Oakland, Alameda welcome Marine high-tech exercise

Just one week after San Francisco rebuffed a Marine Corps proposal to hold a major exercise there, two other cities have agreed to host the Marines' "Urban Warrior," which will test the use of information technology to support military operations in a city setting.

According to a spokesperson for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, Quantico, Va., the California cities of Oakland and Alameda have agreed to allow the Marines to hold a week-long military exercise focused on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and urban security.

Originally planned for San Francisco, the Marines' Urban Warrior Advanced Warfighting Experiment was put on hold temporarily last week after officials from the National Park Service and the Presidio Trust turned down the Corps' request for a permit, citing environmental and safety concerns.

"All of the experiments are intact," a spokesperson for the Warfighting Laboratory said. "We're still going to have three-block war-type operations," and all of the technology experiments involving the Experimental Combat Operations Center—a computer-assisted planning and decision-making operation—will still take place, the spokesperson said.

In addition to the four-day Urban Warrior exercise, the Corps also will hold a three-day technology exposition that will be open to the public. The event will display more than 60 technologies and weapons as well as demonstrations by Marine and Navy bands and drill teams.