AFWERX funds further development of CRG’s DIRT Bag® product

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AFWERX, the DAF’s innovation arm and a functional directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, has awarded a Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, Direct to Phase II contract of approximately $1M to Miamisburg, Ohio-based company CRG to fund the development of more sustainable and affordable maintainer fabricated enclosure kits, or MFEKs, to improve fleet readiness for the U.S. Air Force.

An MFEK is a pre-fabricated walk-in enclosure, akin to a pop-up tent, that rapidly enables maintainers to perform sustainment on the Air Force’s current fleet of combat aircraft.

Air Force demo of DIRT Bag
An aircraft maintainer demonstrates a representative aircraft structural repair using CRG’s DIRT Bag DB-2424, a small 24” x 24” x 20” portable maintainer fabricated enclosure kit, or MFEK, at a CRG facility in 2010. The versatile product can accommodate a wide range of aircraft maintenance procedures such as grinding, sanding, temperature control, humidity control and foreign object debris containment. The DB-2424, which pairs with the much larger DB-6090 MFEK, was previously developed under an AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research contract. U.S. Air Force photo by Gail Forbes

The contract, awarded in February 2022 and scheduled to run through June 2024, funded the design, development and successful flightline testing of an MFEK trademarked by CRG as DIRT Bag DB-6090 (Deployable Isolation Repair Technology Bag). The DB-6090 will be sold alongside the smaller DIRT Bag DB-2424 model previously developed under the SBIR program. Multiple prototypes of the product have been successfully field-tested at various military testing sites, including Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, and the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Naval Air Station North Island near San Diego, California, among others. Read more about CRG’s DIRT Bag 6090 and DIRT Bag 2424 products.

Read more about the contract on the DVIDS web site, in its article titled “AFWERX funds successful kitted maintenance enclosure product for improved DAF fleet sustainment.”