Estimating bearing capacity for opportune landing sites

In today's modern warfare, a military force requires the ability to conduct air transport operations in remote locations without making engineering preparations to the landing sites. Once a geometrically acceptable area is located from satellite imagery, adequate bearing capacity for aircraft operations needs to be assessed. Currently, there is no standard method of evaluating an Opportune Landing Site (OLS). The field techniques used on OLS were adapted from existing Air Force procedures. The capacity is analyzed based on California Bearing Ratio (CBR) criterion and number of passes for C-130 and C-17 using the Pavement-Transportation Computer Aided Structural Engineering (PCASE). The OLSs were unacceptable for heavy aircraft such as the C-17, but can support a C-130 operation, primarily during the dry season. The results may not be valid at low pass levels. However, the results provide an estimation of the OLS capability for aircraft operations based on soil strength.