there were five concepts established for primary consideration, one of 
which was representative of the MOBS concept. Information on MOBS was 
provided to DTRC by NCEL in order to enable a briefing on the concept to 
the study group. 
e DARPA sponsored the BDM Corporation of Mc Lean, Virginia in 1988 
to perform an evaluation study of Technological Alternatives to Bases 
Overseas (TABO). The BDM study concluded with a set of prioritized 
recommendations, the first of which was for a "modularized airfield at 
sea." Soon after BDM briefed DARPA in May 1988 on the results of their 
TABO study, BDM's consultant, General Paul F. Gorman, USA, Ret., simi- 
larly briefed the Commission on the Merchant Marine and Defense. Pre- 
vious to the TABO study, General Gorman was designated as Working Group 
Chairman for the White House Commission On Integrated Long-Term Strategy 
(CILTS). The Commission's report, DISCRIMINATE DETERRENCE, including 
General Gorman's inputs, made the following significant observations: 
a. "One long-term trend unfavorable to the U.S. 
concerns our diminishing ability to gain agreement for 
timely access, including bases and overflight rights, to 
areas threatened by Soviet aggression." ... "We will 
continue to need bases to deter or defeat aggressors at 
distant points overseas." 
b. "The U.S. must develop alternatives to overseas 
bases." ..."We should not ordinarily be dependent on 
bases in defending our interests in the Third World. We 
have found it increasingly difficult, and politically 
costly, to maintain bases there." 
@e Bechtel Civil, Inc. of San Francisco, in early 1987, completed 
an extensive design study to evaluate the technical feasibility of 
floating structures suitable for aircraft operations and industrial 
uses, such as for warehousing or fishing industries. The owner is 
Kumagai Gumi Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. Specifically, the study focuses 
on the feasibility of a floating airport having 10,000 feet of runway to 
be installed in Tokyo Bay. Intended for use by commercial aircraft, the 
strip would be single-point moored in order to allow alignment with wind 
F-3 
