YOU CAN’T DRAW DOWN YOUR END STRENGTH FAST ENOUGH TO OFFSET THOSE CUTS. SO THE BRUNT OF THOSE CUTS WILL COME IN MODERNIZATION AND TRAINING ACCOUNTS.
a training developer, a materiel devel- oper, a combat developer—the better you stop doing things that are stupid, or you advance things with real potential.”
THE AGILE PROCESS At the epicenter of the Army’s adoption of a faster, more adaptive and respon- sive capability acquisition process is the semiannual Network Integration Evalua- tion (NIE) at Fort Bliss and the adjacent White Sands Missile Range, NM.
In a realistic training ground larger than Fort Bragg, NC, Fort Hood, TX, and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA, combined, the Army can evaluate materiel capabilities, organizational capa- bilities, and possibly training capabilities, Walker said, by putting them in the hands of Soldiers in a brigade operational con- text and in both wide-area security and combined arms maneuver environments.
The NIE’s potential for agility goes beyond formal tests for programs of record, Walker said. “What if you just want to look at something? … We call that a system under evaluation and determine whether or not we want to continue with it. You save a lot of time, money, and effort that way. ”
The Nett Warrior system, an integrated situational awareness tool being devel- oped by PEO Soldier for dismounted leaders’ use in combat, is a prime example of the NIE’s benefits, said COL(P) John B. Morrison Jr., Coordinator, LandWarNet/ Battle Command in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/-5/-7, during
a forum Oct. 11 titled “LandWarNet: Powering America’s Army.”
Soldier feedback on Nett Warrior dur- ing the first NIE said that it was based on the wrong requirements, Morrison said. Within two months, the Army formally revised the requirements. Two years ago, the Army would have fielded the uncor- rected version without benefit of that early Soldier feedback, Morrison said. “That’s what the NIE’s all about,” he said.
Nett Warrior is also an example of how requirements, fiscal realities, the commer- cial industry, and operational changes can converge for the betterment of Soldier equipment, said BG(P) Camille M. Nich- ols, Program Executive Officer Soldier. Speaking during a forum Oct. 11 titled
“The Squad: Foundation of the Decisive Force,” Nichols said, “We’re going to con- tinue to analyze what we’ve fielded right now and continue to shape that into the best situational awareness tool that we can get to the squad leader and above.”
“... Dialogue with industry is important throughout the process. We can’t just wait until we are looking for a particular solu- tion to begin to engage with industry,” said Donald Sando, Director, Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excel- lence, during the same forum.
Annual or semiannual engagements, such as the typical Industry Days, are not enough, Sando said. “There has to be continuous dialogue. ... Industry can not
”
only help us find the solution set that’s out there, but help us also understand
...the challenges we face.
“We may not be able to precisely tell [industry] where we are going in the future, but if we can describe the axis of modernization that we want to move to, then that allows everybody who is interested in it to spend some time and resources toward a solution,” he said.
CONCLUSION Success in the current climate is about collaboration, said LTG William N. Phil- lips, Military Deputy to the ASAALT and Director, Acquisition Career Man- agement. “We have to take advantage of every tax dollar that we get from the American public,” he said during the modernization forum. “That requires PEOs and PMs to work with the TCMs [TRADOC capability managers] and the TRADOC community, and to make sure that we get it right for our Soldiers.
“We must go into programs knowing the maturity of our systems and fill some capabilities Soldiers can use quickly, and then … incrementally build. This is about doing the right thing for Soldiers.”
MARGARET C. ROTH is the Senior Editor of Army AL&T Magazine. She holds a B.A. in Russian language and linguistics from the University of Virginia. Roth has more than a decade of experience in writing about the Army and more than two decades’ experience in journalism and public relations.
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CONFERENCE CALL
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