The United States Air Force (USAF) does nothing by halfway measures. Over the last month, the Top Gun top brass has deployed a squadron of Smart Base initiatives, at Los Angeles and Tinker, both with Honeywell (News - Alert). Now, with the help of AT&T, the USAF is launching a pilot program at Maxwell Air Force base in Montgomery, Alabama.
According to the recent announcement, AT&T (News - Alert) is installing and integrating network-connected sensors into the everyday operations of the base, and plans to create proof of concept demonstrations of smart perimeters, gate monitoring, notifications, fleet management and more at Maxwell. The other two installations were largely concerned with energy efficiency only, so this is quite an expansion.
“Military bases function as small cities,” said Colonel Don Lewis (News - Alert), 42d Mission Support Group Commander, Maxwell Air Force Base. “And we face a lot of the same challenges municipalities face. We're excited about opportunities to explore ways to enhance our operations, conserve limited resources, and stimulate new ideas to more creatively execute our missions through the power of IoT and network connected sensors.”
AT&T said it is working with the command staff at Maxwell, representatives from Air University and other Air Force personnel to show IoT's potential.
“Our work with Maxwell Air Force Base is just the tip of the iceberg of assisting the military,” said Rocky Thurston, Air Force client EVP, AT&T Global Public Sector Solutions. “It's an honor to team with Maxwell to improve its base operations and infrastructure through IoT.”
Maxwell Air Force Base is located in Montgomery, Alabama. Its mission is critical to national security. It is the home of Air University, the Air Force’s education and leadership hub, the 908th Airlift Wing, the Business and Enterprise Systems Directorate of the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, and more than 30 tenant units.