BACK TALK
For more news, information and articles, please go to the USAASC website at
http://asc.army.mil. Click on the Publications tab at the top of the page.
To contact the Editorial Office: Call 703-805-1034/1038 or DSN 655-1034/1038
Articles should be submitted to: DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY ARMY AL&T 9900 BELVOIR RD. FORT BELVOIR, VA 22060-5567
Email:
usarmy.belvoir.usaasc.list. usaascweb-army-alt-magazine@
mail.mil or
armyalt@gmail.com
CORRECTION An article in the October- December 2013 issue of Army AL&T (“Homing in on Savings,” Page 20) incorrectly described the systems involved in Product Manager (PdM) Radars’ conversion of a quick reaction capability (QRC) to a program of record (POR). PdM Radars, assigned to Project Manager Cruise Missile Defense Systems in Program Executive Office Missiles and Space, is producing the next-generation counter-fire target acquisition radar, the AN/TPQ-53, which will replace the legacy AN/ TPQ-36 and AN/TPQ-37 “Firefinder” radar systems by the end of 2019. A branch of the AN/TPQ-53 POR, the Enhanced AN/TPQ-36 (EQ- 36) QRC, was initially fielded in 2010 and has been saving lives in Iraq and Afghanistan ever since. PdM Radars now stands poised to retrofit the QRC systems fully into the POR configuration.
From the Editor-in-Chief I
n 2008, I was the director of communications for BAE Systems’ Mobility and Protection Systems line of business. Our business made everything from helmets to vehicle armor
and, most importantly, the Family of Medium Tac- tical Vehicles (FMTV).
Like many defense contractors, we had an exten- sive line of products with world-class capabilities, an expert workforce and cutting-edge technol- ogy. Fast forward five years and, in the case of vehicle production, the almost 1 million-square- foot FMTV manufacturing plant in Sealy, TX, is being shuttered. What will happen to the special vehicle rustproofing techniques developed there, the assembly line know-how of the workforce and the engineering expertise?
Gone. In fact, many essential capabilities and work- force skills that are crucial to our Soldiers’ decisive edge over our enemies could disappear unless we do something to protect them. And that, in a nutshell, is the focus of this issue: preserving the most essen- tial of the often highly specialized capabilities that the Army’s industrial base provides, but in an aus- tere budget environment.
Unlike in the simpler era before World War II when there was no permanent defense industry and we could switch from making plowshares to swords as the need arose, today “we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions,” just as President Dwight D. Eisenhower said in his 1961 farewell address.
However, there are limits to budgets, and the Army soon will find itself at relative peace for the first time in more than a decade with no impending wars, and limited need for many of ons and capabilities
the weap- that make our warfighters
dominant on the battlefield. Without the massive infusion of defense dollars that we’ve seen over the past 12 years, some niche companies, small
As always, if you have ideas, comments or critiques to help make the magazine better, please contact me at
armyalt@gmail.com.
Nelson McCouch III Editor-in-Chief
ii Army AL&T Magazine January–March 2014
businesses and even giant original equipment manufacturers may be at risk of going out of busi- ness, or losing so much money that it’s not worth focusing on military requirements anymore. Tus we risk losing needed military expertise.
However, not everything can be saved in this fiscally constrained environment, nor does every- thing need to be saved. Te question is, can we preserve those parts of the industrial base that we need to keep our edge—and, if so, what and how much? Are there alternatives to Army funding to support programs? Finally, can new procurement strategies, such as small business set-asides and multiyear procurements, stretch our defense pur- chasing power while ensuring financial stability for the defense industry? Te short answer to all of the above is an emphatic “Yes.”
Te Army is constantly evaluating how to preserve needed capabilities in its commercial and organic industrial base by modernizing facilities with new technology, training and plant equipment. We continue to work with the Office of the Secretary of Defense on the Sector-by-Sector, Tier-by-Tier Assessment to evaluate impacts on all defense industrial base sectors. Critical impacts within our equipment portfolios are addressed through ongo- ing and future modernization planning. Te Army is also conducting a comprehensive Combat Vehi- cle Portfolio Industrial Base Study to assess the commercial and organic combat vehicle industrial base, viable strategic alternatives and sustainment of the base in a constrained fiscal environment.
But preservation of the industrial base means more than ensuring that those businesses from which the Army buys equipment don’t have to close their doors because of a lack of sales to one of their big- gest customers. It means retaining our ability to fight, and win, our nation’s wars.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180
