Culturally Aware Routing and Risk Management Application (CARRMA)

Attacks against land-based convoys have become one of the defining characteristics of Operation Iraqi Freedom, with ambushes by snipers and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) accounting for an enormous proportion of U.S. casualties. The vulnerability of convoys has been exacerbated by several factors. For one, there is the nonlinear nature of the battlespace in Iraq: Unlike conflicts between conventional forces, there is no rear area in which supply operations are relatively safe from attack. Indeed, even among individual Iraqi citizens, feelings about the presence of coalition forces are mixed and subject to change as political and economic conditions shift. Thus, a given neighborhood or tribe might be considered as predominantly pro-American at one time, but subsequently viewed as less tolerant of the presence of coalition forces. To complement phase-in of the MRAP, we believe it is technically feasible to design a system designed to reduce the likelihood of ambush in the first place. One capability of this system will be to plan and adaptively manage convoy routes.