ALL TOGETHER, NOW!
FIGURE 1 CURRENT ACQUISITION SYSTEM
Pre-concept (Including
Joint Capabilities Integration and
Development System)
Problem Identification and Definition
ALTERNATE PATHWAYS Limited Trials
Wargames, experimentation, tabletop exercises, hackathons, tech scouting, challenge competitions, etc.
Prototyping, testing and evaluation, refining, developing concept of operations, etc.
Materiel Solution Analysis
Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction
Engineering and Manufacturing Development
Production and Deployment
Sustainment and Disposal
and transition plan, while DTRA-NTD funded the prototype development.
DTRA-NTD spearheaded the rapid Decision Point
• Scale up. • Cancel. • Harvest technology and better understand operational needs. • Continue limited production.
FASTER ALTERNATIVE
This streamlined acquisition approach enabled the product team to produce the M2PRDS a year sooner than the standard approach because it freed up the team to prototype and field quickly. The approach requires early involvement of all stakeholders, as well as constant communication. (SOURCE: “Future Foundry: A New Strategic Approach to Military-Technical Advantage,” by Ben FitzGerald, Alexandra Sander and Jacqueline Parziale, Center for a New American Security, Dec. 14, 2016)
established in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016. Te Joint Product Leader for Radiologi- cal and Nuclear Defense (JPDL-RND), in collaboration with DTRA’s Research and Development Enterprise Nuclear Technologies Division (DTRA-NTD), is executing this middle tier strategy to develop and accelerate the acquisition of enhanced radiological and nuclear detec- tion and reconnaissance capabilities for the Army’s mounted forces. (See Figure 1.) Tis streamlined acquisition approach enables
JPDL-RND, assigned to the
Joint Project Manager for Guardian, to produce the M2PRDS a year sooner than
through the standard approach because it facilitates rapid prototyping and rapid fielding.
An exceptional degree of partnership made possible the design, development and testing of the detection and recon- naissance prototypes and their transition to JPDL-RND, along with the technical data packages. Specifically, the effort fea- tured the direct contributions of not only the acquisition program manager but also the combat developers, traditionally not part of a typical science and technology (S&T) project. All stakeholders took part in decisions on the design, test strategy
maturation of the M2PRDS internal point-detection sensor, a smaller and more sensitive radiation detector that resembles the currently fielded AN/VDR-2 detec- tor. Te sensor is slated for use across military ground vehicle platforms and provides vehicle crew protection through early warning of radiological-nuclear hazards. DTRA-NTD also developed an externally mounted radiological-nuclear sensor that provides vehicle crews with warning of radiological-nuclear hazards and situational awareness of threats from outside their vehicles through standoff radiological detection, threat localiza- tion, isotope identification, visualization and mapping. Tese sensors are known, respectively, as the Vehicle Integrated Platform Enhanced Radiation Detection, Indication, and Computation (VIPER RADIAC or VIPER) and the Mounted Enhanced RADIAC Long-Range Imag- ing Networkable (MERLIN) system. MERLIN has two subsystems: the MERLIN-Imager (MERLIN-I) and the MERLIN-Applique (MERLIN-A).
Te MERLIN-I and MERLIN-A sensors are complementary but operate indepen- dently of each other. Te MERLIN-I sensor, mounted on the outside of the vehicle, enables
rapid stationary stand-
off radioisotope detection and provides source location and imaging of radio- active hot spots. MERLIN-A, which consists of four sensors mounted on the corners of a vehicle, enables on-the-move
This new approach to acquisition provides a successful example of how to improve efficiency by reallocating resources from business operations and redundant testing to technology development.
52 Army AL&T Magazine April-June 2018
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