Photo by Staff Sgt. Leonard Langston Marines from Officers Candidate School and the Warfighting Lab set up the Experimental Forward Operating Base on Feb. 2 where equipment is assessed for energy efficiency, helping Marines be lighter, faster and less reliant on logistics trains.

Now at Quantico, the Experimental Forward Operating Base has opened for experimentations.

‘‘With the ExFOB, we are working to reduce the logistic needs of the warfighter,” said Brig. Gen. Robert Hedelund, the Marine Corp Warfighting Lab commander who is heading the experiment. ‘‘Aside from the ecological and cost benefits, we want units to be more efficient through reduced consumption,” he said.

When Conway saw that the 70 or so FOBs had varying power and sustainment needs, he saw opportunity.

‘‘The commandant feels strongly about this,” said Hedelund. ‘‘If we could lighten the load of these Marines and decrease the power and water needs of their forward operating bases, we’d cut down on the requirement for resupply. Fewer resupply convoys mean we get Marines off the road, keeping them safer,” he explained.

Ultimately, the four-phase experiment will evaluate existing commercial technologies, assessing their ability to produce water on site to meet Marines’ needs and increase power generation efficiency to sustain a forward operating base.

The first phase determined the baseline requirements of company-size and smaller FOBs. Though the test FOB area is smaller than a similar post in Afghanistan, the power and water use was accurately replicated.

‘‘After simulating conditions close to those in Afghanistan and running some of our current gear around the clock for a week, we gathered the data we needed for the rest of theexperiment,” said Warfighting Lab project officer Maj.Patrick Reynolds.

Phase Two, currently underway, boastsnearly 30 commercial vendors showing off their state-of-the-art wares in the areas of power, water and shelter. The Warfighting Lab will evaluate the capabilities of these currently available technologies in water production and powerefficiency during this leg of the experiment.

‘‘Commercial, off-the-shelf technologies, be they here as a part of the experiment or items we have not yet encountered, have the potential to increase the efficiency of Marine Corps forward-deployed forces, sustaining them over longer periods,” said Hedelund.

Phase Three will put the findings to the test: A Marine unit, training in real-world operations, will use the renewable technology and energy-saving techniques learned during the earlier phases.

‘‘This unit will be deploying to Afghanistan with the training and the technology from ExFOB,” said Reynolds.

The fourth and final phase will facilitatefuture science and technology efforts for the Corps by gathering data on experimental systems.

‘‘We went back and forth on this anddecided experimental technology is extremely important to this experiment and our goals,” said Reynolds. ‘‘What we term as ‘immature’ technology can potentially revolutionize the energy capabilities of our units. We expect to see some interesting gear, though it is, essentially, untested, when compared to itemscommercially available now.”

Delayed by the record snowfall that hit Quantico during February, the ExFOB was run in a large, secure area of the base. The mud and inhospitable terrain made it the idealarea to simulate conditions in Afghanistan.

‘‘ExFOB is a big team effort,” said Hedelund. ‘‘The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab is working closely with the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, the Office of NavalResearch, Marine Corps Systems Command, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office and Marine Corps Base Quantico. Everyone has participated equally. I think I can speak for all when I say it is gratifying to see us more forward. We can tackle just about any challenge when we work together.”

The Marine Corps Warfighting Labconducts concept-based experiments and integrates operational concepts with how the Corps operates and fights. Experimentscoupled with other research improve the expeditionary warfighting capabilities of theMarine Corps today and far into the future.