Army Equipment Modernization: Preparing to Deliver Future Decisive Capabilities..........Equipping the U.S. Army is a tremendously complex endeavor. While we often focus on some of the endemic challenges it carries - cost and schedule risks, lack of flexibility due to prolix regulation and funding instability - it is worthwhile to note that we continue to succeed in fielding the best equipped Army in the world, by any margin. Our ongoing success over the course of two centuries is grounded in two overriding principles: a paramount commitment to the soldier's safety and mission success, and an uncommon ability to adapt to change. The latter principle recognizes that Army modernization consists of more than a set of upgraded weapon systems; it reflects a perspective embracing adaptation and change in response to threats. As we look ahead to the next era of Army equipping modernization, the only known certainty is that such adaptation will again prove critical.
https://www.militaryaerospace.com/news/2012/10/15/army-equipment-modernization-preparing-to-deliver-future-decisive-capabilities.html
Change is What the Army Does
Consider that as recently as 12 years ago, at the start of the 21st century, the Army found itself in the initial stages of transformation to a restructured force. Not a single mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) or double-V hull Stryker vehicle had yet been fielded, and the state of available technology would have precluded a Network Integration Exercise from forming such a valuable part of our processes. As we began combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army essentially went to war with the equipment we had: systems designed to fight large land battles during the Cold War. Few military planners or strategists could have adequately predicted that our investments would shift so rapidly to armored vehicles and other enhanced force protection efforts, including counter-improvised explosive devices.
The need for new technologies to solve unforeseen threats and problems unleashed a wave of innovation and creative strategy designed to meet the pressing need for change. The aforementioned MRAP vehicles and MRAP All-Terrain Vehicles were delivered in 12 and 15 months, respectively; both were engineered to improve soldier protection and capability. The combat-proven, blast-deflecting Stryker double-V hull was only a drawing in 2010. Today, there are more than 300 systems saving soldiers' lives in Afghanistan. In addition, unmanned aircraft systems changed how we fight by providing our commanders with highly accurate intelligence, surveillance and target acquisition data. We also focused on other innovations such as pelvic protection gear and state-of-the-art flame-resistant uniforms to safeguard our soldiers.
The strategic landscape, as it always does, continues to evolve. The Army is already preparing for the end of combat operations in Afghanistan and adapting to strategic planning guidance calling for a greater focus on the AsiaPacific region and greater emphasis on responses to sophisticated, technologically proficient threats. This calls for a well-equipped, technologically enabled Army prepared with cutting-edge intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities that is also prepared to respond to cyber intrusion and electronic warfare threats, among others. While we succeeded in rapidly meeting the dangerous threats inherent in ongoing counterinsurgency operations started in the last decade, the threat remains. We cannot afford to begin the process of changing to meet future challenges once they are already upon us. This next wave of modernization must begin now.
Enduring Lessons from the Past Decade
As an initial step, the Army must recognize the enduring value of certain lessons from the last decade of combat as it prepares for future change. The rapidly accelerating pace of technologies incorporated into our interdependent systems demands unprecedented agility that calls for redefining the public-private partnership to use the best outcomes of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) innovation and government investment. We have learned that the commercial market can succeed in delivering cutting-edge solutions for Army requirements given the opportunity. Moving forward, we simply cannot afford the time and cost involved in developing capabilities that a commercial market already provides. The defense industry has proven itself consistently resilient and capable of adapting to changes in missions and needed capabilities when given the opportunity.
Whether capabilities are acquired through COTS or Army development, we have also learned that system interoperability is more crucial than ever. The true value of the Network Integration Exercise is its ability to demonstrate the challenges brought by integrating multiple technologies that must intemperate on a joint battlefield. In addition, the Army has taken significant steps toward developing a common operating environment - a set of standards, technical architectures and policies designed to ensure that ongoing modernization efforts maintain needed interoperability and further enhance the capability the Army delivers to soldiers, now and in the future. We can be certain that technology will develop in unforeseen and unpredictable ways. The interdependence of our systems will warrant increased attention in the future.
Similarly, we learned that the Army can benefit from increased use of modeling and simulation in the development and testing of weapon systems. As our budget realities present funding constraints, there is a real need for processes that save both time and money in expediting the fielding of needed equipment. Increased reliance on high-fidelity modeling and simulation technology can shorten development schedules by eliminating unnecessary testing and reduce sustainment costs by enabling realistic training for soldiers responsible for maintaining weapon systems. These and other lessons from the past decade of combat are integral to our future equipping efforts, regardless of the threat.
Preparing to Meet Unforeseen Challenges
Since 9/11, the Army adapted many of its processes to meet the exigencies of the past decade. Now, as we prepare to depart Afghanistan, the challenge will be to quickly develop new processes and revise existing ones to meet the next wave of challenges. In the area of equipment modernization, the Army must initiate a comprehensive investment strategy that allows us to make short-term decisions based on long-term objectives. The development of modernization plans and programs based on what we can spend against what we need was appropriate in the middle of two major combat operations, but such an approach is ill-suited as a means to prepare the Army for the unknown future. Our modernization choices must be deliberate and focused. We need to implement a strategic approach to modernization that includes an awareness of existing and potential gaps and seams, an understanding of peer nation capabilities, knowledge of state-of-the-art commercial, academic, and government research, as well as a clear understanding of competing needs for limited resources.
This approach must ensure that our investment decisions - whether in science and technology (S&T) research or formal programs of record - are continuously refined to address ongoing challenges, changes and discoveries. Army S&T investments must be carefully harnessed to maximize our technological advantage in future conflicts. This requires a sober assessment of emerging threats against current capabilities, analysis and consensus on future mission sets, and critical enabling technologies needed to maintain our leading advantage. The Army cannot afford to ever lose its technological advantage. The Army's S&T investment process must become proficient at identifying important areas of Army research needed to provide future capabilities.
Over the past year, the Army has begun a comprehensive assessment of these current and needed capabilities across all mission portfolios. Our investments today must translate to capabilities we successfully field to the Army of the future. Of course, all of these decision-making processes must keep pace with our national strategy and evolving threats.
In the final analysis, a period of change to a new set of challenges is upon us. Our ongoing success in equipping the Army as successfully as we have in the past will depend on our current efforts to discern and prepare for the future. I am, however, confident that we will succeed. We cannot afford to fail. As Dwight Eisenhower once noted, "Neither a wise man or a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him."
SIDEBAR
Two variants ofmine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles operated by the 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team return to Camp Spann from a patrol in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province. The urgent demand for MRAPs required the Army to field as many as it could of different makes and types within a year.
SIDEBAR
CW2 Dylan Ferguson, a brigade aviation element officer with 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, launches a Puma unmanned aerial vehicle in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, in June. Drones, which perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions for troops on the ground, are in high demand.
By Heidi Shyu
Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army
(Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) and Army Acquisition Executive
Heidi Shyu, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology and principal deputy - the latter a position to which she was appointed in November 2010. Her previous experience includes roles supporting Raytheon Company, Litton Industries, Northrop Grumman Corporation and Hughes Aircraft Company. A graduate of the University of New Brunswick, Canada, she has master's degrees in mathematics from the University of Toronto and in electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.