COMMENTARY
Take, for example, in electronic warfare: RCCTO partnered with the Project Manager for Electronic Warfare and Cyber (PM EW&C) within the PEO for Intel- ligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors to deliver integrated electronic warfare systems for brigade and below, and new
“phase two” systems were delivered this summer. Tose capabilities, fielded to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and 173rd Airborne Brigade, include improved performance, simplified interfaces, extended ranges and enhanced tactical mobility and survivabil- ity. After that phase two fielding, the effort is transitioning into PM EW&C with two years’ worth of Soldier training, feedback and experience.
Our Computer and Electronic Security Dominance team, which stemmed from one of RCCTO’s original focus areas in cyber, continues to work with other Army cyber programs, focusing on apply- ing innovative technology to address pressing capability gaps such as cyber- enabled counter-unmanned aerial systems. RCCTO’s Advanced Concepts and Exper- imentation (ACE) Project Office, formerly known as the Emerging Technologies Office, continues to scout and quickly transition emerging, disruptive technol- ogies such as short-range radars for active protection systems, wireless for combat platforms, and applying machine learning to electronic warfare and directed energy.
ACE, which holds quarterly “Shark Tank”-type innovation days with indus- try, serves as a quick reaction office for research and analysis, prototyping, exper- imentation and assessment of emerging technologies. It also serves as a conduit to nationwide experts in academia, indus- try, startups and other services to ensure that RCCTO is connected with those who know what technology is on the cusp of a breakthrough.
PROMOTION
Ryan D. McCarthy, then-undersecretary of the Army, hosted the promotion ceremony for the author at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, in April. Thurgood’s wife, Shauna, to whom he paid tribute during the ceremony, assisted. (Photo by Bryan Bacon, Redstone Rocket)
CONCLUSION Te Army’s No. 1 priority is readiness, followed by modernization. RCCTO enables these priorities by moving needed capabilities from the S&T community to an experimental prototype with residual combat capability to a unit of action.
Tis is a big undertaking and one that can’t be done alone. Critical to our success will be the resilient partnerships we are forming across the Army, DOD, indus- try and academia to improve the speed of technology and capability development and enable the Army’s implementation of the National Defense Strategy. As we engage in a great power competition with near-peer competitors, these criti- cal technologies must be harnessed, and harnessed in an acceptable timeframe, so
our Soldiers can defeat any adversary on the battlefield.
For more information on RCCTO,
go to ht tps : //rapidcapabilit ies
office.army.mil/.
LT. GEN. L. NEIL THURGOOD is the director of Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space and Rapid Acquisition, which includes leading RCCTO. He holds a doctorate
in strategic planning
and organizational leadership from the University of Sarasota; an M.S. in systems acquisition management from the Naval Postgraduate School; an M.S. in strategic studies from the Air University, Air War College; and a B.S. in business from the University of Utah.
https://asc.ar my.mil 113
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