'Brains of the operation' squeezed
into a tight, deployable package
Story and photos by David
Josar, Stars and Stripes
Inside the 3rd Army's
digital deployable command center, dubbed Lucky Main, the commanding general can get
near-real-time information on his troops
and enemy forces. |
MUBARAK MILITARY CITY, EGYPT — Touch the screen and the exact locations of troops
deployed in the desert for Bright Star appear on a digital map.
Touch the screen again, and unit strength and direction of movement flashes.
This is Lucky Main, the digital command post that is the hub of Bright Star’s U.S.
operations.
Lucky Main, which is operated by the 3rd Army, is the U.S. military’s only
digital, deployable command center.
In just 72 hours, the command center — boxed up in 12 steel cargo containers
— can be unloaded from a cargo aircraft, assembled and fully operational.
"This is state-of-the art," said Sgt. 1st Class Donald Maier,
non-commissioned officer in charge for the 3rd Army’s operations. "It’s the
brains of the operations."
The system links phone lines, digital imaging, tactical phones, fiber optics and e-mail
systems and gives commanders instant information about where their troops are located and
what they are doing.
The 3rd Army's digital
deployable command center is broken into 12 cargo containers and can be erected in 72
hours. |
"Hopefully this can help remove the fog of war," said Maj. Thomas Marshall,
who works in operations for the 3rd Army.
The operation is contained in 12 shelters, which fold out and compress like
recreational travel trailers, except they are collapsible into 8-by-8-by-20-feet steel
cargo containers. Nine of the units are used for the 3rd U.S. Army/Army Forces Central
Command, and three are used by the 513th Military Intelligence Battalion.
"The key is that from one base, you can show how everything is tied
together," said Capt. Dale Smith, one of the Army officers who help run the command
post. "It is a harmonious effort."
Bright Star is the third deployment for Lucky Main, which had its inaugural run during
a Bright Star exercise four years ago.
During the exercise, Lucky Main is used to coordinate daily briefings, follow field
maneuvers and coordinate videoconferences.
In the next few years, the technology that drives the digital command center should
allow it to do more in even less space.
"As technology improves we’re getting to get smaller, and we’re keeping
up with the technology to do that," said Maj. James Shivers.
For example, Shivers said that just four years ago the command center still used paper
maps with the locations of troops and other points of interest marked with grease pencils.
Sgt. Deborah Edwards
works in one section of Lucky Main, the digital, deployable command center used by the 3rd
Army. |
Now there are no paper maps in Lucky Main, and all the data is stored electronically.
So far Lucky Main has not been deployed into an actual combat situation, Maier said.
Part of the marvel of the deployable command post is that it is constructed so it can
be transported with much of the equipment, like video monitors, computers and office
machines, bolted in place.
Heavy-duty springs surround and cushion the fragile equipment, Maier said.
One of the most time-consuming set-up tasks, he said, is running the cables and wiring
that connect the different components and systems.
The command center has its own power, heating and cooling systems. The command post is
deployed with one 1,500-kilowatt generator and a backup that is being used during Bright
Star because the primary power source failed, Maier said.
Heat pumps are bolted into place once the trailers are erected.
One bug realized through Bright Star was the difficulty in erecting the portable
shelters on a sandy environment, which, unlike the firm ground back at the 3rd Army’s
base at Fort McPherson in Atlanta caused the portable units to shift and sink. Support
personnel used wooden blocks and planks to shore up the structures in Egypt.
Maier said now the cargo containers have to be carried by truck trailers to and from
the cargo planes. One of the next updates, he predicted, would be having the containers be
built into trucks to expedite their delivery and setup.
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