over 90 days open work orders from 135 down to 18 and the average material lead time from 120 days to 35 days. Furthermore, the contractual Acceptable Quality Level for fault repairs is now 96.64%. A goal unreachable prior to MMR implementation.

“The first six weeks of implementing the MRR was arduous, but after the team’s hard work at understanding the process and taking ownership, they are enthusiastic about seeing the results of the MMR throughout the project,” said Director Bellah who meets weekly with the MMR team.

Additional improvements to the procurement process included increased visibility on material order status, which was not readily available before the procurement team created and implemented an expediting report. The procurement team met over several weeks focusing on customer needs regarding Purchase Order (PO) status to develop the report, which is now circulated to all end-users. Training sessions were also offered to end-users that demonstrate the report’s full visibility on every PO. The benefits include buyer visibility on critical PO dates that led to setting performance metrics and increased confidence.

“Fully functional vehicles are a critical element of all military operations, and I am very proud of the teamwork that has produced exceptional visibility and readiness for our customers and end users,” said Richard Hayes, VP of Operations, Critical Missions Logistics and Supply Chain, on a recent visit to Soto Cano.

Carlos Perez recently accepted the Program Manager role at SCAB and had this to say about the remarkable work being performed by his teams, “By achieving our goals, our team members take pleasure in their outstanding performance. I am consistently proud of the work being accomplished in Honduras in support of the warfighter.”

The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island awarded Amentum-Parsons Logistics Services the LOGCAP V SOUTHCOM task order for support services at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras in May of 2019.

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Amentum’s sponsorship includes three scholars:

• Curtis Althaus, attending University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is majoring in Chemistry and Astrophysics. He has a love for research and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in electrochemistry after graduation.

• Isabella Dressel, attending University of Virginia, is majoring in Atmospheric Science. She has a focus on air pollution and climate that was sparked from her childhood visit to Beijing, China.

• Ryan O’Hara, attending Harvey Mudd College, is majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics, Environmental Analysis. He is currently focusing on climate change research and policy.

Founded in 1984 by the six surviving Mercury 7 astronauts, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s mission is to aid the United States in retaining its world leadership in technology and innovation by supporting the very best and brightest scholars in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics while commemorating the legacy of America’s pioneering astronauts.

At Amentum, we take pride in investing in the world’s next generation of unmatched talent. By offering our support, resources, and guidance, we hope to empower these scholars to excel, thrive, and reach new heights in their academic and professional careers.

We are honored to begin this new partnership with the Astronaut Scholar Foundation, and we look forward to the incredible impact it will have on the next generation of leaders in engineering, science, technology, and math.

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Across industries, there is extensive data to suggest that strong safety performance also results in optimal operational and financial performance. Amentum’s SafeUp® program was recently analyzed to measure operational and financial effectiveness. We also wanted to evaluate customer satisfaction with SafeUp® to protect their employees from injury.

Analysis

A statistical study using five years of data from Amentum’s programs observed the impact of safety performance on Contractor Performance Assessment Report (CPAR) scoring, as measured through the following:

• Number of recordable incidents – calculates work-related injuries or illnesses experienced by employees that require treatment above the first aid level
• Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) – represents the annual number of recordable incidents per 100 employees
• Lost Workday Case Rate (LWCR) – measures the number of recordable incidents per 100 employees that resulted in the employee missing at least one day of work
• Days Away, Restricted, and Transferred Rate (DART) – represents the number of recordable incidents where the employee either missed work, was restricted from doing their typical duties, or was transferred to another department as the result of the limitations of their injury

These rates represent the industry standard for lagging indicator safety performance by normalizing the measurement of injuries against the number of completed hours of work.

Initial Conclusion

Two major conclusions were drawn as the result of the statistical analysis:

1. Projects with fewer recordable incidents had higher average CPAR scores. The average CPAR score was ~9% higher for all projects as compared to projects with 2 or more recordable incidents.

2. All major lagging indicators show a stronger correlation with CPAR scores as the number of safety incidents increase. In other words, a lower number of safety incidents correlated with higher CPAR scores.

Lost Work cases negatively correlate with CPAR scores stronger and sooner than other incident types. A conclusion can be drawn that customers penalize contractors more severely with increased incidence of employee injuries, especially those that result in the employees being unable to return to work immediately.

Based upon the results of this analysis, we know three things:

• Employee injuries can negatively impact operational performance, possibly due to down time while an employee is provided medical care or misses work due to their injury or decreased employee morale.
• Customers value Amentum safety programs which protect our employees.
•  Safety incidents damage our reputation as well as our relationship with customers.

Successful projects have rigorous systems in place to ensure high-quality, efficient, and safe work, and the presence of employee injuries may indicate a lack of operational excellence, along with a disregard for our employees.

Conclusion

The correlation is clear – implementation of Amentum’s SafeUp® program provides our employees a safe working environment while also resulting in increased customer satisfaction with our work. Safety isn’t an add-on to Amentum’s operations – it’s a feature.

Keeping our employees safe results in high-quality, efficient, and expeditious work, and our customers enjoy the benefits of our unwavering support to their critical missions.

About Amentum’s SafeUp® Program

Amentum envisions a safer, smarter, cleaner world. That vision underpins our fierce commitment to environmental, health, and safety (EHS) excellence. Protecting our people, clients, and communities we serve and driving sustainable business practices is not just the right thing to do, it is essential to our success.

SafeUp^® is Amentum’s versatile EHS program, designed to reduce risk and improve reliability. The program improves employee well-being, drives environmental sustainability, and positively impacts the communities we serve. SafeUp^® offers a tailored approach for each Amentum project, enabling continual improvement and growth towards becoming a high-reliability organization. It also ensures our safety performance expectations are applied across Amentum’s diverse global operations.

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By: Cody Murtle, Senior Director, Capture Management, AR/VR Lead

Introduction

Augmented Reality (AR) technology has the potential to revolutionize Department of Defense (DOD) mission readiness by reducing troubleshooting times, improving training, and dramatically increasing situational awareness and collaboration. Let’s explore a few of these benefits and capabilities.

Reducing Troubleshooting Times

One of the primary advantages of AR technology in the technical maintenance environment is its ability to overlay digital information onto the physical world, creating a mixed reality environment. Personnel can view information such as technical drawings, sensor data, or remote expert assistance directly in their field of view, enabling them to make informed decisions quickly and accurately.

AR headsets also give users the ability to view this data hands-free—allowing them to work through maintenance tasks without interruption. This immediate access to information reduces the need for physical manuals and minimizes downtime during repairs.

Experts from centralized locations can use AR technology to see what the on-site technicians see, enabling them to guide and troubleshoot complex repairs in real-time without the need to travel or excessive communication through emails and pictures. This capability significantly enhances the support network and allows the subject matter experts to instantaneously be at the point of need to aid.

AR headsets can also add aid in equipment diagnostics by leveraging sensors and data from the connected machinery. Technicians can receive real-time alerts and predictive maintenance insights, ensuring proactive repair and preventing critical failures before they occur.

This technology empowers technicians to perform tasks with greater precision, speed, and confidence, ultimately bolstering operational readiness and mission success on the battlefield.

Improving Training

With aging contractor workforces all across the DOD, the importance of knowledge retention and comprehensive training is greater than ever. AR headset technology facilitates this process by enabling users to capture videos of POV task completion for storage and future reference in training video libraries. By using program experts to capture interactive AR
tutorials, users can retain invaluable expertise for generations to come.

Innovative AR technologies also provide the opportunity for new hires to get a base level of on-the-job training without risking damage to expensive equipment. This immersive and practical approach to training accelerates skill acquisition, retains critical expertise on programs for longer, and boosts overall readiness of Government assets.

Improved Situational Awareness and Collaboration

TAR headsets can display real-time data from the equipment being maintained directly in the field of view of the maintenance technician. This includes performance metrics, temperature, pressure, and other critical information. It also includes reference material such as technical manuals, drawings, or schematics. Having such data readily available enables technicians to make informed decisions on the spot, assess the equipment’s real-time condition, and identify potential issues quickly.

For complex maintenance tasks or unfamiliar situations, technicians can connect with remote experts using AR headsets in a video teleconference format. This gives the expert the ability to see exactly what the technician sees in real-time and provide guidance, troubleshooting tips, and solutions. Some headsets also give the remote expert remote control of certain aspects of the user’s AR headset such as zoom functions, picture and video capture capabilities, and live annotation within the user’s POV. This instant access to remote support reduces downtime and prevents costly mistakes.

AR plays a crucial role in enhancing collaboration—even between the U.S. Military and our Allies by overcoming communication barriers and facilitating seamless information sharing. These cutting-edge devices provide voice command navigation in over 20 languages and dialects, enabling personnel from diverse linguistic backgrounds to communicate effectively. By providing timely and contextually relevant information, technicians are empowered to make better decisions, improve equipment reliability, and ultimately reduce downtime and operational costs.

Amentum is fully dedicated to the pursuit and implementation of these technologies across our portfolio to increase mission readiness for our customers. As a contractor, we provide a level of flexibility often unachievable in the Government environment to ensure the U.S. Air Force always has access to the latest and greatest technologies that are available across this rapidly evolving industry. 

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By: Abdul Nuhu, Chief Engineer, Engineering, Science & Technology, Amentum

Introduction
In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the Department of Defense (DoD) faces numerous challenges in transforming and modernizing its operations to maintain its military superiority. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) has emerged as a powerful methodology that can significantly accelerate this transformation. By leveraging the benefits of MBSE, the DoD can enhance decision-making, streamline development processes, and optimize resource allocation, ultimately driving efficiency and innovation across its complex systems. This article explores how MBSE can expedite the transformation and modernization efforts in the DoD.

Enhanced Decision-Making
MBSE provides a holistic and integrated framework for capturing, analyzing, and visualizing system requirements, architecture, behavior, and performance. This enables decision-makers to have a comprehensive understanding of the system and its dependencies, facilitating better-informed decisions at every stage of the system’s lifecycle.

One key advantage of MBSE is its ability to facilitate quicker Analysis-of-Alternatives (AoA) and trade-off analysis. Decision-makers can use MBSE models to assess different design alternatives, evaluate their impact on system performance, cost, and schedule, and make decisions based on objective and quantifiable metrics. This approach allows the DoD to optimize system designs, balance competing requirements, and allocate resources effectively.

Furthermore, MBSE enables effective collaboration and communication among multidisciplinary teams. By utilizing a common modeling language and a shared repository of system models, stakeholders from different domains can collaborate seamlessly. This collaboration improves the exchange of information, promotes shared understanding, and reduces the risk of miscommunication. Decision-makers can leverage the collective expertise of the team, leading to better decisions that reflect a broader range of perspectives.

MBSE also supports decision-making in the context of system sustainment and evolution. By maintaining an up-to-date model of the system, decision-makers can assess the impact of proposed changes, such as upgrades or modifications, before implementation. They can evaluate the effects on system performance, interoperability, and lifecycle costs, ensuring that decisions are made with a clear understanding of the potential consequences.

Streamlined Development Processes
Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is an approach that utilizes models as the central artifact for system development, enabling a streamlined and efficient development process. By representing system requirements, designs, and behavior in a model-based format, MBSE offers several benefits that can significantly enhance development processes.

Traditional development processes often involve complex and lengthy documentation, leading to misinterpretations and communication gaps. In contrast, MBSE employs graphical models that are easily understood by different stakeholders, such as engineers, designers, and customers. These models serve as a common language, facilitating effective communication and fostering collaboration throughout the development lifecycle.

The Models also allow for visualizing system architectures, components, and their relationships, providing a holistic view of the system. This enables early detection of design flaws, potential conflicts, and performance bottlenecks, enabling proactive decision-making and reducing the likelihood of costly rework. Through simulation and analysis capabilities, MBSE enables the assessment of system behavior under various scenarios, optimizing system performance and ensuring its adherence to requirements.

MBSE promotes reusability and modularity. Models can be structured hierarchically, allowing for the encapsulation of components and subsystems. This modular approach enables the reuse of model elements across different projects and system variants, reducing development time and effort. Moreover, changes made to one part of the model can be automatically propagated to dependent parts, ensuring consistency, and minimizing errors.

Models also provide traceability links between system requirements, design elements, and test cases. This facilitates impact analysis, change management, and verification/validation activities. Additionally, MBSE enables the incorporation of compliance standards and regulations into the models, ensuring that system development remains aligned with applicable guidelines and facilitating the certification process.

Optimized Resource Allocation
MBSE offers significant potential to optimize resource allocation for the Department of Defense (DoD). MBSE enables the DoD to develop comprehensive and integrated system models that capture all relevant aspects of a given defense system. These models can include requirements, architecture, behavior, interfaces, and performance parameters. By having a holistic view of the system, decision-makers can make more informed choices about resource allocation. They can identify areas of redundancy, eliminate unnecessary components, and optimize the allocation of personnel, equipment, and budgetary resources.

Decision-makers can analyze the impact of different resource configurations on system performance, cost, and schedule. They can perform “what-if” analyses to assess trade-offs and identify the most efficient allocation strategies. By conducting these simulations in a virtual environment, the DoD can minimize risks and costs associated with physical prototyping and testing.

The use of standardized modeling languages and frameworks enables a common understanding of system requirements and constraints. This promotes effective communication and coordination among different organizations and disciplines within the DoD. Improved collaboration reduces the likelihood of resource conflicts and ensures that resources are allocated in a coordinated and synergistic manner.

Additionally, MBSE supports iterative and incremental development processes, allowing the DoD to adapt resource allocation strategies over time. As the system evolves and new information becomes available, decision-makers can update the system models and reassess resource allocations accordingly. This flexibility enables the DoD to respond to changing mission requirements, technological advancements, and budget constraints effectively.

Interoperability and Integration
The DoD relies on a vast array of interconnected systems and platforms. MBSE plays a pivotal role in enabling the DoD to achieve interoperability and seamless integration across its complex systems. By leveraging MBSE methodologies, the DoD can streamline communication, collaboration, and decision-making processes throughout the lifecycle of its systems, resulting in enhanced interoperability and efficient integration.

One of the key advantages of MBSE is its ability to provide a unified modeling language and framework for capturing system requirements, designs, and behaviors. This standardized approach ensures that all stakeholders, including different branches of the military, government agencies, and contractors, can communicate effectively and share a common understanding of the system architecture.

Through MBSE, the DoD can create a digital representation of its systems, encompassing various domains such as hardware, software, communications, and human factors. This holistic representation allows different systems to be modeled and simulated together, enabling the identification of potential integration challenges early in the development process. By detecting and resolving interoperability issues at the design stage, costly rework and delays during system integration can be minimized.

MBSE also enables virtual testing and verification of system interoperability. This approach allows the DoD to assess the behavior and performance of complex systems under different operational scenarios, ensuring seamless integration and interoperability in real-world situations. By conducting virtual tests, the DoD can reduce the risks associated with live testing, save time, and optimize resource allocation.

MBSE promotes a collaborative environment. through shared models and information exchange, teams can work together to identify and address potential interoperability challenges proactively. This collaborative approach fosters coordination among different agencies and contractors, facilitating seamless integration of systems across the DoD.

Agility and Adaptability
MBSE has emerged as a powerful approach that enhances the ability of the Department of Defense (DoD) to be more agile and adaptable in its operations. MBSE revolutionizes traditional systems engineering practices by utilizing models as the primary means of capturing, analyzing, and communicating system requirements, designs, and behaviors. This shift from document-centric to model-centric practices enables the DoD to respond swiftly to evolving mission requirements and technology advancements.

Through the use of models, system engineers can simulate and evaluate different design alternatives, allowing for early detection of potential issues and the exploration of innovative solutions. This iterative approach promotes agility, as it enables the DoD to quickly adapt and refine systems based on feedback and changing needs.

MBSE supports better collaboration and communication among multidisciplinary teams. By providing a common visual language, models break down silos between stakeholders and foster a shared understanding of system requirements and behaviors. This collaborative environment enhances the ability to integrate diverse perspectives, resolve conflicts, and make informed decisions, ultimately leading to more effective and adaptable solutions.

MBSE improves the traceability and transparency of system development. Models capture the relationships between system components, requirements, and design decisions, enabling comprehensive traceability throughout the entire lifecycle. This traceability not only enhances accountability but also facilitates the identification of potential impacts when changes occur. As a result, the DoD can rapidly assess the consequences of modifying a requirement, subsystem, or operational scenario, allowing for more informed decision-making and quicker adaptations.

MBSE also supports the integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and autonomous systems. By modeling these technologies and their interactions with the overall system, the DoD can evaluate their feasibility, performance, and potential risks before implementation. This proactive approach enables the DoD to capitalize on technological advancements and stay ahead of adversaries, reinforcing its ability to adapt to dynamic operational environments.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement
MBSE plays a crucial role in fostering innovation and continuous improvement within the Department of Defense (DoD). By employing a holistic and systematic approach to managing complex defense systems, MBSE enables greater collaboration, efficiency, and adaptability throughout the entire lifecycle of these systems.

One key aspect of MBSE is its ability to facilitate early and iterative design exploration. By employing modeling and simulation techniques, MBSE allows defense engineers and stakeholders to experiment with different design alternatives and assess their performance and viability before committing to physical prototypes. This not only reduces development costs and time but also encourages innovative thinking and the exploration of new ideas. Engineers can easily visualize, analyze, and refine system architectures, components, and interfaces, fostering creativity and enabling the identification of novel solutions to complex defense challenges.

MBSE also promotes interoperability and integration across various defense domains. The DoD operates a vast array of systems, subsystems, and technologies that must work together seamlessly. MBSE provides a common language and framework for capturing, representing, and exchanging system information and requirements among different stakeholders and disciplines. This enables better collaboration, coordination, and integration of efforts, leading to improved system performance and efficiency. By breaking down organizational and technical silos, MBSE encourages innovation through cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge sharing.

Another important aspect of MBSE is its focus on continuous improvement and lifecycle management. Through the use of digital models and data-driven analysis, MBSE enables proactive decision-making and performance optimization throughout the lifecycle of defense systems. By capturing and analyzing real-time data from operational systems, MBSE helps identify areas for improvement, predict maintenance needs, and inform future design iterations. This iterative feedback loop drives a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and enhancement within the DoD, ensuring that defense systems are constantly evolving to meet changing requirements and emerging threats.

Conclusion
In conclusion, MBSE fosters innovation and continuous improvement within the DoD by promoting early exploration of design alternatives, enabling interoperability and integration, and facilitating data-driven decision-making throughout the lifecycle of defense systems. By embracing MBSE, the DoD can harness the power of digital modeling, simulation, and analysis to drive innovation, enhance system performance, and maintain technological superiority in an ever-evolving defense landscape.

To learn more about Amentum’s experience and team of experts, click here.

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Introduction
Humanitarian crises are becoming increasingly frequent and complex, with millions of people affected by conflicts, natural disasters, and other emergencies every year. The lack of readiness and response to these crises poses significant challenges to the global community.

Background
There is a critical need to improve the readiness and response mechanisms for humanitarian crises. This includes developing effective preparedness plans, strengthening the capacity of humanitarian actors, improving coordination and collaboration between various stakeholders, and providing timely and appropriate assistance to those affected by crises.

Several factors contribute to this problem, including inadequate funding, limited resources, weak governance, and political conflicts. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed significant gaps in the current humanitarian response system, highlighting the urgent need to develop new approaches and innovative solutions to address this problem.

The ability for organizations to quickly adapt operations for a timely and effective response to changing circumstances, and to do so in a way that is sustainable and efficient, is essential when responding to urgent humanitarian crises.

Mission Agility at Scale
Organizations must have a flexible and adaptable structure, as well as the necessary resources and capacity to respond to crises in a timely manner. This means having the ability to rapidly deploy staff, equipment, and supplies to affected areas, and to coordinate with other organizations to ensure a collaborative response.

With advances in technology, organizations are now able to collect and analyze data in real time, enabling them to make more informed decisions and respond more quickly to changing circumstances. For example, satellite imagery and drones can be used to assess the extent of damage caused by a natural disaster, while social media can be used to gather information on the needs and concerns of affected communities.

The involvement of local communities is another important element for an effective response effort. By working closely with local leaders and organizations, and by involving community members in the response effort, organizations can ensure that their response is tailored to the specific needs of the affected population.

While the initial response to a humanitarian crisis is focused on providing immediate relief, organizations must also consider the longer-term needs of affected communities. This means investing in infrastructure, building local capacity, and supporting the development of sustainable livelihoods.

By having a flexible and adaptable structure, using technology, involving local communities, and taking a long-term perspective, organizations can respond quickly and effectively to crises, while also building resilience and supporting sustainable development.

Resilient Supply Chain for Rapid Response
Organizations must be able to respond quickly and efficiently to deliver essential supplies, including food, water, medicine, and shelter, to affected populations. A flexible supply chain is essential to achieving this goal.

One key element of a flexible supply chain is the ability to rapidly adapt to changing conditions. In a humanitarian crisis, conditions on the ground can change quickly and unpredictably. Organizations must be able to respond in real time to these changes, shifting their resources and adapting their supply chains to meet the needs of the affected population.

Another critical element of a flexible supply chain is the ability to leverage technology. Technology can play a significant role in streamlining the supply chain, and improving the speed and efficiency of logistics operations. For example, digital tracking systems can provide real-time visibility into the location and movement of supplies, allowing organizations to monitor their inventory levels and adjust their distribution plans accordingly.

In addition, organizations must prioritize collaboration and coordination among all stakeholders involved in the response effort. This includes government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private sector partners. Coordination is critical to avoid duplication of efforts and ensure that resources are allocated efficiently.

Finally, a flexible supply chain must be built on a foundation of resilience. Organizations must be prepared to respond to a wide range of crises, from natural disasters to conflict situations. By building a resilient supply chain, organizations can ensure that they are able to respond effectively to any crisis, no matter how severe.

By prioritizing adaptability, technology, collaboration, and resilience, organizations can ensure that they are able to respond quickly and efficiently to deliver essential supplies to those in need.

Advanced Technology Increasingly Vital to Humanitarian Crisis
Advanced technology has become increasingly vital in humanitarian crises as it can help facilitate relief efforts and improve the lives of affected individuals. In recent years, advancements in technology such as drones, artificial intelligence (AI), and data analytics have played a significant role in responding to humanitarian crises.

Drones have been used for a variety of purposes in humanitarian crises, including search and rescue, delivering medical supplies and aid, and assessing damage to infrastructure. Drones can access hard-to-reach areas and provide real-time information, which can be used to inform relief efforts and save lives.

AI and data analytics have also become increasingly important in humanitarian crises. They can be used to analyze large amounts of data quickly, allowing aid organizations to make informed decisions and allocate resources more effectively. AI can also help predict the impact of natural disasters and identify vulnerable populations, allowing for more targeted relief efforts.

In addition to these technologies, mobile phones and the internet have also played a significant role in humanitarian crises. They allow individuals to access important information and communicate with aid organizations and loved ones.

Conclusion
An effective readiness and response plan is crucial in mitigating the impact of humanitarian crises. It is imperative for an organization to possess the capacity to promptly plan to immediately dispatch personnel, resources, and equipment to impacted regions, while also effectively working with other organizations and governments to facilitate joint relief efforts. Achieving this goal necessitates a flexible supply chain that can adapt to the rapidly evolving needs on the ground while using the latest technological capabilities available.

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Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of sources, including renewable energy sources such as wind, solar power, as well as nuclear, natural gas, biogas sources, etc. However, to be considered a sustainable component of the energy mix, hydrogen must be produced using these sources in an efficient and by-product reducing process. Of course, this includes carbon reduction methodologies.

One way to produce renewable hydrogen is through electrolysis, where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewable sources. Hydrogen can be used to power fuel cells, which generate electricity with water as the only fuel byproduct.

In addition to being a clean natural source of energy, hydrogen has the potential to be used in a variety of applications, including transportation, power generation and industrial processes. For example, hydrogen fuel cells are already being developed and deployed in some parts of the world, while power plants are being designed to use hydrogen as a combustion or pre-mix fuel.

The highly detailed version of the United States (US) DOE energy mix use by type Sankey Diagram (see below) clearly provides an explanation for “Why Hydrogen”. Of the 97.3 quadrillion BTUs used in the US in 2021, more than a third came from oil and is dominantly in transportation. However, a large portion of oil is used as an industrial working fluids and for chemical production feedstocks.

Link: US Energy Flow Super Sankey — Otherlab

Two other obvious conclusions can be drawn from the data shown on this diagram. Coal is only 10% of our energy supply and it is primarily used for electricity. However, we lose more electricity every day due to generation losses than is generated by coal combustion. In the immediate future coal fired electricity is needed in some areas to balance the national grid, and coal fired generation is one of our more efficient energy sources, however, it is an overall thermodynamic loss process and can, in time, be replaced by localized distributed grid generation sources such as hydrogen. This alone would greatly reduce the overall environmental impact of our national energy portfolio.

The electrification of vehicles, with heavy support from hydrogen generation is an area of great opportunity. It is not currently reasonable to electrify all vehicles but some fleets, such as localized delivery, localized transportation and personal vehicles is an efficient alternative from an energy utilization perspective. The current questions about the overall environmental impact of lithium batteries used in transportation can be somewhat answered by using hydrogen fuel cells to power these vehicles.

Almost another third of our national energy comes from natural gas which is more diversified in its use and a much cleaner fuel resource than oil. It is abundant and well-understood, so its use will continue to grow potentially as a hydrogen source via catalytic conversion, direct use in efficient methane fuel cells, and in newly developing technologies.

It is estimated over the next decade energy use and demand will continue to increase at more than 5% year over year which suggests that hydrogen utilization and potentially small modular reactors will replace sources such as coal. By 2030, the current national goal is that hydrogen and other sources will provide baseload distributed energy for up to 40% of the US electrical energy needs. Much of this can be done with today’s technology and certainly with the technology currently planned for development.

To grow a sustainable, multi-functional and multi-sourced global energy mix, it is important to invest in research and development of new technologies and infrastructure needed to produce, store, and transport hydrogen. This includes building out the necessary infrastructure, such as pipeline and storage facilities, and developing new materials and technologies for hydrogen production and transport.

Overall, the H₂ energy mix has the potential to play a major role in the sustainable, multi-functional and multi-sourced global energy mix, and continued investment and innovation in Hydrogen is crucial for a more sustainable and resilient, secure energy future.   

Dr. Doug Wyatt
Operations Manager/Advisory Scientist
Energy & Security

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In fact, in December 2022, the first-ever Federal Building Performance Standard was issued, which requires federal agencies to cut energy use and electrify equipment and appliances to achieve zero direct greenhouse gas emissions in 30 percent of the building spaces owned by the Federal government by 2030. As the Federal government is the country’s single largest energy consumer and building manager, these new requirements will save taxpayer dollars and eliminate millions of tons of greenhouse gasses.

Founded in 1993, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) is a membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and operation. USGBC is best known for its development of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating systems. LEED provides a framework for healthy, efficient, carbon and cost-saving green buildings, and is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership.

At Amentum we are investing in our employees to obtain LEED Credentials. The LEED Accredited Professional (AP) designation is an advanced professional credential signifying expertise in green building and a LEED rating system. To earn a LEED AP with specialty, candidates must first pass the LEED Green Associate exam. The AP exam measures knowledge about green building and a specific LEED rating system and is ideal for individuals who are actively working on green building and LEED projects.

To achieve LEED certification, a project earns points by adhering to prerequisites and credits that address carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health, and indoor environmental quality. Projects go through a verification and review process and are awarded points that correspond to a level of LEED certification: Certified (40-49 points), Silver (50-59 points), Gold (60-79 points) and Platinum (80+ points). LEED-certified buildings use less energy and water, utilize renewable energy and fewer resources, create less waste, and preserve land and habitat. They focus on occupant well-being, offering a healthier and more satisfying indoor space while addressing community and public health. LEED buildings also have a higher resale value and lower operational costs than non-LEED buildings. Many recent U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration Architectural Engineering procurements for new facility designs have specified the constructed projects achieve LEED Gold certification.

Both our customers and employees want to work with and for companies that are environmentally conscious and value sustainability. In addition, LEED certification provides a competitive advantage, as it demonstrates a commitment to sustainability and will attract customers who value environmentally responsible practices. At Amentum, we are protecting the environment through clean energy engineering, environmental sustainability initiatives and utilization of LEED.

Idealistically, we make the world a better place; safer, smarter, cleaner, for everyone.

Steven A. Davies, P.E., Vice President, Engineering & Design

Environment & Security

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