SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras –
Members from Joint Task Force-Bravo’s engineering directorate (J7) embarked on a week-long training from February 3 - 6, 2025 to learn about and to utilize the Automated Route Reconnaissance Kit.
The ARRK was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Reachback Operations Center to be a simple to use plug and play platform to rapidly execute mounted reconnaissance, supporting a wide range of assessments.
According to the Engineer Research and Development Center from the USACE, compared to traditional route reconnaissance techniques, soldiers and first responders can reduce time, minimize security risks and acquire quantitative data sets in order for commanders and stakeholders to make informed decisions.
There are two types of reconnaissance gathering that the ARRK helps support – air and ground. Utilizing the ARRK for air reconnaissance is extremely vital to the JTF-Bravo mission. Due to JTF-Bravo’s helicopter capabilities, the ARRK can help JTF-Bravo members recon routes and locations for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions.
“What we’re doing is capturing imagery along a pre-designated route,” said U.S. Army Capt. Wesley Beck, JTF-Bravo J7 chief of operations. “One person is controlling the camera capturing images, making sure it has GPS data correlated to those images. A second person is operating the computer with the ARRK computer program running and they're the ones that are checking to make sure the data is being collected correctly.”
Throughout the reconnaissance gathering, the computer operator is highlighting key points that may hinder travel on the route such as bridges, culverts, overpasses, narrow lanes, etc.
“One of the things that you want to assess is how are you going to get from point A to point B with logistical supplies,” Beck said. “The ARRK enables us to do that route reconnaissance really quickly and capture imagery across the entire route.”
Once reconnaissance is complete the members then process the data into a format that can be shared on Enhanced Demand Awareness. The EDA is a tactical display of information allowing the same level of understanding across different command levels and Honduran partners, enabling coordinated decision-making and achieving situational awareness.
“So the idea is you take imagery of these main supply routes that we need to know are open and can send supplies down or send teams out on,” Beck said. “We can get the imagery from the helicopter first, make sure it's safe, make sure it's good. We do that initial assessment and then we can format all the data and imagery and then put it onto EDA so that everyone can see it.”
Training and equipment like the ARRK are vital to JTF-Bravo’s many mission sets. Without a clear understanding of the area of operation commanders and local partners would be unable to make informed decisions. This enables those missions to be more fine-tuned, allowing for faster responses.