Force protection planning is often associated with combat operations, but modern military deployments extend far beyond offensive and defensive activity. Armed forces are routinely tasked with humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations, often in complex, degraded and rapidly evolving environments.
The Force Protection Planning Tool (FPPT) is equally effective in these contexts. It provides commanders with a clear, structured way to understand damaged terrain, plan searches, manage deployed forces and maintain situational awareness when time, information and resources are limited.
Military planning in humanitarian environments
Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and floods can devastate towns and villages in minutes. Roads disappear, buildings collapse and landmarks that once defined an area are gone. For troops deploying into these environments, the challenge is not just delivering aid, but understanding what the area looked like before the disaster, what has changed and where effort should be focused first.
FPPT allows planners to load historic mapping and surface data alongside current imagery. This enables commanders to reconstruct the pre-disaster layout of an area, identify where residential buildings, schools, medical facilities or critical infrastructure once stood and prioritise searches accordingly.
This replaces rough sketches, verbal descriptions or improvised whiteboards with a clear digital representation of the environment, grounded in real data.
Search planning and grid management
Search operations are a core task during disaster relief missions. FPPT provides structured search functionality that allows commanders to divide areas into grids, allocate patrols or teams and track progress in near real time.
The approach is grounded in proven search management processes refined over many years, including methodologies used by UK Police Search Advisors (PolSAs) conducting missing person searches and defensive venue security searches. FPPT brings that discipline into the military planning space, making search activity more consistent, auditable and easier to coordinate under pressure.
Using FPPT, teams can:
· Define search grids across towns, villages or rural areas
· Allocate units to specific sectors
· Record completed, ongoing or restricted searches
· Adjust plans dynamically as new information becomes available
This ensures coverage is systematic rather than ad hoc, reducing duplication of effort and preventing areas from being missed when pressure is high.
Electronic incident management
FPPT functions as an electronic incident board, replacing the traditional whiteboard often used in operations rooms during disaster response.
Markers can be placed directly onto the map to indicate:
· Collapsed or unsafe buildings
· Medical emergencies
· Fires, flooding or environmental hazards
· Areas of concern
· Patrol routes and unit locations
These markers maintain a shared operational picture and allow commanders to see, at a glance, what is happening, where resources are committed and where priorities lie. This is particularly valuable during shift changes or when units rotate in and out of an area.
Using drones to extend reach
Unmanned aerial systems are increasingly used during disaster relief operations, not as a threat, but as an enabler. FPPT supports the integration of drone-derived information into planning and assessment.
Drones can be used to:
· Rapidly assess damage across large areas
· Identify blocked routes or isolated communities
· Support search planning by identifying likely survivor locations
· Update mapping in near real time
FPPT provides the framework to ensure drone data feeds directly into search plans, patrol tasking and incident reporting, rather than existing in isolation.
Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations
NEO missions require speed, clarity and coordination. Civilian populations must be located, moved safely and protected during extraction, often in unstable environments.
FPPT supports NEO planning by enabling commanders to:
· Identify and map civilian concentrations
· Define safe routes to assembly points
· Mark hazards, checkpoints and choke points
· Track patrols and escort teams
· Maintain a live picture of movement and progress
This reduces reliance on fragmented reporting and enables decisions to be made using a shared, accurate understanding of the situation on the ground.
Maximising limited resources
Humanitarian and evacuation missions are often conducted with limited manpower, equipment and time. FPPT helps commanders prioritise effort by showing where activity is most needed and where resources will have the greatest impact.
By applying military-grade planning discipline to humanitarian contexts, FPPT improves coordination, reduces duplication and ensures that limited resources are used effectively when they matter most.
In summary
Disaster relief and Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations demand the same disciplined planning as combat missions, often under greater uncertainty and pressure. FPPT provides commanders with the tools to understand damaged terrain, coordinate searches, manage incidents and maintain situational awareness across complex environments.
By bringing structure, clarity and proven planning processes into humanitarian operations, FPPT helps forces respond faster, operate more effectively and deliver better outcomes for both deployed personnel and affected civilian populations.
If you would like to explore this further, we would be happy to arrange a demo. Call us on +44 (0)1794 834750 or email enquiries@cunningrunning.co.uk.
Alternatively, connect with us on LinkedIn and follow the Cunning Running company page, or the LinkedIn pages of Phil Cowell or John Overend.
