Construction Material-Based Methodology for Military Contingency Base Construction: Case Study of Dhaka, Bangladesh

To sustain itself as the world's premier land power, the Army needs the capability to support expeditionary forces by projecting a minimal basing footprint with reduced logistical burdens. Strategically sited Contingency Bases (CBs) allow the Armys expeditionary forces to rapidly respond and attack the enemy throughout the joint area of operations (JOA). Strategic conditions will be analyzed through the lens of eight OE variables political, military, economic, social, information, infrastructure, physical environment, and time (PMESII-PT). The Army has neither a well-grounded methodology nor the tools that enable this strategic decision-making capability. Decision makers require reliable information about the situational dynamics of the operational environment to anticipate the impacts that siting and operating CBs will have on the local context, and to consider the effects of the sites on the operation of CBs. This capability to anticipate CB impacts and resources draws upon knowledge gleaned from the local population and becomes particularly important for engagement operations when CBs will have a longer duration of use and interaction with the local populace. This report considers access of building materials required for the construction of CBs and develops a methodology for strategically siting CBs that can be replicated in other locations throughout the world. This work then validates the developed methodology with a case study of Dhaka, Bangladesh.