Figure 1-5 Organization of the Mobility Directorate.

The Survivability Directorate (SurD) plays a crucial role in the Natick RDEC. SurD is the organization responsible for clothing, textiles, and individual equipment for the soldier system. The vision of SurD is to become the recognized world leader in survivability technology, products, and systems integration. The mission of the directorate is to plan, organize, and conduct the Army's research, development, and engineering programs for combat and noncombat clothing and individual equipment (Granchelli, 1996). SurD is the system integrator for the following mission areas: chemical and biological protection; ballistic munitions protection; directed energy protection (eye and body); heat stress protection (i.e., cooling equipment); flame protection; environmental protection; visual, thermal, antifratricide camouflage; and dress uniforms.

SurD has a diverse staff of approximately 120 professionals. At the time of the assessment, 11 had doctorates and 36 had master's degrees. Their technical disciplines included chemical, mechanical, electrical, and materials engineering; textile technology; chemistry; physics; and quality assurance. Research facilities in SurD consist of a helmet laboratory; a camouflage evaluation facility; a pilot plant for dyeing, printing, and finishing textiles; a laser laboratory; a rain room; a ballistics laboratory; a scanning electron microscope; and computer-aided-design equipment. The fiscal year 1996 funding for SurD was about $55 million (Granchelli, 1996), which included $30 million from customer orders. ⁷ Overall funding for SurD is expected to decrease to the range of $47 million to $53 million in fiscal years 1997 to 1999.