Emergency Transport System Ready for Operations

Gen. Paul Selva, US Transportation Command boss, unveiled the Transport Isolation System, a new means for the Defense Department to transport patients with highly infectious diseases on C-130s or C-17s, according to a release. The system is now ready for initial operations, states the release. TIS is about the size of a minivan. It is modular, capable of transporting up to three litter patients or four ambulatory patients, and has an air filtration system. During US military operations to help stop the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa, DOD found commercial capacity to transport patients by air to be insufficient, states the release. Thus came the desire to develop a new system, which advanced from development to testing and production in less than four months. Production Products of St. Louis manufactures TIS. Joint Base Charleston, S.C., received the first two TIS units for training and staging. The Defense Department expects to have taken delivery of all 25 TIS units it has ordered by the end of March. The rollout ceremony with Selva took place at Scott AFB, Ill., on Jan. 23. Aeromedical personnel at Scott began familiarization training with TIS on Monday, according to a base release.