S&T CIRCLES THE GLOBE
use workshops, personnel visits and exchanges, joint projects, and formal bilateral agreements to keep collaborative S&T growing worldwide.
The three RFECs are small commands, with only 70 people collectively in the international arena. Their size and loca- tions mean they can respond quickly to emerging requirements, such as iden- tifying and leveraging groundbreaking scientific research or finding technology to detect and defeat the ultra-light aircraft used by terrorists and narcotics traffickers.
The major challenge that RFECs face as small organizations is difficulty covering the world. The nations within their areas of responsibility have a wide range of S&T potential, but their national priori- ties and perspectives may not mesh with
THE S&T OF PEACEKEEPING
Delegates to the Conference of American Armies (CAA) confer at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, in June 2010, during a weeklong visit to discuss how to integrate S&T into peacekeeping and disaster relief operations throughout the Western Hemisphere. As the author noted at the time, “peacekeeping operations can change immediately into humanitarian relief-type operations or disaster recovery operations. In our Western Hemisphere and throughout the world, we’ve faced a lot of problems recently—earthquakes, bad storms, oil spills, huge rainfalls, and resulting floods— that affect just about every nation.”
those of the United States. Differences in language, etiquette, and customs can pose further challenges to cooperation.
The RDECOM International Technol- ogy Integration staff helps the RFECs overcome some of these challenges by serving as a key link in the information chain, connecting the RFECs and Army international program officers with the thousands of subject-matter experts (SMEs) at RDECOM centers and labs.
RFEC military and civilian person- nel work in International Technology Centers (ITCs) or as Field Assistance in Science and Technology (FAST) staff. FAST teams extend RDECOM’s S&T expertise to combatant commanders in the field, with advisors located at each major command who understand its
unique operational needs. They help the command evaluate capability gaps, codify urgent requirements, and reach back to RDECOM to find and exploit game- changing technologies to address these needs. FAST personnel are proven force multipliers, helping find solutions to criti- cal battlefield requirements, testing new equipment in live training exercises, and contributing to humanitarian and peace- keeping missions in theater.
DISTINCT DIFFERENCES Although their basic missions are the same, regional RFEC operations vary based on manning and the region’s maturity in S&T development, as well as nuances in cul- tural relationships and business practices.
The U.S. Army Materiel Command established RFEC Atlantic first. From its headquarters in London and offices in France and Germany, staff scientists and engineers interact with international researchers at their home institutions, fostering and maintaining relationships with an S&T community spread over 110 nations in Europe, Africa, and the former Soviet Union.
“Through ITC Atlantic, international researchers have local or regional access to the U.S. Army, and opportunity to pres- ent ideas in the form of research proposals to Army labs and centers for consider- ation and potential collaboration,” said Dr. Michael Sennett, Chief Scientist.
“The cooperative research projects that ITC Atlantic supports help promote com- mon standards for test and evaluation.”
It was this kind of partnering that led to the development of the United King- dom’s radar in World War II. “All the ITC Atlantic-supported basic research efforts have the potential to deliver the same kind of success, as all projects are endorsed and validated by RDECOM
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