ARMY AL&T
Coltman said, there is no Program of Record for Soldier protective equipment.
Coltman showed the audience a hypothetical case study of internally funded research and development: the Ultra-Lightweight Warrior. One obstacle, he noted, is that no current product description fits this equipment, which would make it difficult to develop through existing acquisition programs. Furthermore, the project spans multiple Project Management Offices, raising questions about who would be responsible for developing, testing, and procuring.
Soldier protective equipment “has become a commodity market, and a commodity market supports at best incremental improvement. We need a vision of where that needs to go,” Coltman said.
reiterated that “we have got to rebuild and rebalance the workforce.”
“Nowhere is that greater than in the contracting workforce,” he said. “We have a lot of work left to do. … We’re probably about halfway there.” Overall, “We’re much better than we were three or four years ago.”
O’Neill noted that “We don’t have the ability to compete [with the private sector] on a salary basis,” but that DOD “is a great place to get the grounding.” In government, he said, you can “turn the iceberg.”
Involving Industry Asked how industry could contribute to giving Soldiers the decisive edge, O’Neill replied: “Think more about the Soldier.” He noted the huge investments industry made in America’s nuclear deterrence. “What we need is to have conventional deterrence. We should get some real big players, revenue-wise, into the area of the Soldier.”
Representatives from industry agreed with the need for greater investment in capabilities for the dismounted Soldier, but cited obstacles to innovation in the current acquisition processes.
“We’ve got to be significantly better in size [of Soldier equipment]. We’ve got to be significantly better in power. We’ve got to be significantly better in weight. We’ve got to be significantly cheaper,” said Robert P. Birmingham, Senior Vice President, Army Programs for L-3 Sensors and Simulation Group.
However, industry is reluctant to risk investing in new capabilities with no guarantee that the investment will lead to a Program of Record.
“There’s no incentive for us to provide any technological change beyond what was called for in the solicitation,” said Joseph W. Coltman, Vice President, Protection Systems at BAE Systems, a supplier of body armor, combat helmets, and other Soldier gear to the Army. For example,
“What we have to do is ... get things developed today and out in the field tomorrow,” O’Neill said. “I want to do this on time and within budget. Everything has to be affordable. … The Army budget is not going to grow.”
Casey’s remarks are online at
http://www.army.mil/-speeches/ 2011/02/28/52575-feb-25- 2011----remarks-at-the-ausa- winter-symposium/; Dempsey’s remarks are at
http://www.army. mil/-news/2011/02/25/52438- managing-transitions-profession- highlighted-in-csa-select-speech/. Presentation slides are available at
http://crprogroup.com/ eventnotebook/.
MARGARET C. ROTH is Senior Editor of Army AL&T Magazine. She holds a B.A. in Russian language and linguistics from the University of Virginia. Roth has more than a decade of experience in writing about the Army and more than two decades’ experience in journalism and public relations.
APRIL –JUNE 2011 51
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