Army Eyes New Techs to Modernize Base Ops, Maintenance

The U.S. Army issued a solicitation of industry feedback on the service’s plan to apply emerging technologies to modernize military bases, Federal News Network reported Friday. The service held an industry day to discuss the “installations of the future” concept, which aims to improve operations, maintenance and resilience of bases amid the growing threats of natural disasters, cyber attacks and other risks. 

“The National Defense Strategy states very clearly that the homeland is no longer a sanctuary,” said Richard Kidd, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for strategic integration. “We’ve been treating our military installations as if they were sanctuary cities for a very long time, immune from the effects of the adversary.”

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to bring predictive maintenance to military installations. USACE is exploring the Virtual Testbed Installation for Mission Effectiveness, a new artificial intelligence-based tool that provides predictive maintenance of facilities. Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham, assistant chief of staff for installation management, said the Army should also invest in 5G wireless connectivity, biometrics, cloud-based platforms and connected sensors to better connect soldiers, equipment and facilities.