Engineering Officer

Army General Service Officers are allocated to specific roles shortly before graduation from the Royal Military College - Duntroon. The allocation of roles is based on performance during training.

The role of Engineering Officer (Engineering Corps Officer) as part of the Royal Australian Engineers Corps (RAE) is to assist in maintaining the mobility of our own forces, deny freedom of movement to the enemy, (counter-mobility), and provide general engineering support. It encompasses construction (civil), geospatial-intelligence and combat engineering.

Typical tasks of the RAE include:

Mobility Tasks. Typical mobility tasks are:

• The construction, repair and maintenance of roads, airfields and bridges
• The construction and operation of bridging equipment and ferries
• The breaching and clearing of obstacles (such as minefields)
• Unexploded bomb disposal and booby trap clearance
• The provision of terrain assessment advice

Counter Mobility Tasks. Typical counter-mobility tasks are:

• The construction of field defences and obstacles
• The execution of demolitions

General Engineering Tasks. Typical general engineering tasks are:

• The construction, repair and maintenance of facilities such as airfields, bridges, railways, ports, roads, buildings and bulk fuel installations
• The provision of essential services such as water, electric power generation and reticulation, fire fighting, sewerage, drainage and waste disposal, cold storage and air conditioning, winning of local resources, (eg timber and gravel)
• Large scale counter-surveillance and deception measures, (such as camouflage of buildings and bridges)
• Decontamination of areas attacked by nuclear, biological or chemical weapons
• Aid to the civil community

Geospatial-Intelligence. Typical geospatial-intelligence tasks include:

• Process, exploit and disseminate geospatial information from aircraft, satellites and a range of other sensors, to support the intelligence cycle
• Employ cutting edge imagery systems and software to collect, analyse, correlate and disseminate geospatial data to create timely, relevant and accurate topographical information for intelligence purposes
• Surveying, photogrammetry, cartography and printing associated with conventional topographic maps
• Provision of digital maps and other digital topographic projects required to support the following ADF systems: command, communications, intelligence, weapons, navigation, mission planning and training simulation. The provision of digital topographic support is the dominant activity for those involved in these duties

As a combat support arm, engineers are required to be able to fight in the role of infantry. Engineers are also responsible to Navy and Air Force for beach information, the construction of airfields and sea terminal facilities, and the provision of construction materials.