Accelerating Warfighter Advantages with Tech Solutions

Soldiers can rely on advanced information and training to help them through the hazards of war, thanks to Booz Allen teams that help give the defense and intelligence community a technical edge.

Battlefield threats change constantly, requiring updates to be delivered to the field 24/7. Training must be fast yet thorough, ensuring military readiness in minimal time. Planning needs to be agile yet collaborative, creating strategic advantage for the next maneuver. How can leaders get more done in less time—with increased safety? The military turns to Booz Allen for tech that moves the mission ahead. 

Booz Allen scientists, engineers, systems developers, digital solutions experts, and other specialists develop forward-leaning solutions to give the defense and intelligence community the advantage. Each advancement we create gives us knowledge and resources to apply to the next, creating a continually evolving process while providing synergy between solutions and allowing us to develop solutions faster.

We’re energized by urgent needs. Since the U.S. sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001, for example, more than 2,000 service members died, and 60 percent of those deaths are attributed to improvised explosive devices (IEDs). By helping soldiers avoid these deadly contrivances, we’re helping save lives.

Here’s a look at just a few of the technologies and services we offer:

Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) Training: Derald Wise is a Booz Allen VR/AR expert who leads a development team creating immersive training applications for deploying soldiers. Immersive training lets soldiers practice before they experience the real thing—such as encountering an IED or employing Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Derald, a veteran himself, says that VR/AR helps soldiers “experience the same conditions and environments they’ll be operating in, and in context with how they’ll execute their missions.”

Virtual training can also help recruits master skills they’ll use in the field. For example, Airframes V/R increases the success of jumpmaster training by allowing familiarization with planes such as C-17 and C-130, integrated with views of drop zones on real-world terrain.

Virtual Planning Tool: Tabletop Commander uses immersive technology to help leaders in multiple locations visualize the execution of an Operation Order (OpOrd). After extracting key elements from a scanned OpOrd with Natural Language Processing (NLP), the tool adds data sources based on weather and location and provides satellite topology for the terrain, with the ability to link to real-time drone data.

Fabrication/Simulation: In addition to encountering potential threats in a virtual world, Fabricator William Maxcy and Lead Engineer William Dietz can replicate the real thing from pictures and other specifications of threats (IEDs, drones, etc.) that U.S. soldiers encounter. They make a copy—same materials, size, and mechanisms—in a matter of days. It’s immediately implemented into training where soldiers are taught to identify and disarm—before they ever get deployed. “As veterans ourselves, if we can impart knowledge that keeps a soldier or his or her buddy alive, that’s a good thing,” says Will.

Air Force’s Distributed Common Ground System (AF DCGS): Broadly defined as a weapons system, DCGS is an efficient, functional, and agile tool dedicated to processing and disseminating information to airmen. A cross-functional Booz Allen team is working with the Air Force to reimagine the capabilities of an international communications architecture by connecting multiple intelligence platforms. Most importantly, DCGS helps assess shifting battlefield threats—and keeps warfighters safe.