Research for Biological warfare

Abstract: D5085 The Director, Medical Resources, Plans, and Policy (N-931) asked CNA to analyze potential alternatives for Navy Medicine's future deployable medical platforms, focusing on the 2015-2025 time frame. Specifically, N-931 directed CNA to: 1. Analyze future operating environments 2. Analyze the medical capabilities required by those environments 3. Describe and analyze generic potential platforms that will supply those capabilities 4. Analyze the requirement-setting process and funding cycle, to draw recommendations for Navy Medicine's actions. Future operating environments could require Navy Medicine to support a wide variety of missions, including homeland security, operational maneuver from the sea, and managing the consequences of biological and chemical attacks. Our analyses show that there will be a continuing need for both land-based and sea-based medical platforms because no single platform is optimal in all circumstances. Among sea-based platforms, we found that variants or conversions of amphibious ships would be strong candidates for many future missions. Maritime Pre-positioning Force Future (MPF(F)) ships should also be considered among potential future medical platforms for echelon II care. Variants of today's fleet hospital could serve Navy Medicine's needs for future land-based options. Navy Medicine needs to begin the process of developing mission needs statements soon because the requirement setting, funding, and procurement processes take many years.