DONA ANA RANGE, N.M. – Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, are evaluating how motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles can help the maneuverability of soldiers during reconnaissance missions conducted in scenarios during Network Integration Evaluation 13.1.
Soldiers from 2-1 AD provide immediate feedback that allows Training and Doctrine Command to assess concepts, identify implications, and enables Army Test and Evaluation Command to assess the technical performance of materiel technologies.
Capt. William Branch, a commander for C Company, 1-6 Inf., said as far as warfighting functions are concerned, the use of motorcycles and ATVs addresses the maneuver side of the house because they allow the dismounted Soldier to get from point A to point B without any kind of fatigue.
“It leaves him ready to take the fight to the enemy when he finally gets to his location,” said Branch. “It also allows for him to move stealthily through the battlefield in the event that he is establishing an [observation post] as maybe a scout – he can infiltrate inside and outside enemy lines using his motorcycle and not be very visible audibly to the enemy.”
Soldiers said the motorcycles and ATVs are an integrated base defense mobility package that allows them to conduct reconnaissance and patrols around their perimeter to make sure it is safe.
“Once we have identified targets and have collaborated those with the systems that we have, we’re able to use the motorcycles and ATVs to go out and make contact with that enemy,” said Branch.
Pfc. Joshua Doster, a tanker with 1-6 Inf, who is one of the Soldiers testing the motor vehicles, said he feels the motorcycles and ATVs will increase the range of tasks Soldiers can perform in the area of scouting missions and area reconnaissance.
“Just being a smaller vehicle [it is] able to move under cover without the noise and the profile of a lot of these larger vehicles that we’ve been using,” said Doster.
Branch said the integrated base defense system is in Afghanistan but it’s not integrated with motorcycles and ATVs.
“The work that we’re doing here at the NIE is allowing for us to aid the soldiers that are in Afghanistan,” said Branch. “This is allowing us to establish a baseline for our tactics, techniques and standard operating procedures for how we employ these systems in a testing environment such as this one so that we can forward it to soldiers that are in Afghanistan and allow them to be successful in their operations.”