Ecosystem Scope: The Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) serves as a global geospatial mapping and communication framework bridging tactical units and civilian agencies.
Operational Leadership: Directed by the ERDC Geospatial Research Laboratory (GRL), consolidating core public mapping engineering profiles.
Interoperability Focus: Government-owned baseline architecture prevents standard software conflicts, locking all combined assets onto a unified operational map.
Extensible Architecture: Employs open-source protocols where viable, enabling custom plugin integrations like live telemetry video or wildfire lines.
Unified Command: Scales instantly from ground operations—such as the July 2025 Texas flood rescues—to executive presidential briefing rooms.
Editor’s Note: The following is an official operational update from the USACE Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), curated by America’s Engineers for commercial contractor and industry visibility. The original report can be found at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center official news repository.
When devastating and fatal floodwaters struck Kerr County, Texas, in July 2025, first responders did not rely on radio chatter to coordinate their rescue operations. They used a shared digital map to track efforts and hazards instantly, allowing for quick, reliable communication across multiple agencies.
Not only was that data used to facilitate emergency response and recovery efforts, but it was also used to provide updates to federal agencies and brief the President.
Originally engineered to provide global operational reach for elite special operations units, the Tactical Assault Kit began as a specialized, low-profile capability. However, today it has matured into a widely recognized and indispensable ecosystem — serving as a cornerstone of situational awareness for everyone from frontline Warfighters to domestic first responders.
U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY 1ST LT. TYLER WILLIAMS
TAK — as it is called — is a powerful geospatial mapping and mission planning software suite used by the Department of War, the Department of Homeland Security, first responders, and more.
“If you want to know where the real power of TAK lies, it isn’t just in the code we write — it is in our partner organizations, both our private and public partners.”
For those responding to the disaster in Texas, and for those across civilian agencies, TAK is known as the Team Awareness Kit, bringing state-of-the-art mapping and coordination capabilities, developed for the military, to the home front.
“That exact same operational picture was the very same digital map used to brief the President of the United States on the crisis,” said Katlyn Mityga, a team member at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Geospatial Research Laboratory and business operations lead for the TAK Product Center. “It bridges the gap between the tactical edge and the highest levels of strategic command.
“TAK is essentially a government-owned map engine and communications layer that is open-sourced wherever feasible,” she said during her appearance as a Power of ERDC podcast guest.
Managing and advancing this global software platform requires extensive technical and operational leadership. ERDC has taken a central role in guiding TAK, ensuring it remains the military’s premier geospatial tool.
In addition to ERDC, TAK is overseen by the Configuration Steering Board, which includes leaders from the U.S. Special Forces Command, organizations within the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the nation’s intelligence community and more.
“ERDC has supported the TAK mission for years, primarily through teams at GRL, where our research into mapping and spatial analysis informed the development of various tools and plugins,” Mityga said. “However, our role has evolved from providing research-based influence to providing comprehensive operational and technical leadership.”
In 2024, Nathan Frantz, a GRL geographer and team lead, was appointed as the director of the TAK Product Center, solidifying ERDC’s role in the program.
“This appointment creates a powerful technical synergy, as the TAK suite is fundamentally a geospatial mapping solution — the foundational core competency of ERDC’s Geospatial Research Laboratory,” Mityga said.
According to Mityga, maintaining this government-owned model is crucial for national security and cross-agency interoperability, avoiding any problems or conflicts of proprietary, off-the-shelf software.
“If every agency bought their own separate off-the-shelf software, we would end up with a dozen different maps that would not be able to talk to each other,” Mityga said. “Because TAK is government-owned and shares a common core, we ensure that when a joint task force spins up, everyone is instantly looking at the exact same operational picture.”
U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY SPC. SANDY VERA VAZQUEZ
While the government maintains control over this core platform, the system’s capabilities are bolstered by collaboration with private-sector software developers and vendors.
The software’s open architecture allows units and commercial industry to develop specialized plugins for specific missions, whether a Warfighter is pulling in live drone video feeds in a contested theater or a firefighter in California is tracking a wildfire line.
“If you want to know where the real power of TAK lies, it isn’t just in the code we write — it is in our partner organizations, both our private and public partners,” Mityga said. “We provide the common platform for any industry partner to develop against. TAK is fully extensible and was designed from the ground up to easily integrate and adopt commercial solutions for our Warfighters.”
To strengthen its connection with private developers, TAK hosts an annual in-person event known as the TAK Offsite, bringing together operators, developers and military leadership. This year’s event is scheduled for August in Colorado Springs.
“The intent of this event is really to foster collaboration amongst industry partners, government organizations, and our operators to maintain the relevant, responsive nature of TAK,” Mityga said. “It is a critical space for partnerships to be formed, ideas to be shared, and for organizations to leverage each other’s investments rather than duplicating effort.”
With ERDC’s geospatial and mapping expertise and refined by agency collaboration, TAK continues to adapt to ensure readiness for both military and civilian operations at home and abroad.
This article was originally published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the title, “Mapping, planning tool provides situational awareness on a global scale.”
