The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2020, section 322 “Replacement of Fluorinated Aqueous Film-Forming Foam with Fluorine-Free Fire-Fighting Agent”, notes the requirement to develop and publish a military specification for a fluorine-free firefighting agent for use at all military installations no later than January 31, 2023 and to ensure that such agent is available for use by not later than October 1, 2023. Currently there is no Department of Defense or Department of the Navy funded program of record to develop and publish a Fluorine-Free Military Specification.

The objectives of the Fluorine-Free Military Specification Development program are to (1) collect a comprehensive performance (both firefighting performance and chemical/physical properties) data set for available hydrocarbon surfactant-based fluorine-free foam and fluorine-free aqueous film-forming foam products and (2) conduct a detailed analysis of the collected data to determine the appropriate fluorine-free military specification that should be used for military installation fluorine-free firefighting agent applications.

In addition to the noted objectives for the development of fluorine-free military specification, this project will also continue to collaborate and assist with various SERDP/ESTCP sponsored programs to evaluate their progress toward fulfilling their goal of meeting the current MIL-PRF-24385 performance standard.

The approach for the NRL “Fluorine-Free Military Specification Development” effort will be to execute the program in two phases:

CY20/21 PHASE 1 – Performance Testing

In this phase, the project team will execute four performance-based testing tasks using a modified MIL-PRF-24385 test protocol evaluating four commercially available hydrocarbon surfactant-based fluorine-free foam and fluorine-free aqueous filmforming foam products. The four performance-based testing tasks include: (1) firefighting performance testing utilizing unaged foam concentrates, (2) firefighting performance testing using aged concentrate & agent compatibility evaluations, (3) chemical & physical properties testing, and (4) continued assistance with evaluating sponsored SERDP/ESTCP products as they become available. The overarching goal of this CY20/21 Phase 1 effort is to establish a baseline and achieve a comprehensive data set that will be used for follow-on analysis and fluorine-free military specification development.

CY21/23 PHASE 2 – Data Analysis and Fluorine-Free Military Specification Development

In this phase, the project team will execute three follow-on tasks that will include: (1) Data Analysis, (2) Military Specification Development and (3) SERDP/ESTCP Evaluation Testing.

The primary benefit of the Fluorine-Free Military Specification Development program is to help fulfill the FY20 NDAA congressional mandate to develop a military specification for a fluorine-free firefighting agent for use at all military installations by January 31, 2023.