By Ann Roosevelt
FT. BLISS, Texas–In close-hold meetings, the Army is rigorously examining options for its major multi-billion modernization program, the Future Combat Systems (FCS), an official said.
“Senior Army leaders are considering what to do about cuts and how to accelerate FCS,” Col. Gregory Martin, chief of the Director’s Initiatives Group in G-8, said during a media day where soldiers showed the FCS technologies they’ve been training with that are being evaluated for use by the current force.
Leaders are likely to announce their decisions around the end of summer.
These discussions have been ongoing for several months and include consideration of congressional cuts to the program over the past three years. Congress was asked for money to keep some things on track, but said no, Martin said. Thus, a major issue is how to “reorient the program and still come out on time.”
The fiscal year 2009 defense authorization bill recommends a $200 million cut to the administration’s $3.357 billion FCS request (Defense Daily, May 19).
By contrast, the Senate Armed Services Committee recommends funding the full FCS request. Differences will be worked out in conference committee.
Army officials earlier this year said between FY ’06 and FY ’08, the FCS program sustained $789 million in congressional cuts. The reductions triggered an Acquisition Program Baseline Schedule breach, meaning a six-month slip for major program milestones (Defense Daily, Feb. 8).
Those close hold discussions will also consider financial solutions to the issues, which could include such things as reprogramming funds.
The initial operational capability for FCS is 2015. Boeing [BA] and SAIC [SAI] manage the program for the Army.
Senior leaders are also considering any acceleration of FCS technologies. In January, the Army approved accelerating theiRobot [IRBT] Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle and the Honeywell [HON] Micro Air Vehicle (Defense Daily, Jan. 18).
“We really found we need full funding of FCS,” Martin said.
Considering the cuts, Martin said, if you cut a limb off a salamander, it grows back. Not so with a human, and cutting out pieces of FCS seriously impacts the whole system.
FCS investments offer savings in several ways, including efficiencies in production, maintenance and lifecycle costs. Increasing the numbers of infantry in an FCS Bricade Combat Team, with the added sensors, produces an order of magnitude difference in capability, he said.
Looked at another way, a current force scout platoon might be able to cover a footprint on average of 3 kilometers. The FCS platoon might have a footprint of 20 kilometers–the exact figure has not been determined.
Eventually, fewer soldiers overall would be needed, “revolutionary” in terms of savings and capability delivered,” Martin said. It would be a strategic change for the country and shift in the use of the Army’s resources because the Army would cost less than it does today.
For example, the “rockets in a box,” the Non-Line of Sight Launch System (NLOS LS) being evaluated for the current force, can reduce the numbers of armored vehicles, each weighing 20 tons to 30 tons, and costing $20 million to $30 million, would be replaced with a crew reduced from 7 to 11 soldiers to two.
Netfires LLC, a joint venture between Raytheon [RTN] and Lockheed Martin [LMT], is developing NLOS LS.
The Army Evaluation Task Force here is preparing for the Limited User Test next month of FCS technologies that are mature enough to be considered for use in the current force.