battlefield troops veterans welcome to "this week in defense news," i'm vago muradian. new veterans courts are cropping up across the country as a way to help vets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. we'll talk to one man who's advocating this new approach to justice and what the army is doing to light inthe battery load for its battlefield troops. but, first, the u.s. army's fundamentally changing how its troops, platforms and bases use energy, energy efficiency isn't just an earth-day buzz word anymore, but seen as a critical operational factor to reduce the burden of supplying fuel and batteries to frontline units which exposes troops to enemy fire. to that end, the varym unveiled its du the army unveiled a new energy lab outside detroit. it boasts eight laboratories,

including a test chamber that can simulate a number of environmental conditions from screaming winds to blazing heat to frigid cold. this comes as the pentagon wants to triple annual spending on energy savings performance contracts by the end of the fiscal year from $201 million to $718 million. i'm joined by katherine hammock, the army's assistant installations to energy and environment. katherine, welcome back to the show. >> thank you. glad to be here. >> why don't you give us an update on where your key initiatives stand in terms of advancing energy efficiency across the u.s. army? >> well, we divide energy into three pillars, soldier base, basing and vehicles and soldier power, we're working on rechargeable battery systems and how you can recharge those systems with renewable energy so we can reduce the amount of liquid fuels we bring. >> which will be the next segment we'll see on the show with a good major who's here joining us. >> wonderful. on basing power, we're concerned that our bases need

to have energy even when the power grids go down or fuel supplies are shortened. so we're looking at renewable energy and on our bases in the united states, we're committed to one gig gigawatt energy for renewable sources. when we get into contingency operations, we're concerned how we get energy to the soldiers so we don't have to protect as many convoys and can reduce the amount of energies or deaths that come from convoy protection. >> that's the platform protection you're talking about to make the vehicles more efficient as well as the aircraft more energy efficient. >> absolutely. we're also looking at generators because we have to generate our own electricity, so we're making more efficient generators to. >> which is where a lot of air power consumption goes because they have to run all the time. >> absolutely. when you talk about vehicles, we have a great new lab, as you mentioned, the ground systems power and energy lab in detroit. >> tell us a little bit about that. there are those folks who have

long been urging the need for the army to create this kind of a capability to advance the state of the art of its vehicles and also to partner with major automakers to do that. where do we stand on that? >> that's why we're located in detroit. we're there with the greatest minds around vehicle technologies in the world because certainly that's where the automotive industry started out. so this lab is a tool not only for the army, but for the industry in detroit to be able to test vehicles, technologies and systems in the same kind of conditions that our troops see, and that kind of technology development can directly translate into the private sector. >> and then get into that beneficial cycle that everybody has been looking at where technology comes from the military, comes from commercial engineering, goes back into the military and just keeps advancing. >> absolutely. that's the best kind of partnership where the army and the military services can advance the technology that can benefit our nation. >> how long before we start to

>> greater energy efficiency vehicles are already out there as we seek to improve our efficiency. unfortunately we have some challenges that we have to encounter in that we're looking to improve the resill yensy of the soldier against ieds, so we are hardening the vehicles. so if we add something that helps protect against ieds, it will add weight maybe to the underbelly of the vehicle which reduces its fuel efficiency. this ground systems power and energy lab gives us the ability to look at materials as well as fuels as well as systems and how to integrate together to make sure we have the best solution for the war fighter. >> you very recently announced plans to have a convoy of green vehicles which you've dubbed the green warrior convoy which in a year's time, you want that convoy to go from detroit to washington d.c. aside from it

being a brilliant publicity stunt, what do you want to accomplish with that? >> we need to test our vehicles and we do road tests on our vehicles right now, we just don't talk about it a whole lot. so this is a road test of a variety of vehicle technologies, from fuel cells to hybrid to some solar systems to some auxiliary power eunlts, and as we are road testing our vehicles, we're going to stop by schools and communities along the way to encourage the advancement of science and technology careers. i mean, certainly that's what we want our next generation to look at the kinds of things they could be developing, that they could be ino vating and how it can benefit. >> and people will think these green army vehicles are a little bit cooler than mom's or dad's prius or other hybrid that's sitting in the driveway. >> now, i drive a prius -- >> i would expect nothing less of the army -- somebody in your position to do that.

>> my kids don't think it's the coolest vehicle. you're absolutely right. m-wrap is pretty cool looking. it has a school cool screen on it. it gives it a fighter look. it is a -- i know i've asked you this question before, is there an understanding and is there going to be a shield of all these energy efficiency programs as we go about cutting the defense budget? >> it is critical that we invest in science and technology. that being said, we know that we need to partner with the private sector. we shouldn't be doing this in a complete silo. this is powering an army lab that our command has developed, enables us to have a tool to partner with the private sector. you talked about our energy savings performance contracts. that's a direct partnership with the private sector where technology is brought to a base, installed on a base, and we pay for that technology out of the energy savings. so it's not a budget issue. we're not going to congress and

asking for an increased budget for it, we're going to the private sector and saying help bring us technology to help us reduce our energy. >> we know, has there been a change in the energy savings goals that you want in five or 10 years time, the amount of money you want to be saving on anualized basis on the energy use. >> energy and money you have to separate because despite our best efforts to #ç and that's across liquid fuels and electricity. so at best, as we improve our efficiency, we're trying to keep our budget at least stable so that we can deter that upward climb that has impact on the volatility of the fuels markets. >> katherine, thanks very much for joining us. we appreciate it. up next, lighter battery loads for the battlefield.

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in'or on a typical mission soldiers wear up to 20 pounds of batteries. the soldier integrated power system lightens the load by 30% to 50% using rechargeable batteries to keep radios, gps and weapons sites running longer and the batteries can be recharged with foldable light- weight solar panels, eliminating the need to lug around the replacements. this is mark owens, the ground

soldier assistant power manager of power at peo soldier, the program executive soldier, the office that equips the troops. major, welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> tell us a little bit about what's the big advantage of this system over what the troops are using today. >> certainly. by default, the soldiers have to use what's called a primary battery which is the battery most people are familiar with. you use it one time, when it's depleted, you get rid of it. there's consequences for that. obviously every time you need a battery, you have to get one from the united states out to a forward location. there's a logistical burden associated that. if you don't use all the power in that battery, let's say you get it down to half the power of the battery remaining, you're not going to take it back outside with you. you're going to replace with a 100% fully recharged battery. >> every time you go on patrol people are checking batteries and putting fresh batteries in. >> they'll take it to the can balancization point and drop them off. it's a huge waste of energy, it took so much effort to get out there the in first place. it weighs the same. if you're going to carry a battery, why wouldn't you carry

a 100% charged battery? >> let's look at how it works for the troops. let's start at this end. >> this is the squad power manager, made by protonics, the heart and soul of the power manager is this little box. it's got an -- >> this is the wire that carries all the plugs for everybody in it. >> absolutely. there's a lot of capability. you can use solar power to recharge or directly power some of your radios and computers or communications-type devices or you can use grid power, so you plug into a wall if you have access to it. or there's vehicles you can plug it into, an alligator eclipse, an indigenous person's vehicle, plug it into the alternator. >> if it doesn't have a proper cigarette plug or other sort of battery, you can go and draw power. anything that has an alternator, anything that's [ indiscernable ] in a vehicle you can use. >> here's the foldable solar panel we were talking about. >> that's exactly right. this is a 61 pound. this is made by power film. it's a more of a silicon type

technology. it's very flexible and uses any amount of ambient light to provide power. >> here are some of the battery types and this is the charging station, certainly? this is a modular universal battery charger. this is unique, this is unprecedented. this is seven different kinds of batteries, all military grade. it's got usb ports on the side. you can provide that power from vehicle, solar power or grid power. >> the power as it exists -- the midwest itself, the molly vest as it's been modified is a polypack. >> we take the standard equipment, a plate carrier and have integrated a power architecture into it. and that's across the ensemble to your radios and other commercial type devices. >> seeming how this is one of the elements of that which is one of the power packs you

testing with this, so when you take a battery and you distribute the cells out across a greater plain, the opportunity for heat exchange runway is greatly diminished. there's also a fire-resistant coating inside there. even if you shoot it with a tracer and have a tracer burning inside of it, it still extinguishes it. >> and that's i'm sure very, very reassuring for every troop that's wearing the setup. let me ask you quickly, though, with a disposable battery, again, every time you go on patrol, you can have a fresh set of batteries with you. you are carrmweight with you, but you know that your weapon is going to be fully charged up or your system is going to be fully charged up when you going into contact. when this sort of setup, do you end up carrying as much weight with replacement batteries that are also rechargeable along with the other kit keeping everything charged? >> that's a reasonable concern.

the different environment ss to use each piece of equipment. this is primarily what you're going to bring with you and it offers a two to one return on the weight. there is weight associated with it, almost three pounds of weight, on a 72-hour mission, you'll get three times the weight return on your investment. >> you're getting significantly more battery power on this. >> much more efficient use of existing power. gr in terms of charging up, what's the charge interval for these systems now as you're going to these sort of rechargeable systems. >> how long does it take to recharge each battery? >> correct. >> it is contingent on what you have available. this is a four-hour battery and these are three-hour batteries given optimal conditions. that's if i plug into a wall. >> how long to recharge them? >> between three and four hours apiece. >> what are -- what kind of feedback are you getting from troops in the field as you guys start to deploy this system and start to get the feedback from the guys that are using it? >> absolutely superb feedback. i couldn't hope for better feedback than we've got.

we're told these are some of the best pieces of equipment we've seen in the army. so from a guy with three or four rotations under his belt, that's a pretty strong endorsement. let me talk about the air batteries which is one of the technologies you're going to the quantity um leap in power. what is the stability of that. it's the lithium power something we're familiar with. what are some of the new generation batteries, what are the advantages and some of the potential disadvantages? >> as a whole, the army is probably not going to adopt a zinc air battery. it has a greater air density, but also a certain frailty. there are zinc air batteries that are not ruggedized. there is light, they have a lot of power associated with them, sometimes two or three times as much as a lithium battery, but they're not as rechargeable as well. what's going to allow us to use technology consistently and get weight off the soldier, that's what we're committing to. >> let me ask you one other thing more broadly about power because i know power is

broader. how long until we really start to shed ourselves of a lot of these disposable batteries that are really the bain of everybody's existence that come in hundreds and hundreds of types at this point? >> certainly. the swipes, soldier integrated power system allows you more or less to get down to one rechargeable battery as a network across your entire ensemble. no matter how many batteries you have in it, it is charging them. you're gting down to one battery you have to do maintenance of, one battery you change out and one battery to look at. >> major, thanks very much for joining us. we really appreciate it. >> certainly, thank you very much. coming up, how one group is helping military veterans in court.

the stress of constant war for 11 years is taking its toll

on u.s. service members. the rant corporation estimates one-third of the nearly 1.3 million veterans who have deployed to combat since 9/11 suffer from posttraumatic disorder, brain injury, or depression. in some cases they can lead to chemical dependency or aggressive behavior which can lead to trouble in the with law. with the judge saw veterans on the dockets, he created a model focused on helping veterans seek treatment instead of jail time. the idea took off. today they are 88 veteran treatment courts nationwide. justice for vets project of the nation association advocates for that courts. matt steiner, fourth generation of marine is the director of development and veteran's outreach. thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> you helped establish a court in january 2008, how did these courts work and why are they important to the treatment and recovery of veterans? >> great question, back in january actually, i was working

at the tulsa mayor's office. we had 120 veterans arrested each other in tulsa county alone. you can't join the military with a criminal background. you don't join with any of those symptoms. so we saw that many veterans coming through the criminal justice system, we decided to create a veteran's treatment court. and really what it does is utilizes the leverage of the court, that judge because the commanding office to ensure those veterans that do participate in the program get the treatment that is there that they have earned. also we have veteran mentors from the comment that participate as well to mentor those veterans through the process. we have the veteran's health administration there, veteran's benefit administration, state department of veteran's affairs, you name it creates that one top shop for veterans at the court. >> what court of guidance, obviously the judges you use are regular judges, correct? >> that is correct. we do give those specialized training in veteran military affairs. >> obviously it helps the

judges had some form of a military background, but what's the training you do to fleet up a guy who doesn't know anything about how to deal with military personnel to have that sense of becoming a commanding office for this troop that might be in trouble? >> that's a great question. that's where justice comes in. you're taking a course. you have the military veteran's issues, veteran's affairs and might have a civilian judge that doesn't know anything about that. what we do is train that judge on that specific area. >> how long does that take? >> it nearly takes five days after that we'll do monthly calls et cetera, and sight trainings. >> why do veterans, there are folks who are going to say why do veterans deserve to have a separate court system. you violated a law, you should be subject to the full force that have law, why not? >> that i think country's always taken care of its veterans point-blank and period. i wouldn't be here college educated had it not been for the g.i. bill. this is another outlet for our

nation to say thank you, service member, we're not going to leave you behind. we're going to give you the help. >> but these are for lighter crimes. if you've done something serious, you're going to jail. >> murders, rapists, correct. i would say that jurisdiction that are setting these up across the the nation are looking at violent crimes. maybe weapon's charges. domestic violence, assault and battery, you join the military that many years of intensive training to kill people, correlate that with combat, you're not going to come back a peace maker in some instances. >> how successful have these veteran's courts been? >> the data out there is relatively early. but i will tell you this, in buffalo, new york, first corps in the nation that launched in january of '08 of the 68 graduates, not one veteran has been arrested yet. >> so it is having real term payoff. >> exactly, yes. >> how have, how are local jurisdictions been to the vet's

courts? >> receptive. we were third in the nation in tulsa in, excuse me december of '08. now there's about 96 with 100 more being planned. jurisdictions do not want to see their men and women trade in their uniforms for a pair of handcuffs. >> and how can veterans become mentors to the veteran's who are are going through the court process? >> go to justiceforvets.org and have them contact me. >> how many folks are associated, volunteers and paid staff? >> about 29. >> 29. >> yes, sir. >> okay, great. thanks very much. we really appreciate it. best of luck with the program. >> thank you. >> coming up, why congress should consider changing the rules for commercials space export licensing, st

after three years of study, the obama administration wants congress to ease stringent controls on the export of commercial satellites and space components that since 1999 have cost america its number one standing in the commercial space industry. congress shifted commercial space licensing authority from the export-minded commerce department to the more restrictive state department after revelations that china gained access to sensitive u.s. technologies by launching american commercial satellites into space aboard its rockets. the shift was intended to increase oversight and prevent another breach. but state proved so strict that u.s. exports slowed dramatically, costing $21 billion in sales and tens of thousands of jobs as frustrated customers turned to european and asian suppliers. pentagon orders sustained u.s. industry, but with military space spending to be cut 22%, commercial markets are more important than ever. it's up to congress to approve

this overdue shift, but prominent republican lawmakers worry about technology leaking into china's hands. it's a legitimate concern and the administration proposes continuing to borrow commercial space exports to china. but as tough export controls strangled u.s. space sales, china continued to advance in space, putting an astronaut into orbit by sending its students to study abroad and by buying, stealing and developing technology. it's time to allow america's space industry to compete for legitimate business under judicious regulation in a market that still considers made in america a benchmark of quality. thanks for joining us for "this week in defense news." i'm vago muradian. you can watch this program online at defensenewstv.com or you can e-mail me at vago@defensenewstv.com. i'll be back next week at the same time. until then have a great week.