As an enabler to the most dominant land force in the world, engineers allow maneuver forces to close with and destroy the enemy. The concept of assured mobility uses a framework to increase situational understanding and results in a greater freedom to maneuver. The assured mobility framework is a proactive thought process that extends beyond equipment and sensor capability. The framework offers a systematic approach to analyzing the available maneuver assets to assure maneuverability of the force and to eliminate the enemy's ability to impede our ability to maneuver. As defined by Army doctrine, "Assured mobility encompasses those actions that give the force commander the ability to deploy, move, and maneuver where and when he desires, without interruption or delay, to achieve the mission." This new doctrinal framework exploits superior situational understanding in order to gain an unsurpassed freedom of movement. As with the goal of transformation, the assured mobility framework is a planning process that enables the commander to see first, understand first, act first, and finish decisively. The assured mobility framework is designed to leverage information to analyze the mobility requirements of the force. As a planning tool it facilitates a staff's ability to identify "predict to detect," "detect to prevent," and "predict to prevent" linkages in developing predominate situational understanding and a marked advantage in maneuverability of the force. The nucleus of the framework is preventing the enemy from limiting friendly maneuver and protecting the force from enemy effects. This monograph will examine the required resources and integrated systems needed to provide assured mobility to the unit of action. At the core of the assured mobility framework is the need to gather and analyze key sets of data and information. Chapter 2 will outline the information and system integration requirements to provide assured mobility to the future force. Two key components of assured mobility are the retrieval of available data and analysis of information by engineer and intelligence staff elements. These actions compose the foundation of the mobility common operating picture. The true difficulty in propelling the concept into results rests in the ability of the UA staff to gather the right data and integrate it into a useful picture of the environment. Chapter 3 of this monograph will identify the personnel and equipment capabilities of the UA to provide assured mobility. Finally, this monograph will examine possible recommendations for putting the assured mobility concept into actionable information. Adopting a doctrine of assured mobility represents a fundamental change in the way mobility support is provided to maneuver forces. Designing, building, and fielding the equipment required for assured mobility may prove to be the costly, but comparatively easy step. The difficultly comes in having the right systems, experts, and organizations to transform the reams of data into a planning tool staffs use to provide predominate situational understanding and a marked advantage in maneuverability of the force. Success in assured mobility results when situational understanding prevents the enemy from limiting friendly maneuver and protect the force from enemy effects.

ADA 427370 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)