Airfield Work Achieves Mach Speed in Pilot Demonstration
Two dozen combat engineers arrive on a remote, abandoned airfield at midnight. They are equipped with night-vision goggles, a couple of laptops, satellite communications gear and a few pieces of earthmoving equipment. In a brief period of 12 hours, they map out the terrain, analyze the soil, generate 3-D digital designs and specify construction procedures. A motorized scraper guided by global-positioning satellites begins clearing grub. A day and a half later, the airfield is ready for minimal traffic.
Such a feat would usually take a team at least a week to complete. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is trying to cut design and construction schedules during combat by at least 50%. As a result, under way is a $23-million, six-year research project called Joint Rapid Airfield Construction. The Corps demonstrated JRAC's capabilities to private vendors, Pentagon officials and other engineers in the armed services July 14-15 in Ft. Bragg, N.C.