AF Space
Identify changes to facilities using automated aerial, space, and other data analyses to better prioritize and allocate resources for in-depth inspections.
The DoD Engineering Enterprise currently expends an enormous amount of time and money conducting inspections on infrastructure. One especially time-consuming and risky inspection we conduct are roof inspections. One base alone, for example, has a standing ~$22M yearly contract to perform these. We are interested in capabilities that rely more on Satellite, or other aerial, imagery and less on drones.
Directly after being attacked, we are trained to conduct immediate inspections of the airfield to plot the damage and UXO (un-exploded ordinance) locations, and to provide an estimate for the time to repair to bring the Airfield back up to operations. We’re usually given a window of about 30 minutes to accomplish this task — from end ALARM RED to briefing the wing-commander. This is obviously an enormous responsibility and extremely dangerous. One can imagine how much more quickly, safely, and accurately either a drone or some other imagery capability could perform this function.
The DoD Engineering Enterprise currently expends an enormous amount of time and money conducting inspections on infrastructure. We would like to be able to identify installation facilities showing evidence of major changes from nominal (damage from storms or other natural phenomenon, that might cause leaks, downed power lines, unexploded ordinance) and nominate a prioritized list for in-depth inspection and maintenance. The capability to perform this remotely saves not only a large amount of time (getting up to and down off of roofs is very time consuming), but also saves the risks associated with performing these inspections; currently they put individuals at risk of major injury or death.