HELENA — The Montana Army National Guard has become the first in the nation to introduce a mobile engineering lab to its force.
“I can’t tell you how many times a solder’s been in the field and said, ‘I just wish I had a tool, a widget, a thing,’ and has an idea that would make their life so much easier,” said Scott Abplanalp, the CMI2 Pathfinder Warfighter Innovation Chief for Montana.
Allie Kaiser MTN News
The new Mobile Immediate Need Engineering Resource (MINER) is designed for this purpose. When soldiers require something, they can collaborate with the on-site engineer in the lab to create the product. The product can be 3D printed or manufactured through cutting or milling.
“To come up with a solution in hours rather than taking months or years. This is a huge resource to be able to solve those quick wins,” Abplanalp said.
The Montana Army National Guard also intends to upgrade facilities to establish a cold-weather experimentation chamber.
Allie Kaiser MTN News
“All year long, even when it’s a hundred degrees outside, we can simulate those arctic temperatures where things are normally breaking, and we can put it inside of the chamber, test its limits, see where something works or doesn’t work,” said Abplanalp.
The mobile lab is a collaboration between the Montana Army National Guard, the State of Montana, Montana University Systems, and industry support.
The lab and engineer are funded through the Department of Defense.
“The biggest picture of this is it helps us solve the army and the nation’s biggest problems. It may seem that it starts on a small level, but those are problems that we need to solve and we’ll solve them quickly,” said Brigadier General James Wilkins, the director of joint staff for the Montana Army National Guard.
Allie Kaiser MTN News
MINER will be operational in the next few weeks, and soldiers are eager to utilize it.
Wilkins said, “There were three soldiers in there, and their eyes were huge. They’re already reaching out and touching stuff and saying, ‘I have an idea.’ That is what’s going to help us defend this county in the future.”
