Next Generation Reconnaissance Tool
THE U.S. ARMY’S TOPOGRAPHIC ENGINEERING CENTER HAS DEVELOPED A PROTOTYPE TO ENABLE TIMELY AND ACCURATE CAPTURE, STORAGE AND DISSEMINATION OF DIGITAL RECONNAISSANCE.
In order to support the Army’s goal of information dominance, an accurate understanding of key terrain and tactical points of interest within mission areas is required. This information is currently gathered by combat and construction engineers during the performance of reconnaissance missions in the area of operations. To facilitate the collection of this data, the project director, Combat Terrain Information Systems (PD CTIS) in conjunction with the Program Executive Office, Combat, Control, Communications—Tactical (PEO C3T), and the U.S Army Engineer School Maneuver Support Center (MANSCEN) developed the Engineering Field Planning, Reconnaissance, Surveying, and Sketching Set—known simply as ENFIRE.
ENFIRE is a prototype system focused on enabling timely and accurate capture, storage and dissemination of digital information pertaining to route, bridge and hasty minefield reconnaissance.
Since the early 1920s, the Army has been manually collecting reconnaissance data using survey sketch sets. The current surveying sketch set used in the Army was fielded during the 1950s and was most recently updated in the 1970s with the addition of a digital calculator. The tools provided in the surveying sketch set, which include rulers, compass, pencils, paper, erasers, sketching board, inclinometer, and calculator, require use by a skilled soldier for accurate information collection.
During a typical reconnaissance operation, a soldier is required to use a hard-copy map to determine location, use a compass to shoot an azimuth, determine distance through pacing (using a string or tape measure), and estimate distance traveled based on time and average speed. The soldier then annotates the compiled information in a hard-copy Department of the Army report, and makes sketches of points of interest on graph paper. This type of informationgathering process is time-consuming and prone to error. It also makes transfer of information between units difficult.
In 2000, the assistant commandant of the U.S. Army Engineer School, then Brigadier General Randal Castro, currently a major general serving as commander of Fort Leonard Wood and the maneuver support center, directed that the surveying sketch set be updated with a modern set of tools that would become ENFIRE.
WHAT IS ENFIRE?
ENFIRE is a prototype system focused on enabling the soldier to conduct reconnaissance on routes, bridges and minefields by replacing the current surveying sketch kits with digital reconnaissance forms that match currently used hard-copy forms to facilitate data collection.
ENFIRE supplies the soldier with software and hardware tools to gather reconnaissance and reporting information; project management tools; a digital library of field and technical manuals; construction project building-design software; construction site terrain-modeling tools; an inventory management package; and tools to disseminate information to the Army Battle Command System battlefield functional areas.
ENFIRE allows soldiers to conduct surveying and reconnaissance missions more accurately and quickly than ever before. The system provides the soldier with a multitude of digital tools not available in the current surveying sketch set. These tools support a range of tasks from project management to data collection to inventory control. Moreover, ENFIRE is positioned to quickly incorporate advances in hardware and software through its loosely coupled commercial and government off-the-shelf architecture. Incorporated commercial technologies such as ESRI ArcGIS elements and CAD design files are integrated with government forms like field manuals.
The system’s ease of use, interoperability and real-time information exchange are key capabilities not available using current reconnaissance tools. As the soldier incorporates the advantages that ENFIRE offers into the daily tasks which he or she must perform, the advances in accuracy and timeliness of relevant data will help the Army realize the goal of information dominance.
CAPABILITIES AND INTEROPERABILITY
These capabilities allow soldiers using ENFIRE to rapidly collect and disseminate accurate, current information that can be used almost immediately by the commander in his or her decision-making process supporting the “Every Soldier as a Sensor” concept.
Attributes of collected field features such as distance, height, width, area and slope are easily and precisely measured using a laser range finder and other related tools. This information is automatically transferred to the proper fields in the appropriate form.
Information is disseminated via electronic or hard copy Department of the Army reports as well as through Joint Variable Message Format (JVMF) messages. The tactical operations center (TOC) is updated immediately after the soldiers finish conducting a reconnaissance by automatically generated JVMF messages that are sent to the TOC via Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System or Joint Tactical Radio System radios. At the TOC, this information immediately impacts the commander’s decision-making process.
CURRENT STATUS AND WAY FORWARD
MANSCEN is the combat developer for both the surveying sketch set and ENFIRE. The program director for CTIS is the materiel developer for ENFIRE. Program Manager Sets, Kits and Outfits, under the Project Executive Office for Combat Support and Combat Service Support, is the item manager for both surveying sketch set and ENFIRE.
Current plans for fielding the three ENFIRE prototypes developed by PD CTIS are to deliver the systems to the Engineer School. Based on plans the school has developed, a series of field user teams will be established to evaluate the systems and provide feedback to the school.
If funding is available, the long-term goal is to field approximately 2,500 ENFIRE sets over the next 5 years. ♦
