All-weather jackets for Indian Army in the works

SOURCE : The Indian Express Limited
Serving in extreme weather conditions, Indian Army may soon be armed with suits to protect them from extreme temperatures, whichever end of the thermometer the mercury might be on. Defence Laboratory Jodhpur (DLJ), a DRDO lab, is in the final stages of creating the all-weather jacket.
“We have been working on the project for a couple of years and it is in the final stages of development. Currently, we are assessing the feasibility of the suits after which we will start production,” said DLJ director Dr Narendra Kumar.
Inspired from the extreme heat conditions of Rajasthan where the laboratory is situated, the ‘temperature jackets’ consist of ‘phase change material’ that become solid, liquid or semi-solid depending on the outside temperature.
“The suits also contain pockets where one can keep pouches of this material. The jackets can provide protection from extreme temperatures for up to four hours, after which the material will have to be recharged,” said Dr Kumar. “Since we will need to produce thousands of jackets to cater to our forces, we are working on reducing the cost of the jackets.” DLJ is also working on a mobile water purification vehicle which uses reverse osmosis to get rid of chemical and biological agents. “We are also working on solar-based portable purification units which soldiers can use for purifying water. We have submitted the idea to the Army,”