From the Editor-in-Chief T
he Industrial Base. What is it and why is it impor- tant, not only to the Army, but also to the nation? Regular readers surely know this (you’d better), but you can’t just go to the store and buy a tank
or missiles, secure communications gear, attack helicopters or myriad other weapons. Hence, we have an industrial base to make the things that nobody else can make.
To create this “arsenal of democracy,” as some have called it, the government also created an organic national defense industrial base that provides services and goods different from those produced by the commercial industrial base. Te vision, according to Army Regulation 700-90 “Army Industrial Base Process,” is to create “a complementary and synergistic indus- trial base (commercial-owned and government-owned) that has the capability and capacity to satisfy the joint warfighter’s materiel requirements in peacetime, wartime and during national emergencies.”
As the vision states, the government is not in competition with commercial industry. Pieces of our systems do use what they call commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products, but not whole weapons systems. Te problem with using purely commercial equipment in military operations is that commercial items are simply not designed to operate in such a complex and harsh environment as the military often finds itself. Normal prod- ucts aren’t necessarily designed to be rugged, weatherproof or “hardened” against electro-magnetic radiation encountered in a battlespace. Plus, building products to such demanding criteria is simply cost prohibitive. No company in the world would build a fleet of products hoping they guessed right about what the military needs and the associated specifications. Tey would go out of business—and quickly!
No, almost everything the Army uses has components or subsystems that have been custom designed and built for specific military needs, using COTS products and partnering with commercial industry where ever possible. Where there is no industry for a particular item, the Army creates a depot, arsenal or ammunition plant—either a government-owned and government-operated facility or a government-owned and contractor-operated facility—to create, maintain and update the unique products it needs.
Because the Army provides the largest range of services resulting from its capabilities
scope of (ammunition,
communications, land vehi- cles), and supports other branches of the military, it should come as no surprise that the Army has the most facilities of all the services, almost 30 at last count, across the United States. Te Army supports Air Force ground-based communi- cations and electronics repair; ground and air missile systems for the Navy, Air Force and Army; Marine Corps tracked vehicles; and is the single largest producer of small arms ammunition for the U.S. armed forces at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri.
Email Nelson McCouch III @
armyalt@mail.mil
To see some of the facilities in action, and find out what they are working on, go to Army Material Command’s Industrial Base Web Portal at
https://ibwebportal.ria.army.mil/. But for now, to see what our Army Acquisition Workforce profession- als are doing, look for the article “Modernizing Partnerships” (Page 14) from the U.S. Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office.
Find out how its streamlined approach to rapid prototyping is evolving partnerships with industry and accelerating develop- ment and delivery of needed systems. COVID-19 ain’t slowing down defense! Discover what numerous companies have done to maintain safety and the manufacturing pace, even during these trying times, in “On a Dime” (Page 134). While we frequently focus on large corporations, many components and unique products come from small businesses. However, work- ing with the Army isn’t always easy. Learn what changes small business executives say are needed in the acquisition process to help them help us in “Small Business Perspective” (Page 8).
As always, if you have a suggestion for a story, comments or want to contribute to the magazine, please drop us a line at
ArmyALT@mail.mil. We look forward to hearing from you.
Nelson McCouch III Editor-in-Chief
https://asc.ar my.mil 3
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