Developing innovative strategies for defending military forward operating bases

The goal of this research project is to assist in the development of innovative strategies and technologies to defend United States Army forward operating bases (FOBs) from terrorist threats. Our nationpsilas current war on terrorism has proven that a technologically superior force does not always have the upper hand. Innovation, change and the ability to stay one step ahead of your opponent have all proven to be essential in the type of conflict our nation is currently facing. The goal of this project is to aid in the design of defense strategies and technologies that will prevent, defeat and/or minimize the effects of an enemy attack against a FOB using unmanned and potentially autonomous systems. In order to logically approach this problem our group is applying the Systems Decision Process (SDP), a process originated by the Department of Systems Engineering, United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. Based on stakeholder analysis and research, a set of alternative defense strategies was developed specifying the means by which each required function of FOB defense would be accomplished. Using value focused thinking a single defense strategy was selected that held the most promise. This defense strategy is then simulated to assess its effectiveness against various enemy attack plans. Results from this analysis will be used to inform the development of new technologies by the Army in support of FOB defense.