Facilitize THIS


by Mr. Scott Winter LRAS3 program blazes new path in


A


key requirement for any weapon system program is supportability. Now that many programs have reached the


sustainment phase of their expected life spans, project managers (PMs) and prod- uct managers (PdMs) would do well to consider following the model developed for sustaining the Long Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System (LRAS3).


Tat’s because, unlike when LRAS3 was procured, the government now requires that weapon systems have government long-term support facilities. Tese do not grow on trees; they are, in fact, the result of work that sometimes takes years to complete.


LRAS3 has an expected life span of 20 years, stretching costs far beyond initial procurement. Because of current sustain- ment mandates, PMs and PdMs must consider repairability and affordability early in a product’s development phase.


Tis requirement is not entirely new, but it was not always a factor. In the 1990s, at the height of efforts to overhaul Army acquisition, the norm was for programs to rely directly on the contractor to sustain a system throughout its life cycle. Now


46 Army AL&T Magazine April–June 2014 sustaining ‘core’ support capabilities


SUPPORTING SCOUTS


PFC Tyler Bonefield, left, and SGT Nicholas King, cavalry scouts in 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (6-4 CAV), Combined Task Force Duke, do security duty near Combat Outpost Khilaguy, Afghanistan, during a reconnaissance patrol Aug. 29, 2013. LRAS3 supports Army scouts by enabling them to detect, recognize, identify and geo-locate distant targets in real time. (U.S. Army photo by 1LT Charles Morgan, 6-4 CAV, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division)


that many of the programs begun dur- ing that period have reached sustainment, the particular project or product office must decide how best to manage the asso- ciated depots and long-term sustainment. Te statutory requirement


for weapon systems to have organic government


long-term support facilities reflects a strategic need to ensure that the govern- ment can repair its own equipment and not have to rely on a commercial entity, which may have


competing business


interests, to maintain critical warfight- ing capabilities. As part of a system’s


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