Bridgehead

Bridgehead
Diameter of city core	6 miles (9.6 km)
Diameter of kill zone	10 miles (16 km)
Width of kill zone	2 miles (3.2 km)
Access	3 land gates 2 sea gates 1 river gate
Target population	2 million (upon completion)
First seen	Avatar: The Way of Water
Last seen	Avatar: The Way of Water: The Visual Dictionary

Bridgehead, also known as Bridgehead City, is a massive, city-like base established by the Resources Development Administration near the Pandoran oceans.

It was built by AI and 3D printing, resulting in decades worth of manual labor being finished in only a year.

Meant to save humanity from extinction due to Earth dying from pollution and overpopulation, Bridgehead serves as the successor to Hell's Gate. The city is ground zero for human colonization of Pandora and the RDA's aquatic operations (Cetacean Operations).

Description

Overview map of Bridgehead.

Bridgehead is roughly the size and composition of Long Beach, California, on Earth. Protected by 19 miles (30.5 km) of defensive walls and incredible firepower, including guns and missile systems, some installed on massive concrete pylons, Bridgehead is a fortress as well as a living space.

This extraterrestrial "boom town" is under construction by countless subcontractors all eager for a cut of the profit. Bridgehead is overseen by CON-DEV (Construction-Development), a new administrative branch of the RDA that consolidates coordination of the land-development process at Bridgehead and other facilities.

Concept art of Bridgehead's 3D printing facility manufacturing a S-76 SeaDragon.

The city is equipped with a large, industrial-scale 3D printing facility that ensures that the RDA can ensure rapid acceleration of manufacturing and construction. This would also help in ensuring an even greater firepower than their prior presence on the moon.

Kill Zone

Bridgehead requires protection from the Resistance fighters (including Jake Sully's warriors, other Na'vi, and defected humans), as well as wildlife on the moon. Protecting Bridgehead is the kill zone, a strip of bare land, two miles (3.2 km) wide, between the city wall and the natural tree line. Regularly treated with herbicides and defended with automated weapons, the strip of death that was once a forest keeps Eywa and her vast network of sensors and fangs at bay.

Bridgehead Security Operations

Bridgehead Security Operations Garrison emblem.

Bridgehead is defended by its own Security Operations garrison. Reminiscent to a capital city military garrison, and sized up at least several divisions, Bridgehead Sec-Ops is trained exclusively for the internal defense of the city. The city garrison is manned by only the most battle-hardened and experienced troops and operators, who patrol Bridgehead and the city perimeter with extreme efficiency. The internal forces are also heavily equipped with some of the most well-advanced equipment, including hyper-sensitive detection systems, automated/autonomous defense systems, maritime ships, heavily armed/armored aircraft, terrestrial vehicles, and battle-worn/hardened AMP suit/variants. Its emblem is a black bird grabbing a green snake.

History

Foundation

An aerial view of Bridgehead.

Bridgehead began construction in 2168, just after the RDA returned to Pandora. Several spacecraft such as the Interstellar Vehicle Manifest Destiny, instead of remaining in lunar orbit, descended into the atmosphere and directed a stream of decelerating exhaust from their engines into the jungle near the Omatikaya clan's territory, over the Eastern Sea. The powerful energy from its engines instantly burned the forest and killed any animals within a radius of several dozen kilometers, and the burned land formed the foundation for the construction of a new city. Huge landers filled with bulldozers and AMP suits were lowered onto the glowing rubble of the jungle, removing remnants of vegetation and animal remains. Called by some the last hope for a dying Earth, Bridgehead embodies the RDA's motto: "Building Tomorrow."

Thanks to technological progress, especially the use of large-scale 3D printing technology, much of Bridgehead was erected in just one year. General Frances Ardmore mentioned that in one year, the RDA achieved as much as in the last 30 years. Much of the construction work was entrusted to assembly swarms, that is, teams of automatic construction machines like Hexbot.

Second Pandoran War

In 2170, Recom Quaritch reported to Bridgehead with a squad of eleven other recombinant soldiers. At the base, General Ardmore granted Recom Quaritch's request to hunt down and kill the Resistance leader Jake Sully, who was attacking and destroying supply lines and raiding shipments. Months later, when a possible lead to Jake's whereabouts arose, Ardmore reluctantly agreed to give Recom Quaritch use of one ship for one week; forcing the crew of a SeaDragon (operating out of Bridgehead's port) to cooperate.

Trivia

• Concept art depicts the RDA using Na'vi forced laborers to build Bridgehead's wall. However, this is later proven to have changed as hexabots, robotic cranes, and other automated/autonomous technologies are see in the film.

Gallery

Avatar: The Way of Water

Concept Art