King Named Co-chair of NATO Team

June 7, 2012

Dr. Roger King is the new co-chair of a group overseeing development of next generation technology to protect ground vehicles for the world's leading military alliance. King, director of the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS), recently was appointed to lead an exploratory team developing new armored vehicles for North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces.

Formally titled "Design and Protection Technologies for Land and Amphibious NATO Vehicles," the project is focused on protection against landmine explosions and improvised explosive device attacks while maintaining a high level of maneuverability. King said there is "a growing demand for vehicles capable not only of land operations, but also of moving through a larger theater, including river crossings and tactical swimming in the sea and near-shore areas. "However, vehicle weight has increased to such an extent that modern amphibious vehicles have lost their capability to maneuver in the water."

A member of the MSU engineering faculty since 1988, King said he and fellow NATO team members will tackle the problem by using advanced technologies and materials, as well as advanced design and optimization tools. The group also will create computationally efficient simulation models capable of analyzing end-to-end performance of military ground vehicles subjected to blast loading and the effect on soldier injuries to maximize new designs.

To view the full press release, please see: Mississippi State University News.

Also, see the news article from The Dispatch.