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During a recent LMCS demonstration at ERDC, eight full-scale modules (80 feet of causeway) were successfully launched, subjected to an 85,000-pound load, and recovered using the E&R system. (Photo courtesy of ERDC.) |
The Joint Enable Theater Access-Sea Ports of Debarkation (JETA-SPOD) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) is a 5-year developmental program to help the warfighter rapidly deploy combat-ready units in theater by increasing the flow of combat power through multiple, austere, sea-based entry points. It began in FY06 and is scheduled to end in FY10, following extended user evaluation. Featured products of this ACTD include a rapidly deployable and emplaced causeway system with high-strength fabrics; elastomeric technologies and inflatable flotation initially stored within the system to reduce shipping weight and volume; and a modeling tool to evaluate existing small, austere port capacity and upgrade the potential for increased power projection.
Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, like Operation Desert Storm before them, highlighted the need for a maneuver force and logistics transformation. The speed at which forces must deploy and be available for battle compels force projection planners to move away from options that deliver Soldiers separately from their equipment, which may arrive at an alternate distant location. Increasingly, force projection strategies will require deployment into austere littoral and riverine entry points without deep draft port facilities for unloading sealift vessels. The concept of maneuvering troops and equipment intra-theater is gaining favor because it allows commanders to bypass defended or degraded major ports and inject combat power at multiple alternate locations.
The JETA-SPOD program’s objective is to demonstrate a set of technologies that will enhance theater access through austere SPODs. |
This trend, along with historical problems with bare-beach logistics over shore operations, emphasizes the need to develop shallow-draft, high-speed ships that can maneuver a combat-ready force over operational distances and access multiple small commercial ports, fishing villages, boat ramps, or beach and river access points along a given coastline. Smaller ports are five times more plentiful than world-class, sealift-capable ports. Shallow draft ships such as the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) represent a major step forward in accessing these ports and have the advantage of increased speed over vessels that support conventional logistics over the shore.
The JETA-SPOD program’s objective is to demonstrate a set of technologies that will enhance theater access through austere SPODs such as those discussed above. To achieve this objective, the program has developed a Lightweight Modular Causeway System (LMCS) that can be transported and employed by vessels like the JHSV and the Logistics Support Vessel, in addition to being suitable for transport by ground and air assets.
The LMCS will increase the number of sites that can be interfaced by bridging the gap between the shore and a point offshore of sufficient depth for vessels to operate. Like the M4T6 Floating Bridge System used during the Vietnam War, the LMCS features inflatable flotation elements that offer the following advantages over existing causeway systems:
Through innovative deployment techniques and its substantial reduction in weight and volume, the LMCS has significant advantages over all other existing DOD causeway and bridging systems for many coastal, riverine, estuarine, mudflat, wetland, and inland applications. |
Several successful LMCS demonstrations have been performed to date to provide data and a firm basis for proceeding to the next phase of the program. In May 2005, 17 LMCS modules representing 170 feet of prototype length were tested and demonstrated at a 1:3 scale at Quantico Marine Base, VA. During this demonstration, the LMCS supported the equivalent weight of an M1A2 Abrams tank with two LMCS flotation tubes deflated. In October 2006, two full-scale modules representing 20 feet of causeway were tested at a U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) facility, in Vicksburg, MS. This demonstration included a 1:2 scale model of the Emplacement and Recovery (E&R) system.
Mouseover image to magnify |
During a recent LMCS demonstration at ERDC, eight full-scale modules (80 feet of causeway) were successfully launched, subjected to an 85,000-pound load, and recovered using the E&R system. (Photo courtesy of ERDC.) |
The most recent LMCS demonstration was held at ERDC in April 2008. Eight full-scale modules (a combined 80 feet of causeway) were successfully launched, subjected to a load of 85,000 pounds, and recovered using the E&R system. Key features of this innovative system include the ability to avoid hazardous in-water connections by allowing each module to be handled and connected onboard the delivery vessel; the effectiveness of high-strength elastomers that resist bending and preclude the need for in-water connections; the removal of onboard pneumatic inflation systems, resulting in great shipping weight and volume savings; and a bomb bay door method for restraining LMCS floats during shipment and handling that opens and releases the floats at the appropriate time during the inflation process.
The LMCS is anticipated to complement and “selectively replace” current U.S. Army and U.S. Navy systems based on operational requirements and fiscal restraints. In addition, the LMCS will possibly be used by the Army and U.S. Marine Corps as a land wet gap-crossing “bridging system.”
Through innovative deployment techniques and its substantial reduction in weight and volume, the LMCS has significant advantages over all other existing DOD causeway and bridging systems for many coastal, riverine, estuarine, mudflat, wetland, and inland applications.
The JETA-SPOD Analysis Tool (JSAT) is an automated decision support and modeling tool to characterize and predict the efficiency of movement across the shore. The model, along with analyzed data sets of austere sites, will be used to identify, plan, and select optimal austere debarkation site options. The JSAT model and austere site data sets are being integrated into an established database and will be accessible by planners for strategic, operational, and tactical-level planning and execution.
Through the combined capabilities of JSAT and the LMCS, the JETA-SPOD program is on track to deliver innovative technologies to help the warfighter meet present and future challenges of rapidly deploying into austere sea-based entry points.
DR. JIMMY FOWLER is an Associate Technical Director for ERDC’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory. He holds a B.S. in chemical engineering, an M.S. in water resources engineering, and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Clemson University. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army War College and is a brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve, currently serving as Deputy Commander, 416th Theater Engineer Command, Darien, IL. LTC (RET.) PATRICK M. HOLDER works for Alion Science and Technology at the Deployment Process Modernization Office, Fort Eustis, VA. He holds a B.A. in business management from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in computer resources management from Webster University. He is also a graduate of the Defense Management College, Armed Forces Staff College, and U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. |
