Strategic Environmental Research Program

Investments in Environmental Restoration strengthen military readiness by efficiently addressing the Department of Defense's environmental challenges through practical technologies. By developing better methods to detect, assess, and clean up harmful chemicals in training and operational areas, these investments keep military installations ready for use. SERDP has made addressing PFAS chemicals at DoD installations a priority to support military operations. The program's research ensures bases can maintain full operational capacity while effectively managing these substances. Through hundreds of targeted projects, SERDP has quickly improved DoD's ability to evaluate and address PFAS with minimal impact on military activities. These efforts protect training grounds, ranges, and other critical facilities, ensuring forces can prepare effectively and deploy when needed to defend the nation. FY 2024 Accomplishments: SERDP coordinated efforts on assessing thermal treatment processes for destruction of PFAS. Significant efforts continued on treatment of PFAS in stormwater, mitigation and treatment of PFAS in concrete and asphalt, and development of new methods to analyze PFAS in concentrated firefighting formulations. In addition, SERDP held a workshop on ecological impacts of PFAS to assess remaining data gaps in this area.

Investments in Weapons Systems and Platforms develop technologies and materials that ensure secure access to critical military assets across installations, depots, and maintenance facilities. By creating solutions that reduce dependence on restricted chemicals and vulnerable supply chains, SERDP strengthens the military's ability to maintain essential defense platforms, from aircraft and vehicles to energy systems. SERDP's research addresses supply chain instability and material restrictions that threaten readiness at maintenance depots and operational bases. The program develops next-generation materials that extend the service life of mission-critical systems from production through decommissioning, while enhancing American mineral production and material resilience throughout the defense industrial base. These technologies support installation operations by ensuring access to vital systems, reducing maintenance costs, and improving energy resilience through advanced materials for power systems. By developing alternatives to hazardous chemicals in paints, coatings, munitions, and equipment, SERDP protects personnel and facilities. These efforts ensure installation infrastructure from maintenance depots to energy systems can effectively sustain the reliable weapons systems and platforms needed to defend the nation. FY 2024 Accomplishments: Ionic liquid surfactant fluorine-free foam (F3) firefighting formulations were tested and exceeded the fire suppression performance of currently approved F3 products. Projects demonstrated polymer gel spinning of fabrics with incorporated DEET exhibiting 30+ weeks of effective insect repellency. Teams successfully sampled constituents from explosives and pyrotechnics using drone-mounted chemical detectors. A computational procedure was established for modeling perfluoropolymer degradation. A project developed an electrochemistry technique to produce dintrotoluene (DNT) without generating red water, a major environmental hazard that has stopped domestic production of TNT.

Investments in Natural Hazards and Installation Resilience (formerly Resource Conservation and Resilience) protect the 28 million acres of land essential for military training and testing operations across more than 800 global DoD locations. The program area was renamed to better reflect its strategic realignment that integrates management of DoD's natural and built infrastructure with hazard resilience efforts, creating a more comprehensive approach to installation readiness. By developing technologies to mitigate wildfires, contain invasive species, and manage natural resources, SERDP ensures training grounds remain available for realistic combat preparation directly supporting mission readiness. The program now addresses both environmental management challenges affecting training lands and the technologies needed to mitigate natural disasters that have caused billions in infrastructure damage. SERDP's research provides DoD with practical tools to maintain the contiguous, unencumbered spaces needed to replicate operational environments. These lands must support numerous units training over time, requiring effective management of environmental challenges that could otherwise restrict access or limit training days. This responsible management of natural resources is a critical readiness imperative. The program develops science-based solutions that enhance military readiness by addressing threats to training environments including wildfires, flooding, invasive species, and dust emissions. By providing installation managers with effective hazard mitigation and resource management technologies, SERDP maximizes available training days and ensures forces can prepare for deployment in realistic conditions. These efforts maintain the operational utility of DoD lands, providing an advantage to warfighters while ensuring military forces remain combat-ready. FY 2024 Accomplishments: Projects advanced scientific understanding of weather events driving extreme flooding and rapid glacial melt in western Greenland. Efforts conducted within the Wildland Fire Science Initiative led to new technologies to safely sustain prescribed fire activities on DoD and partner lands to manage wildfire risks. Projects continued to advance eDNA capabilities for compliance surveys of more than 250 threatened and endangered species. The program initiated priority invasive species research to address mission and economic impacts in the Pacific Islands, with input from the Indo-Pacific Combatant Command. Projects refined assessments of coastal flooding, salt water intrusion, and other natural hazards directly addressing installation resilience through improved estimates of exposure.

Investments in Munitions Response ensure safe access to training grounds and operational areas by improving detection and removal of unexploded ordnance (UXO) at underwater sites across military installations and Formerly Used Defense Sites. These efforts maintain readiness by clearing hazards that restrict training and deployment activities. SERDP has developed advanced technologies to address UXO in marine environments including ponds, lakes, rivers, estuaries, and coastal areas where traditional detection methods face significant challenges. Following years of targeted research, the program has created effective solutions for detecting, classifying, and removing underwater munitions ranging from small projectiles to large bombs that show no visible evidence of their presence. These innovations dramatically reduce the personnel hours required for remediation while improving safety for military personnel and surrounding communities. By efficiently clearing UXO from underwater environments, SERDP ensures these areas remain available for training and operations, directly supporting the warfighter's ability to prepare for deployment. The program's technologies are now being transitioned from test sites to actual locations where UXO are present, delivering practical solutions that enhance military readiness and protect defense assets. FY 2024 Accomplishments: Multiple munitions burial and mobility projects completed their penultimate tasks, including exploration of cone-penetrometer testing coupled with finite element codes to predict UXO depth of burial. Several acoustic technologies reached maturity levels appropriate for ESTCP transition, including the Sediment Volume Search Sonar system and the Bluefin 21 AUV sonar system, both of which use acoustic frequencies to penetrate water and sediment to image targets. A SERDP-funded multi-sensor electromagnetic induction system for detecting buried metal has also reached appropriate maturity for ESTCP transition. SERDP formed an underwater munitions response technology workgroup with DoD Services and state representatives to guide technology commercialization and develop guidance for site managers. These technologies have generated time savings up to 90% at certain stages of the underwater UXO investigation process, accelerating remediation decisions by approximately one year per site.