The US Army has introduced an emergency sled for injured warfighters operating in extremely cold environments.
The Casualty Evacuation (CASEVAC) Ecosystem solution is a capability that inflates at the point of injury and can be used as a movement platform or temporary single-person shelter within 10 seconds.
The sled is designed to be transported rapidly to casualty collection points and sustain warmth for patients while reducing heat signature to prevent enemy detection in the field.
Alongside towing, the inflatable sled can be moved via snowmobile, snowshoe, or ski.
In transit, the sled’s design keeps the patient’s head and torso elevated to increase the chances of survival before delivery to the next level of care.
Supporting ‘Golden Hour’
Alaska Army National Guard Maj. Titus Rund, a flight surgeon under the 207th Aviation Troop Command, led the development of the CASEVAC Ecosystem sled.
Rund highlighted that the system is critical for the “golden hour,” or the 60-minute window for surgical care of a traumatic injury, as recent data finds that traumatic injuries in extreme cold jump from being treatable to life-threatening in as little as 19 to 23 minutes.
“My goal is that Soldiers get the best care possible and get back to their families on the worst day of their lives,” Rund explained. “When time is the issue, the urgency to effectively treat patients in the extreme cold is crucial.”
Test in Alaska
The CASEVAC Ecosystem sled’s patent was submitted in 2022. An early prototype was then built and evaluated in 2024 during a military medical experimentation exercise in the Arctic.
The testbed’s latest demonstration was conducted during a special operations force medic drill near Fairbanks, Alaska, in February.
During this trial, Rund and his team partnered with Ryzing Technologies, a Virginia-based research and development firm that specializes in inflatable solutions.
“This exercise was a great way for us and for this system to get the best exposure possible, and we got some great feedback from the troops throughout the exercise,” Ryzing Technologies Principal Engineer Ryan Gundling stated.
“This environment was particularly useful in developing several different use cases for the ecosystem. We look forward to fine tuning it in future exercises in Alaska.”
