Photo By Paul Lagasse | Col. Matthew Scherer, left, director of the DOD Blast Injury Research Coordinating...... read more read more
FORT DETRICK, Md. – The Blast Overpressure Tool, an application developed by the DOD Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office to help minimize Warfighters’ exposure to the shock waves created by the firing of heavy weapons, now incorporates data on the DOD’s highest-priority weapons systems and is ready for use in training activities. This marks a key milestone in the evolution of the tool for providing safe and effective weapons training that protects Warfighters from blast-related injury – thereby improving their readiness, resilience and effectiveness on the battlefield.
The BOP Tool’s library now includes blast exposure profiles for all fifteen weapons systems designated as “Tier 1” by the Defense Health Agency in its landmark 2023 medical study of the health effects of blast exposure on Service Members. This category consists of the shoulder mounted and .50 caliber weapons, indirect fire systems, and breachers used most regularly by the armed services.
“This is an important milestone, because now the BOP Tool is available to inform critical military training decisions,” says Dr. Raj Gupta, BIRCO’s deputy director. “This accomplishment would not have been possible without the collaborative efforts of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the Uniformed Services University’s Combat and Training Queryable Exposure/Event Repository project, and our other partners.”
BIRCO director Col. Matthew Scherer and Gupta co-moderated a breakout session on “Blast Overpressure Exposure and Blast Induced TBI Mechanism, Prevention, and Treatment” at the 2025 Military Health System Research Symposium in Kissimmee, Florida Aug. 4-7. The session featured updates on research from across the DOD on protecting brain health from the effects of the shock waves caused by the firing of heavy weapons. Gupta and his BIRCO colleagues also presented several posters on the BOP Tool and the health risks associated with blast exposure during MHSRS. They were among over 200 DHA R&D-MRDC experts in military infectious diseases, combat casualty care, military operational medicine, chemical biological defense, and clinical and rehabilitative medicine who attended the annual event, the DOD's premier medical science research and development meeting. To see photos of DHA R&D-MRDC’s participation in this year’s MHSRS, visit the event’s Flickr album.
An emerging body of evidence suggests that repeated exposure to shock waves from the firing of heavy weapons, called blast overpressure, contributes to impaired cognitive, sensory, and motor performance, degraded reaction time and decision-making ability, and other adverse health effects. To help address this concern, in 2017 Congress instructed the Secretary of Defense to undertake a medical study of blast overpressure exposure on Service Members. BIRCO supported the effort by collecting and analyzing available information and emerging research on the health and performance effects of blast overpressure resulting from the firing of heavy weapons and explosions. The analysis identified a gap in how information about blast overpressure exposure is communicated to Service Members.
The BOP Tool provides training range managers, range safety officers, and instructors with easy-to-understand guidance on how to position personnel to minimize their exposure to blast overpressure from shoulder-mounted assault weapons, indirect fire systems, rifles, machine guns, and breaching charges. Users can place computer models of the shock wave patterns of individual weapons into a model of the training environment to see how the shock waves will interact with terrain and obstacles, allowing them to identify the safety risks associated with various locations around the weapon.
The BOP Tool traces its origins back to 2018, when the National Defense Authorization Act instructed the Secretary of Defense to conduct an extensive medical study of the physical effects of exposure to blast overpressure caused by certain weapon systems. BIRCO partnered with DHA's Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence, the Army's Combat Capabilities Development Command, the Defense Centers for Public Health - Aberdeen and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs to conduct the study.
BIRCO adapted computer models of blast exposures originally developed for a prototype software application that standardized the descriptions of blast wave exposure zones. These models were refined with blast overpressure exposure data collected by WRAIR from wearable sensors and pressure probes during live fire training. The result was a set of accurate 3D simulations of blast exposures on human bodies as well as 2D maps of the blast radius at various pressures.
BIRCO is also collaborating with the Army and Marine Corps to integrate the BOP Tool into the Range Management Toolkit, a suite of advanced geospatial applications that is used to plan safe range exercises – for example, by reducing the threat of injury from projectile fragmentation. Currently, the RMTK suite does not address blast overpressure exposure mitigation.
“The integration of the BOP Tool into the RMTK will enhance safety management by enabling commanders and range managers to plan training exercises more effectively,” explains Gupta. “It allows the operational community to model and assess predicted blast overpressure exposure to inform deliberate adjustments to firing locations, personal positions, firing sequence, and training plans to minimize blast effects and protect their cognitive and physical health.”
Scherer says the functionalities of the BOP Tool address critical gaps identified by the operational community.
“From our conversations with the operational end users, we understand that line leaders require objective data to inform their risk management decisions around BOP exposure,” says Scherer. “The BOP Tool helps guide unit leadership as they balance the priority of sustaining unit lethality through routine heavy weapons training with the potential for compromising readiness through overexposure to blast overpressure.”
The BOP Tool will enable the operational community to increase their awareness of blast overpressure exposure effects, and to reinforce the safety warnings Warfighters first learned during their initial training. It will also inform range modernization and future weapon design by providing information about predicted exposures in training environment. The BOP Tool’s blast exposure predictions can also be used to inform health and performance assessments and clinical decision-making. Such applications promise to improve the DOD’s understanding of blast overpressure exposure effects.
“The next step is to roll out the BOP Tool to Warfighters, instructors, and range managers to start using it, which is expected to happen soon,” says Gupta. “We have demonstrated the BOP Tool to the Marine Corps’ Range and Training Programs Division and the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, and we are in discussions with Army Combat Capabilities Development Command to establish an agreement to transfer the BOP Tool to end users. We are also providing access to the tool to the DEVCOM’s Armaments Center and Soldier Lethality office to enhance the BOP Tool with their existing weapon data. The addition of this high-quality data will further ensure the BOP Tool is as effective as it can be in mitigating unnecessary blast overpressure exposure effects on our Warfighters.”
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2025 10:42 |
| Story ID: | 545613 |
| Location: | FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 48 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Blast Exposure Monitoring Tool Reaches Critical Milestone, by Paul Lagasse, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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