TEXTILES.ORG
Pvilion, a market leader in fabric structure technologies, has been awarded a Phase II, $1.5 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the United States Air Force (USAF) Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO) to deliver its rapidly deployable, flexible Hands-Off Expeditionary Tent, known by the acronym HEXT.
The RSO was created to increase mission readiness by rapidly identifying, applying and scaling technology essential to the operation and sustainment of the United States Air Force. It encourages entrepreneurs, innovators and small businesses to create transformative opportunities by fostering a culture of innovation. The goal is to find solutions to the challenges the USAF faces through partnerships with private sector business entities.
HEXT, a rapidly deployable shelter system with defense, industrial and civilian applications, has been developed and prototyped by Pvilion for the USAF in support of additive manufacturing, space operations and expeditionary forces. Pvilion overcomes the limitations of traditional product offerings, which can be difficult to erect, power and disassemble, and can prove dangerous when time is of the essence.
Pvilion’s advanced design reduces the labor required to erect and dismantle buildings, tents and other structural systems for austere and remote environments. The structure can be entirely deployed without human intervention in less than a minute.
Pvilion will deliver its highly mobile, rapidly assembled Autonomous Structure system, HEXT, to both US Air Force and US Space Force units.
In addition to HEXT, Pvilion has been providing Autonomous Structure prototypes to the fields of government and to commercial markets. Targeted Air Force end-users and customers include Air Force Operations Wings, Groups, and Squadrons, Combat Communications Groups, USAF Contingency Response Forces, Joint and DOD Agencies and Agile Combat Employment.