seems to be learning the lessons of past failures in its restructuring of new vehicle programs and its novel approach to the Network Integration Evaluation.
In the case of the vehicles, requirements have been scaled back to promote afford- ability, and in the case of the network evaluation, the service is allowing testing results rather than fashionable ideas to drive its decisions. Acquisition personnel need to pay closer attention to whether the terms they are offering industry pro- vide adequate incentives to sign on, but the way the service is approaching recent modernization initiatives suggests that a learning process has occurred.
Fortunately, the aviation part of the mod- ernization agenda has not been severely
impacted by past mistakes, since Apache, Black Hawk, Chinook, and Kiowa still have a lot of life in them. Incremental improvements look like the wave of the future when it comes to the helicopter fleet. But the ground vehicle and tacti- cal communications components of the modernization plan will be in recovery mode for a long, long time.
With the availability of weapons funds likely to plummet in the years ahead, it is crucial that Army planners settle on a handful of core requirements and pro- grams for the future force and stick with them, the same way the service did with the Big Five after Vietnam. The time for big ideas is over in Army acquisition, and the key values going forward should be discipline and rigor. Hopefully the
winding down of overseas wars will make it easier for the service to focus on what’s left of its long-term modernization pro- gram in the years ahead.
Thompson’s first article on this topic, “How The Army Missed Its Chance To Modernize,” appeared in Forbes Magazine in Septem- ber 2011. Read the article here: http://www.
forbes.com/sites/beltway/2011/09/27/how- the-army-missed-its-chance-to-modernize.
DR. LOREN B. THOMPSON is Chief Operating Officer of the nonprofit Lexing- ton Institute and CEO of Source Associates, a for-profit consultancy. Thompson holds a B.S. in political science from Northeastern University, and master’s and doctoral degrees in government from Georgetown University.
AWARD-WINNING SUPPORT
The U.S. Army Acquisition Center (USAASC) won three awards in the 2011 MarCom Awards program, including one platinum award, the competition’s highest honor.
The Platinum Award went to Army AL&T Magazine in the Magazine/Government category.
The Gold Award went to Army AL&T Magazine in the Design (Print)/Magazine Cover category.
An Honorable Mention went to the Access AL&T online news service in the External Newsletter/Government category.
The MarCom Awards are an international competition, judged by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals, to recognize outstanding creative achievement by marketing and communication professionals. More than 6,000 entries from across the world were submitted this year, with winners selected from more than 200 categories in seven forms of media.
USAASC’s publications are available online at
http://asc.army.mil.
ASC.ARMY.MIL 147
COMMENTARY
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