DRASH (Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelter) is a portable

geodesic In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the locally shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a conn ...

shelter that can be set up after arriving on site with no special tools. The structure is supported by composite struts.

Design

DRASH shelters have footprints from up to . Each DRASH shelter comes with flooring and ground covers manufactured from

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

and

nylon Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups. Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieti ...

. DRASH also provides generators and trailers plus various accessories for the shelters themselves. Several of these accessories can be used to link shelters together. For transport or storage, the shelters pack down to into a transport bag that can be stowed on a trailer or

HMMWV The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of Military light utility vehicle, light, four-wheel drive Military vehicle#Military trucks, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It ...

History

DHS Systems founder and CEO A. Jon Prusmack began building DRASH shelters after being inspired by pop-up geodesic domes he came across at trade shows. He founded the company in 1984 and DRASH shelters quickly started to be purchased by military units for use as command posts, tactical operations centers, communications centers, battalion aid stations, and forward surgical support stations. In 2004, the

Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

invested in DHS Systems and formed its new parent company DHS Technologies. In 2009, it was reported that the company was working on a line of shelters/generators that better matched power supply to demand.

Military use

The

United States Military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

are using DRASH shelters in place of the various tents and shelters used in the past. The

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

has awarded DRASH several contracts.
Most notably, in 2008, the U.S. Army contracted DRASH manufacturer DHS Systems and

Northrop Grumman Corporation Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military technology provi ...

to provide a family of trailer-mounted support systems under its Standard Integrated Command Post System (SICPS) program. Under the contract, DHS is manufacturing DRASH shelters, while Northrop will be responsible for program management and integrated logistics support. DRASH shelters have been deployed extensively since the beginning of the wars in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. DRASH is also currently in use with troops stationed around the world, including the Third Army in Kuwait, and Joint Task Force Bravo's Mobile Surgical Team in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. DRASH has

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

teams on site in

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

. These teams do all of the repair and support work for the shelters, generators and trailers.

Civilian use

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

caused a surge of interest in DRASH shelters. In

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, an emergency medical team used a DRASH shelter as a mobile hospital. In Mississippi, DRASH shelters were used as living quarters for the State Police aiding victims of the disaster. DRASH shelters have been deployed following hurricanes across the Gulf region, as well as for other civilian operations around the country. In 2006, the state of

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

dedicated a DRASH

field hospital A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile ...

to a victim of the

2001 anthrax attacks The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax (a portmanteau of "United States, America" and "anthrax", from its FBI case name), occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after th ...

.http://www.reevesems.com/userfiles/File/News/emsinsidersummer06.pdf DRASH shelters were also used by the National Guard during the October 2007 California Wildfires, Middletown’s Office of Emergency Management and the state’s Department of Public Health following the 2010 Connecticut power plant explosion and Dell Children's Medical Center during the

2009 flu pandemic The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1/swine flu/influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, was the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus (the first being the 1918� ...

. Additionally, international agencies have purchased DRASH to support emergency response. In the summer of 2009, the Brazilian State of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

purchased two DRASH mobile field hospitals to be deployed during large-scale emergencies.
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References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.drash.com/
DRASH Shelters
at Armedforces.co.uk Disaster management tools Post–Cold War military equipment of the United States