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The new mobile forward basing

Artificial island platforms

The super aircraft carriers of the late 20th century have declined greatly in strategic value, nowadays being mostly relegated to fixed positioning in central spots at sea as artificial island air bases where needed. A few of these have had substantial artificial atolls or docks constructed around them to supplement their functionality. (Of course, the modern plight of old aircraft carriers also means their competition now consists largely of much more economical, faster built, and more easily defended military versions of what were known in the 20th century as sea-based oil drilling platforms. To add insult to injury, these platforms may often submerge as a defense/camouflage tactic, and in some cases are even more mobile than the carriers, since they have a stealthier radar signature, and may be moved even while submerged, given sufficiently deep waters.)

The majority of combat aircraft are VTOL today (Vertical Takeoff-Or-Landing), though some STOL (Short Takeoff-Or-Landing) craft also continue to provide a useful role. Most STOLs utilize onboard rockets or directed explosives to aid abrupt landings, and airbase or carrier accelerators for launch. If STOLs find themselves forced to land somewhere lacking the appropriate accelerator launchers for them, they must either use a old fashioned lengthy runway for takeoff, or else be transported via another means to a suitable takeoff point. Some STOLs of this period are specially designed for rapid disassembly and reconstruction should they have to be transported in pieces to more accomodating facilities via VTOL craft or surface means.

The VTOLs, of course, can practically land or take off anywhere. So why are STOLs still around at all? STOL craft still offer greater maximum speeds and payloads than VTOLs overall, which can be important for many types of missions. Both military and commercial VTOLs today are proving to be the bane of helicopters, for a multitude of reasons.

The increasing use of VTOL and robotic aircraft has expanded the flexibility available for other sorts of mobile forward operating bases too. Other types of bases helping to replace traditional aircraft carriers and other, older types of forward basing (beyond the modified oil drilling platforms described above) include:

Sea towers

Though such towers have offered some intriguing possibilities for years already, recent advances in thermo-electric generation and other technologies have increased their theoretical capacities still more. Though their depth requirements can be significant, their girth remains relatively narrow, allowing them to be towed or manuevered through narrower channels than large C pads or collections of same discussed elsewhere.

These housings/bases often resemble tall sunken towers floating underwater, with their tops bobbing just above the surface as VTOL landing pads and/or boat anchorages (in some cases groups of these tower tops can grow into full-blown artificial atolls the size of small towns, with perhaps dozens or hundreds of towers dangling below such bases). The outside of the towers hold piping that, combined with internal turbines, automatically generate electricity for the complex from natural temperature variations between shallow and deep water.

One variation of the tower concept is partially or wholly submersible vessels which perform double duty as both sea-going vessels and mini-towers among these fixtures; that is, they are designed to travel the seas horizontally like a standard 20th century ship or submarine, but also sink one end to become vertical and act as a tower such as described above.

The depth differential power generation aspect of the towers works best at or near the equator, but technological advances are steadily widening their regional generation applicability.

One by-product of tower power generation is a life-beneficial cycling of nutrients in the water around them that makes them potentially excellent 'fish farms'. Thus, to some extent each tower/base can also produce much of its own crew's food, if desired.

Note the temperature differential-based power generation aspect of these towers remained relatively costly near the dawn of the 21st century. Such as over $150 million for a net 59 megawatt generating tower, circa 1994 (The Millennial Project by Marshall Savage, page 40).

However, in early designs the cost was amenable to significant reductions where the tower bases produced less power from the depth differential and more from other, more mature technologies instead.

C pads

Some pads are submersible in design if required. But in general a pad or group of pads present a dry landing and take off surface for aircraft of various sorts. Pads are often six-sided in nature to facilitate joining in groups. With enough pads rigidly joined together even conventional aircraft requiring lengthy runways can make use of them at times.

Note this offers users the means to essentially set up temporary air strips almost anywhere at sea, but for the worst circumstances of waves and storms. Self-propelled pads can gather together into a strip for anywhere from a few hours to several months, and when necessary disengage and move elsewhere.

Engineering resources would be necessary to determine what present day materials and construction techniques, and manuevering systems could provide in terms of a stable platform under various conditions of wind and wave. Keep in mind that the stress capacities of the pads' structural design and materials strength could sometimes be supplemented with computer-controlled station-keeping propulsion and internal vibration-dampening systems. The local densities of sea water surrounding a strip are also sometimes modified to reduce mechanical stresses to acceptable levels.

Improvements in technology allowing better forecasting and control over local weather have also served to benefit the functionality of C pad-based air strips/bases at sea.

There are available both pads that require towing or air dropping into position, as well as self-propelled pads. Some pads are multi-purpose in design, serving either as part of rapid deployment temporary air bases, or resupply bases for troops onshore. Individual pads can be dropped into land locked bodies of water via parachute (supplemented with deceleration rockets if need be). In some situations submerged pads are used as a 'wet' base for divers maintaining a long term presence in enemy territory. Teams can sleep inside them during the day, and do recon at night. Pads can be entered from underneath, with no need for an elaborate or time consuming air lock. A simple hatch and various anchoring devices provide any extra safety desired for times of instability.

Pads are designed in several thicknesses, depending on how much structural strength, functionality, storage space, living space, and transport weight is deemed appropriate for a given mission. Pads can be resupplied/relieved by submarine or diver teams or even just air drops which sink or dive immediately to a certain depth upon hitting the water, then emit a location signal only friendlies can hear.

Pads can incorporate a high tech fuel cell and photovoltaics, or a biological equivalent sunlight utilizing algae, to generate electricity, fuel, and/or breathable air for the submerged team. Rebreathing technology as discussed in the underground missions section would also be an option in pads. Several possibilities existed in this area as of 2002.

If the camouflaged C pads are near enough to the surface, solar cells lining the roof of the pad could generate electricity from the sun to split water into hydrogen and oxygen during the day to replenish both fuel and air supplies onboard. Pads at or near the surface might also unroll or unfold collector surfaces from all around their perimeters, like the petals of a flower-- at least where they weren't joined to other pads at the time.

If biological systems were preferred, encased mats of algae could line the roof, producing hydrogen or oxygen when directly in sunlight. This algae might be genetically engineered at some point to increase its efficiency, but even unmodified algae would be suitable for some jobs.

If the pad were too deep for sun penetration, and the risk of surface enounters was slight, a tethered and camouflaged solar collector layer might detach from the pad and rise to a suitable depth to do its job.

A transparent collector layer containing algae might not need much in the way of camouflage efforts. But in the case of photovoltaics, transparent electronics might be used to help hide them in the water.

'Self-assembling' and 'self-repairing' C-pads.

It's not always necessary to transport and deposit a fully constructed C-pad at desired locations. In some cases much less in the way of physical materials and equipment can be delivered, and the C-pad constructs itself instead.

This variation of the platforms described before use a local electrical power supply and metal mesh framework to substantially self-construct via accretion from sea water. Mineral ions like calcium carbonate dissolved in sea water bond to the metal mesh to form something like cement. Depending on the amount of electricity supplied, and the size and thickness of the structure to be built, a self-assembling C-pad may transform from a metal mesh wrapped framework to a sturdy housing in as little as a matter of weeks.

Forest canopy encampments

Plus, by the 2030s there's the ever increasing number of considerably smaller aircraft than 2002's requiring support facilities of various sorts; small robotic VTOLs and one-man VTOL suits being among them. These types of craft are usually small and enclosed enough to land even in heavily forested areas, or perhaps even on or inside the canopy camp itself.

Basically, it appears as of 2001 that some scientific and possibly hobbyist or tourist expeditions had taken to constructing large but lightweight and flexible platforms which could be lowered onto a rainforest tree canopy by balloon or helicopter to form an instant or near instant expeditionary camp, housing something like five to eighteen people for extended periods of time in the wilderness (occasional resupply via some means was assumed in those implementations).

[It might even be possible to use large manueverable parachutes to install such an encampment-- though that contingency would be the most risky and demanding of the alternatives]

The 2001 civilian-type construction was typically very similar to consumer camping tents of the time-- lightweight, water proof fabrics and netting, rope or cord tension components, and lightweight plastic or metal compression components (poles or beams). PVC piping may have been used in some instances.

I've seen some of these structures resembling great floppy wheels, or certain 1950s era space station concepts. The spoked wheel shape lays limply over the tree tops, letting the trees themselves provide foundational support. Inhabitants of the station are able to live and work inside the wheel.

In some cases it may be that these structures were transported and placed in triangular sections, and attached to one another on site to form the overall wheel shape.

Though the scientific and tourist versions of these were brightly colored for reasons of possible rescue and easy retrieval, military versions of course are typically heavily camouflaged.

Being somewhat removed from ground level helps facilitate electronic communications and sensor capacities, while being integrated with the tree tops usually puts the encampment deep into the ground clutter of enemy radars.

These stations can also be constucted mostly of materials transparent or nearly so to radar-- lightweight materials such as used in conventional camping tents and the like. More stealthy materials are substituted where needed.

There were several variations on this concept in 2002.

Another early way of docking within tree canopies via airship involved the use of tethered outriggers in the Moonshadow flying wing project.

Hyper-mobile bases

Here we're talking a truly M-O-B-I-L-E forward operating base. By that I mean a base consisting entirely of equipment, facilities, and housing that is all on wheels and/or hover cushions, and self-propelled, able to rapidly move over a wide variety of terrain in an orchestrated fashion-- and simultaneously engage in offensive or defensive actions as it does so.

Note that in its most advanced form such a hyper-mobile base could actually cycle landing and departing aircraft even while the whole base itself was on the move over land. This may sound extraordinary, but keep in mind aircraft carriers are often on the move at the same time as planes are landing and departing them as well. The same sort of computer power which enabled the extraordinary compensation for movement during precise firing for our tanks circa 1991 can be applied to managing the movements of a rolling air base on land circa the 2030s as well.

In some cases where such mobile cycling is required, VTOL aircraft may actually sit on and be securely fastened to, table-top pads situated atop one or more ground vehicles in the unique convoy. There's plenty of flexibility here, where several vehicles may join together to work as a single unit to carry a plane, or a single large vehicle bears the burden. Sophistocated computer controls manage the entire affair, including keeping the stability of the aircraft being carried at optimal levels, no matter what else may be happening at the time. Similar technology was used in the late 20th century to stabilize the guns of tanks firing on the run.

This type of hyper-mobile base utilizes quite a few mobile automated gun and missile platforms and sensor probes about its periphery at all times.

To assure the greatest possibly flexibility and mobility, such a mobile base requires virtually all its individual vehicles to possess at least some amphibious capacities so that crossing streams and lakes does not pose much problem; all are definitely all-terrain in nature; many of the vehicles (especially the largest) are often of the hovercraft type, or possess a combination of highly articulated wheel carriages and hovercraft capabilities.

Small flying robots capable of hovering in the same spot or flitting about like birds or even insects provide some air cover and extra reconnaisance capabilities to the unit. For example, these craft often spend much of their time scanning ahead of a moving base for obstacles of terrain, mines, or enemy positions.

Though every vehicle offers manual firing capabilities for contingency purposes, normally all the weapons of the entire land fleet are slaved to a central command for the group, to maximize maneuvering, killing, and defensive efficiencies. Thus, typically all vehicle mounted weapons are entirely automated in firing, allowing any personnel inside to focus on driving, intelligence gathering, communications, or other tasks.

Usually all or most of the vehicles in such a unit possess at least the option of autonomous driving. This enables the entire force's movements to be coordinated by computer in emergency manuevers, reacting much faster to changing circumstances than humans could. It also allows computers to drive vehicles in which personnel are wounded or even dead, and can not drive themselves. This is a welcome contingency to help rescue the wounded and retrieve the dead-- plus it often allows a vehicle to continue fighting at some capacity even after its human driver is incapacitated.

Such hyper-mobile bases do not suffer the burden of setting up, maintaining, and defending conventional fixed airstrips-- partly because they directly support only VTOL capable aircraft, such as helicopters and jump-jets, and small flying robots, or small reconnaisance drones easily captured in nets.

Such forces are somewhat lightly armored, as all or most elements of same usually require air drop capacity into hostile territory. That means to compensate they are fast moving, stealthy, highly manueverable, possess superior intelligence and sensing capabilities, devastating firepower, and the maximum possible self-sufficiency in terms of food, fuel, and other supplies.

Wherever possible vehicle and weapons parts, ammo, and fuel are easily interchangable across-the-board in such forces-- for cannibalization is THE usual parts supply source for this type of base. The computer mind of the convoy keeps close tabs on the mechanical and electrical status of each vehicle, and based on a complex formula of mission objectives and other priorities, maintains a list of those vehicles least important and/or already damaged or approaching immobility, and thus ripe for cannibalization.

Of course, the industrial design of these vehicles must be top notch as well, allowing them to be rapidly assembled, repaired, or took apart with a minimum of tools and personnel in the field. In some cases specialized robots (pit teams) are available to help in such tasks, and may often work even under fire so that human beings are not put at unnecessary risk.

In certain cases these vehicles may be repaired even while moving at top speed across terrain.

The mobility mechanisms of all or most of the vehicles involved are highly redundant and over-engineered, so that it requires substantial damage to any one vehicle to truly immobilize it for a significant period of time. Automated self-repair of such vehicles, even if limited only to the most vulnerable portions of its mobility capacity, are available in a few select types of these machines at this time.

As described elsewhere at least some of these vehicles possess both a hovercraft capacity and a highly articulated electric wheel carriage. Note this in itself provides a large redundancy in mobile capacities for these vehicles.

In those cases where such a hyper-mobile base must do without regular re-supply from friendlies, then wherever possible food and water are gleaned from the environment and/or recycled by the force internally-- so we're talking spacecraft-like recycling to supplement whatever can be reaped from the surroundings, or to replace external resources entirely. This and the afore-mentioned cannibalization of parts help to minimize the need for the force to carry much 'dead weight' around with them.

The optional recycling capacities will have to apply even to breathable air for vehicle crews, at least for short periods, in order to cope with possible biological attacks and (at least in some cases perhaps) fully submerged crossings of streams, lakes, and bays.

Members of such forces are trained to be highly creative and able to improvise solutions based on whatever resources are available to them, both natural and man-made.

Specially designed inverted tents are the normal way supplementary living accomodations are provided by the force. That is, when the force does settle into a fixed position somewhere, and sleeping arrangements outside the vehicles are needed, said vehicles are capable of digging trenches out underneath themselves, and reinforcing them, and the troops possess specially designed tents made to comfortably exploit these trenches, while the vehicles remain parked atop them for maximum protection.

Hatches in the bellies of the vehicles allow fast entry if necessary from the trenches.

Those individual troops equipped with their own Chariots are able to sleep in them, with the robotic Chariots themselves remaining vigilant as they sleep (see elsewhere on this page for details on Chariots).

Full-blown tracked tanks such as used in the Persian Gulf War are not usually part of such a force due to the requirements of getting it deployed so fast and stealthily into hostile territory, and the relatively high consumables required for such devices. Instead, helicopter gunships of some sort usually fill that role.

The majority of the vehicles in such a unit resemble from the outside the light armored personnal carriers common circa 2002. Only their weapons and driving controls are normally at least partly automated.

However, only a fraction of these vehicles are used as they were in 2002; others have been re-purposed and outfitted as mini-hospital cubicles, food or fuel processing centers, mobile maintenance, machine shops, and workshops, commanding officer quarters, multi-bunk sleeping quarters and storage areas, etc., etc.

Many of the vehicles share the same external appearances to make it difficult for nearby hostiles to determine the relative value of any particular vehicle to force capabilities. This homogenity in appearance and form factor also aids the force in minimizing friendly fire incidents, as well as in executing complex force-wide manuevers.

The interiors of at least some of these vehicles are marvels of compact functionality, taking many ideas from the interiors of submarines and other naval vessels, as well as cross-country commercial trucking sleeping compartments. Jump seats, tables, and sinks fold out of and into the walls, etc.. The complexity of these compartments in themselves require training of personnel to insure they can fully exploit the options available to them.

Many (not all) individual soldiers in such units possess their own vehicles; I refer to them here as "Chariots".

These personal motorized chariots allow their users convenient high speed all terrain transport, often incorporating both hovercraft functionality and highly articulated electronic wheeled suspensions, allowing speeds around 100 mph on paved roads, and substantial speeds over calm seas, lakes, and swamps, while also carrying a substantial quantity of weapons and other gear. Soldiers typically lie prone in such vehicles due to the low profile of most models and modes of operation (but other riding positions are also possible).

These compact chariots can also be configured to rapidly dig out substantial trenches/bunker pits for themselves and/or other, less protected troops they might be accompanying.

The chariots can be configured to operate remotely or autonomously, for surveillance or fighting purposes. Boasting their own superb onboard noise-cancellation technologies, the chariots can be virtually silent in movement within only yards of enemy troops. Imagine a 'smart' machine gun nest and rocket launcher which can stealthily move about a battlefield looking for enemy emplacements, and kill them when found-- without any risk whatsoever to friendly troops (if the vehicle is unoccupied). That's one use of autonomous chariots.

THE SLEEPER BASE: Just add soldiers.

Here are put into place all the support essentials for a forward base inside potential enemy territory weeks, months, or years before overt hostilities break out. This type of facility is a 'self-rising' base, capable of clearing its immediate territory of both civilians or enemy soldiers, setting up defenses to keep them out, and creating an inviting environment for its owner to drop in soldiers (and any additional equipment desired).

At first glance, it would appear that there's plenty of non-lethal and temporary measures the sleeper base could use to spur voluntary evacuation of its surrounding area. Unfortunately, the typical non-lethal area denial measures of 2002 and later were usually meant for overt use by military or police forces to quell public disturbances-- and so there was little of a stealthy or covert aspect to them. Thus, those non-lethal methods were often of limited usefulness to a sleeper base, where the owner might want to disguise or confuse the nature of the base itself, and the identity of its creator, for as long as possible.

Therefore, the area denial techniques built into such bases needed to mimic natural repulsive elements where possible, with generic industrial materials perhaps being used for supplementary purposes in prompting voluntary evacuations of the area. Whatever denial measures are used must also be readily dispersed or nullified to avoid annoying the base's own troops when they arrive, or be of a type friendly troops are prepared to easily deal with in terms of training and equipment.

The science of human ergonomics and the profession of industrial engineering provided ready sources of ideas for what natural and man-made conditions might be conducive to encouraging people to evacuate a given area forthwith. Note that ergonomics and industrial engineering typically seek out ways to maximize human efficiency and comfort in a given situation-- but that also must needs include knowledge of what things will minimize human efficiency and comfort. For instance, awful but non-injurious odors can be a pretty dependable means to evacuate an area under many circumstances.

As this subject in itself (stealthy, non-lethal, rapid area evacuation/denial) can become quite involved and complex, I will not pursue it here, but merely note the possible usefulness of such techniques for a sleeper base.

Ideally, the active elements of a sleeper base are robots-- sort of an automated 'SeaBees' team. But until and before such widespread robotization became practical a multitude of other aids were available, such as simpler automation mechanisms or local friendly sleeper personnel, to facilitate the unfolding of the base when activation was desired.

But there's three major problems with sleeper bases:

(One); How does the owner effectively stock a base which might not see action for years-- and do so in ways that wouldn't necessarily identify them to their enemy, or aid the enemy's intelligence and capabilities in other ways, if the base were found in its hibernating state?

(Two): How does the owner transport and install even the compact 'folded' version of a sleeper base into potential enemy territory without detection?

(Three): How does the owner maintain the secrecy of the base in enemy territory until it's needed?

Possible Solutions:

Problem one solution: Long term stocking of a sleeper base in ways which would deny hostiles intelligence or capability gains from their discovery.

NOTE: Several techniques for disguising equipment or otherwise denying it to hostiles are described elsewhere in regards to disposable weapons. END NOTE.

Designers of sleeper bases might enjoy less strenuous requirements in how they stock underground and underwater sleeper bases, as opposed to above ground bases.

In general, wherever the stocks' useful composition and form factor could be matched to normal local appearances without detracting from the base's mission goals and requirements, such a matching should be done. This would allow a chance discovery of the materials to raise less of an alarm for locals, as there'd be little indication of foreign intrusion. Certain types of food, water, and fuel storage, as well as basic construction materials, might be well suited to this disguise method. At worst such items might be stolen and consumed if discovered; it's doubtful they would set off a military alert against foreign invasion.

Note that to expedite the special transport and handling such supplies might require however, custom containers and related materials might be required which would be much tougher to disguise. Some of these might be disguised or disposed of via methods detailed in the disposable weapons section. Others might be made of tasty, edible, and smelly stuff which would attract various vermin or domesticated animals to quickly consume them after they were discarded a safe distance from the location of the base.

Edible items would also likely be rapidly biodegradeable, even if no animals were available to consume them.

Making sure these extraneous packing materials were also of suitable camouflage patterns for the local conditions would be advisable too, to disguise them while their deterioration process was underway.

Note that all electrical equipment in such a base should be 'hardened' against electro-magnetic pulses, both because EMP might be used to help get the base installed (as described elsewhere), and because the base may be expected to remain valuable and hidden for years in enemy territory, which during the 21st century may be prone to suffering nearby nuclear or other large detonations and electro-magnetic emissions of one sort or another, even if only for testing or construction purposes. It's also possible that hostiles will at some point try to disable the highly automated base with EMP after its unfolding.

Problem two solution: Transporting/setting up compact sleeper bases in hostile territory without detection.

NOTE: Many of the design and logistical obstacles to transporting and constructing an underground sleeper base are dealt with elsewhere on this page, in the subterranean mission section. END NOTE.

Underwater bases may be set up via already established special and covert operations methods, in combination with new base facilities, such as the C pad or Sea towers described elsewhere in this document.

Use of stealth technology and various electronic countermeasures, in addition to existing special and covert operations methods, could help in the transport and set up of many types of sleeper bases.

If necessary an EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) might be set off to temporarily disable enemy electronic surveillance measures to get a sleeper base into their territory and/or set up. It may be such an EMP could be designed to closely resemble the powerful explosion of a natural meteor entering the atmosphere, rather than a man-made device. If the blast was performed at night, high in the atmosphere, and was visually and audibly spectacular, it could also serve as a local audio-visual distraction to hostile personnel too, as the base was brought in and installed in the vicinity. To be on the safe side, users would want such a device to have been positioned in space long before it was needed, so it would be tough to connect any recent Earthside launch with the EMP blast in hostile territory.

Other items which might facilitate rapid landing and installation of sleeper bases could include transport balloons transparent to or absorbing of radar, which detach and float steeply into the upper atmosphere afterwards, as well as the 'bouncing ball' technique used by NASA for at least one unmanned Mars landing; the lander inflated large balloons all around itself to absorb the shock of a hard landing on Mars. Once the craft had come to rest the balloons were deflated, and the craft unfolded to perform its mission. In this can be seen a tiny version of a potential sleeper base deployment.

Problem three solution: Maintaining base secrecy and security in enemy territory over the long term (assuming the transport and installation went unnoticed by hostiles).

Underground and underwater sleeper bases would likely offer considerable advantages in long term security and secrecy, compared to other types of sleeper bases. Neither would require the level of concealment efforts that a sleeper base in the conventional surface location would.

So let us focus upon the most difficult type of sleeper base here-- the conventional surface location. How could the secrecy and security of such an installation be maintained over the long term?

The simple lack of any base personnel or activity would help quite a bit. Location in an uninhabited, and inhospitable area would help too. Conventional camouflage techniques used for decades or longer would aid us somewhat.

Heavy cargo containers which resembled large natural rocks, and weathered well, could conceivably sit undiscovered and unmolested in many regions, right out in the open, for years. If placed on the bottom of lakes, rivers, or other bodies of water, they might sit undisturbed for decades. Combining such containers with camouflage patterned, biodegradable/edible parachutes, fittings, and exterior shock absorbing materials would cause the less subtle clues to its manmade nature to be quickly removed from the scene by natural climate and animal life-- at least in most locations/circumstances. Making sure all the disposable materials exude an appetizing smell for animal life would accelerate the process.

Novel construction methods might aid in the easy and rapid transport, installation, and later unfolding of a sleeper base.

For instance, what if (during base unfoldment) substantial buildings could be rapidly constructed in one of these ways?

Jiffy Pop housings

A. Inflate hemispherical balloons onsite, perhaps throw some suitable strong but lightweight webbing or mesh strips over them for additional reinforcement purposes, then spray on one or more layers of a liquid agent which will rapidly harden into a rigid, insulating shell over the balloon's supporting structure.

B. Depending on various details of your construction technique this housing may be complete after drying/hardening, or you might later deflate and remove the balloon inside to finish the operation and begin another.

Pipe and netting frames

A. Dig up and/or unpack lightweight piping, joints, fast drying glue, and rolls of strong synthetic cord and fine netting.

B. Install ground anchors where a building is desired (small muffled explosive charges might be used to rapidly drive the installation of these anchors).

C. Assemble the components from A into the skeleton of a one story, one to several room housing. Some of the piping could be routed to serve plumbing or electrical/optical conduit purposes. Attach the bottom of the framework to the ground anchors where appropriate. Various matting might be applied/unrolled to provide servicable flooring.

D. Drape the fine netting as desired over the structure to form net walls, roofing, doors, etc. Note that the cord could be tied to the piping at regular intervals to provide interim support to the netting draped after it, to keep the netting from drooping too much in spots.

E. Attach pumps and hoses to large bladders buried underground (or otherwise available) in the vicinity, and begin dousing the netted frameworks with a liquid which hardens/expands rapidly on contact with air, quickly making the netted structures weather-proof, rigid, and insulated. If window areas of the netting were treated with non-adhering agents prior to dousing, the hardened goop could be easily removed from the net windows, and a different, transparent, fast drying liquid medium applied in its stead. Electrical cabling and/or optical fibers could be run through the embedded pipe conduits, and they and the embedded plumbing hooked up to external utilities.

Note that all housings so built will be constructed according to detailed plans, and preferably practiced many times by the personnel involved prior to actual deployment.

Large, tough bladders filled with the constituent fluids required to perform the rapid construction could have previously been stored either on river or lake bottoms, just offshore of beaches, or under the shifting sands of deserts, or in natural or man-made subterranean spaces, when the hibernating sleeper base was first put into place. Depending on the circumstances, such bladders might be delivered and placed already filled, or delivered empty and filled afterwards, in a separate operation.

Add heat to enlarge compressed frameworks

Another alternative construction measure would be compressed component housing, where the piping, cords, and netting of one above scheme are replaced by items of a compressible solid, which can be crushed to a size only 25% of normal, then heated to expand to original size and shape once in place. Then the hardening liquid described before could be sprayed over them to provide additional rigidity and insulation capacities.

Local sand, bags, and barbed wire

Still another construction method might consist of utilizing a technique under consideration for construction projects on the Moon or Mars (you can't get much more forward, mobile, and resource constrained in regards to establishing a workable base than that).

The method, called "superadobe", would involve something similar to packing sandbags with local sand and piling them into rows forming walls, with barbed wire laid inbetween the rows for reinforcement and cohesion of the bags.

Ceramic housing from local mud

Another method called "geltaftan" might be adapted to our purposes here to use plain local mud for the liquid agent written about above, sprayed or painted over a metal or ceramic dome framework and one or more layers of metal mesh, which would then be baked in place over a matter of days by hot burners placed inside, to result in tough ceramic habitats.

One advantage to methods like superadobe and geltaftan is that they might not look threatening or unusual in themselves to locals, or offer much information about the builders.

OTHER POSSIBLY RELEVANT CONSIDERATIONS FOR MOBILE FORWARD OPERATIONS BASING:

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