REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (March 30, 2016) -- The U.S. Army Redstone Test Center recently upgraded their Forward Operating Base (FOB) Entry Control Point (ECP) Test Area in order to be classified as a large FOB configuration.
The acronym FOB may not sound unfamiliar unless you have a connection to the U.S. military, but if you've watched any recent combat movies, like 13 hours, you've seen one on camera.
A FOB is basically a small, ruggedly-constructed 'city' in which our soldiers live and work when deployed into hostile territory. The FOB includes a Post Exchange, a Commissary and any other sites needed for daily life.
Working and living in a hostile area means each FOB requires rigorous protection measures to ensure our soldiers' safety and to provide them with a place of refuge for resting and completing their mission.
The single most important safety measure is the Entry Control Point. The ECP is a system of checkpoints aimed at controlling foot and vehicle traffic entering a FOB. This mechanism consists of various entry checkpoints, blockades, gates, constant live-video-feed monitoring and more.
"Ensuring an integrated base defense at our FOB's is critical to our ability to fight and win in the complex environments we see across the world. We are extremely proud that RTC, through our fully-constructed Entry Control Point test range, can test and validate the performance of these defensive systems prior to being deployed. This facility plays a vital role in ensuring the safety and survivability of our Soldiers," said COL Patrick Mason, RTC Commander.
RTC's original FOB configuration site's groundbreaking was in 2012. The initial tests were aimed at ensuring the compatibility of inter-operable hardware and software systems and confirming their effective integration before going live 'in theater,' or at an actual deployment site.
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