Pratt reiterated that the information was not meant as a permanent solution, but rather to identify capabilities necessary to support missions up to approximately 120 days’ duration, noting that his current group efforts are “focusing on the technologies and the integration of those technologies into a delivery and platform, so that we can facilitate these FEST teams that go out and do the assessments and collect the data.

“Our toolboxes and hardware and software are the building blocks for what they would use to do that assessment,” he added, pointing to technologies involving LiDAR, photogrammetry, and both unmanned aircraft and surface platforms.

“The historical assessment methodology is to go out there with a six- to eight-man dive team, and dive on that structure to inspect all the pilings,” he said. “You’re talking about one to three weeks’ worth of diving to give you a structural assessment of the underwater portion of that structure.”

By contrast, he said that the JCTD efforts to date have shown the ability “to arrive and assess and push the data back within 24 hours – with a two- to three-man team.”

Pratt was quick to emphasize the collaboration between multiple ERDC laboratories in the first eight months of the JCTD.

“We’re ahead of our time line and I think that a lot of the technologies that we are developing in this JCTD will have excellent applications in both civil and military arenas,” he said.

ERDC’s Geospatial Research Laboratory in Alexandria, Virginia, is working on another project in support of troop deployment planning and other contingency planning conducted by the major combatant commands (COCOMs).

According to Terrance Westerfield, senior researcher and program manager for Map Based Planning Services, the Geospatial Research Laboratory took on the project “following the old adage that all planning begins with a map.”

“Being the Geospatial Research Lab, it was a natural fit from some of the projects that we have done that were more tactical in nature, truly exploiting some of those aspects of geospatial – terrain, modeling, and things of that sort,” he explained. “As we were looking at the idea of a more holistic planning environment, to us it made sense for us to take a step back from everything else and all the other R&D that’s out there and look at the problem space a little bigger.”

Westerfield said that current COCOM contingency plans “can take up to two years to generate” through “a very cumbersome and linear process.”

The contingency planning process also requires participation across organizations like U.S. Transportation Command to verify the required air- and sea-lift assets and synchronize things like the simultaneous arrival of people and the food they will eat.

“We wanted to see how we could optimize and simplify that,” Westerfield said. “So the program that I am working on is trying to modernize that entire planning process. The No. 1 objective is to bring everything together into one environment, all through the Web. We call it ‘The Planners’ Enclave’ for lack of a more clever name. In that enclave, all members of the planning team, not just operations, logistics, or intelligence, but all the other pieces, whether it’s chemical, the medical planners, or fuel planners, are all working in one environment from the same map.

“Right now, the planning process just doesn’t allow those types of what-if games. But by having all this in an automated fashion, you allow those planners to look at all those variables and quickly change one to see what the impact would be.”

“The idea is that we cannot only see what each other is doing, but now we can start doing things in a synchronized manner, collaborative and concurrent, not the traditional linear process,” he added.

Moreover, he noted that the collaborative environment also allows modeling of the flow of equipment and forces as well as a range of “what if” scenarios – known as sensitivity analysis – that can help explore the impact of various contingencies or variables.

“Right now, the planning process just doesn’t allow those types of what-if games. But by having all this in an automated fashion, you allow those planners to look at all those variables and quickly change one to see what the impact would be,” he said.

Westerfield said that the program is currently about halfway through a four-year effort, with an October 2018 target for delivery of the strategic-level planning tools.

Offering a takeaway message to deployed warfighters, he concluded, “Through collaborative, concurrent planning, we can generate and explore more courses of action in less time, with greater fidelity, and ensuring you greater success.”

This article was first published in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Building Strong®, Serving the Nation and the Armed Forces 2016-2017 Edition magazine.