#60: Building Airfields at the Speed of Mission
About this episode
Dr. Abby Cisko discusses the development of the Airfield Mat Lightweight system to enhance airfield construction in contested environments.
In a contested environment, the ability to land, refuel and launch aircraft can determine mission success. Dr. Abby Cisko, a research mechanical engineer at ERDC’s Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, is helping modernize how U.S. Forces build and sustain expeditionary airfields in austere conditions. Legacy airfield matting systems, like the decades-old AM2, remain effective but come with significant logistical challenges. Heavy, difficult to transport, and labor intensive to install, these systems can slow deployment timelines when speed is most critical. Cisko and her team are addressing that challenge through the development of the Airfield Mat Lightweight system (AML), an alternative designed to reduce weight, improve transport efficiency, and accelerate installation while maintaining operational performance. Cisko explains how the AML system is reshaping logistics by reducing transport requirements and enabling rapid construction of parking areas, taxiways, and fighter hide pads in a matter of days. She also highlights lessons learned from a recent large-scale demonstration in Guam, where direct feedback from Warfighters helped refine both the system design and the…
More episodes of Power of ERDC
- #61: ERDC collaboration with industry is accelerating operational energy capabilities
- #59: Expedition ARCHIE: Water resilience for Arctic installations
- #58: Building Energy Resilience in the Arctic & Elsewhere
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Power of ERDC podcast page.