Aug. 31, 2012
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FORT STORY, Va. -- ERDC’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory’s (CHL) Dr. Jimmy Fowler and Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory’s (GSL) Dr. Joseph Padula recently traveled to the U.S. Army Joint Expeditionary Base, Fort Story, Va., to participate in the Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS) 2012, an annual joint exercise sponsored by the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). The exercise demonstrates the real-world capability of the Department of Defense to transport supplies from ship to shore in the absence of a viable commercial or military port.
At the request of JLOTS 2012 planners, Fowler and Padula successfully organized and coordinated delivery of two full-scale sub-components of two systems currently being developed by ERDC researchers and partners -- the Lightweight Modular Causeway System (LMCS) and the Joint Universal Causeway Interface Module (JUCIM).
The LMCS was originally developed to support and enhance smaller military vessel’s access to small/austere ports around the world. It is currently being enhanced via several design modifications and is a featured component of the Rapid Operational Access and Maneuver Support program.
The JUCIM project is a USTRANSCOM-sponsored Joint Deployment Distribution Enterprise program intended to improve their ability to provide combatant commands with a premium deployment, distribution and sustainment capability.
When successfully completed, the JUCIM project will deliver an operational prototype interface system that establishes a compatible connection between the current Army Modular Causeway System and the Navy Improved Lighterage System. More than one hundred attendees to the exercise, including USTRANSCOM commanders, were briefed on the programs.
POC: Dr. Jimmy Fowler, Jimmy.E.Fowler@usace.army.mil, Dr. Joseph Padula, Joseph.A.Padula@usace.army.mil