By Ann Roosevelt
Potential sweeping changes in defense priorities would not necessarily change the Army’s initial technology spin out of its $160 billion Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernization program.
“We will retain and accelerate the initial increment of the program to spin out technology enhancements to all combat brigades,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said April 6.
What that actually means will have to be fleshed out in the fiscal year 2010 budget specifics that will go to Congress sometime in the next few weeks.
While the FCS program as a whole–14 programs linked by a network to each other and to soldiers–has its critics, members of Congress, the Government Accountability Office personnel, and DoD leaders have visited Ft. Bliss, Texas, where the Spin Out equipment is being evaluated. Gates recommends canceling and then relaunching the vehicle portion of the FCS program, estimated to cost more than $87 billion, that were eventually to replace Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting vehicles, and other armored vehicles.
In 2005, the Army decided to push forward maturing technologies from the FCS program to benefit the current force (Defense Daily, Oct. 3, 2005). The accelerating systems were to fill current force gaps with systems specifically to improve situational awareness, survivability, and lethality with improved battle command and networking capability.
Next month, the intitial FCS Spin Out technologies will go through a Limited User Test (LUT).
The rigorous LUT will be conducted by the Army Evaluation Task Force at Ft. Bliss, where the Future Force Integration Directorate resides, synchronizing with the soldier evaluations to ensure that all the doctrine, organization, training and other parts of fielding new equipment to units goes smoothly.
The initial FCS Spin Out schedule early last summer moved to a focus on fielding equipment first to Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCT) rather than to Heavy Brigade Combat Teams originally planned (Defense Daily, June 26).
The Army’s decision was based primarily on needs statements from theater, capability assessments conducted on IBCTs as well as guidance from civilian and professional leaders to ensure the right soldiers get advanced FCS equipment as quickly as possible, the service said at the time.
IBCTs “bear the brunt” of the current conflicts, the irregular warfare fight that Gates is moving to incorporate in defense capabilities and resourcing through his reordering of priorities.
“I’m just trying to get the irregular guys to have a seat at the table and to institutionalize some of the needs that they have,” he said at the Pentagon briefing. Particularly to quickly meet their needs within the defense organization.
FCS Spin Out capabilities would greatly improve the IBCT’s ability to conduct offensive, defensive and stability operations in the types of environment they are engaged in today–what the Army calls across the full spectrum of conflict.
Those operations were delineated in the Army’ new field manual: FM 3.0 Operations released last year (Defense Daily, Feb. 29, 2008).
Spin Out capabilities are now planned to go to some 43 IBCTs in the 2011-2025 time frame.
Current Spin Out equipment includes: the Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radios (JTRS GMR), the Integrated Computer System and Battle Command software.
Additional capability includes Tactical and Urban Unattended Ground Sensors (T-UGS and U-UGS), developed by Textron [TXT], and the Non-Line of Sight Launch System (NLOS LS), developed by Netfires LLC, a Lockheed Martin [LMT]-Raytheon [RTN] joint venture.
Two other programs were accelerated as part of the package: the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV), developed by iRobot [IRBT], and the Honeywell [HON] Class 1 Unmanned Air Vehicle. The Army accelerated the two systems in January based on current technology readiness levels and positive feedback from soldiers who are using early versions of the systems in Iraq and Afghanistan. The original schedules called for formal system testing to begin in 2011 (Defense Daily, Jan. 18, 2008).
Early versions of some of the technologies, for example, iRobot’s PackBot, and the Honeywell MAV, are being used by deployed troops.