They can’t rely on higher headquarters to do all of the processing and feed them a picture of what’s going on when the team is far from its own support. That’s why they’re also looking to find ways to tie in as much video feed from as many cameras and sensors as they can on a very small amount of hardware. Such small teams will have fewer support soldiers to keep them plugged into the wider area. Planners want teams to be able to get power from anywhere, the sun, wind, a car battery, plugging into generators.īut they only want to be generating it when needed, not constantly running loud, gas machines at all hours creating noise in the battlespace.
What they want, according to the presentation, are flexible, fuel-capable, soldier transportable generators that could also be dropped from the air.Īlmost as important as generating power will be managing it. Right now, they’re relying on battalion-level assets such as towed generators that are bulky and unwieldy and require additional mechanical support. Small SFAB teams will need to produce and manage their own power to run a myriad of communications and sensing systems. Mabry said that while current solutions out there can purify a lot of water, the types of purifiers that could regularly produce enough water for all of the needs of 12-soldier teams are just too heavy. SFAB task forces “do not have the organic means to cook food, purify water or take showers in austere environments,” according to the presentation. Capabilities developers such as Jackson and Mabry say that will mean simple things such as water purification will have to be considered when sending out those teams.