AFRL eyes development of next-generation textile for DAF uniforms

A trio of domesticated muskoxen stand at pasture at the Palmer Muskox Farm in Palmer, Alaska. DNA samples collected from muskoxen at the farm have been crucial to enabling research recently conducted in the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL’s, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and the 711th Human Performance Wing on the viability of raw muskox wool fiber and synthetic muskox wool keratins for use in cold-weather military-grade textiles. Initial research indicates that raw muskox wool fibers — a material also known by the indigenous term qiviut — are preferred for their ability to lend enhanced thermal insulating properties to clothing. Muskoxen are genetically similar to goats and are one of very few prehistoric animals still in existence today, though they became extirpated, or virtually extinct, in Alaska by 1920. Relocation efforts brought muskoxen herds back to Alaska in the 1930s. The species thrives in the extremely cold and dry climate of the high Arctic. (Courtesy photo / Cornell University)