A NEW WAY OF THINKING


A NEW WAY of


The Ot tawa Treaty banning ‘dumb’ landmines caused a major capability gap in terrain shaping, area access and area denial, but it also created a massive possibility for innovation—and teamwork between government and industry. Now, ARCIC, PEO Ammunition and industry are working together to develop a capability that will go far beyond dumb.


THINKING T


by Mr. Steve Stark


he Gator Landmine Replacement (GLMR) program is, in many ways, emblematic of the kinds of tough but necessary technical challenges that the Army and DOD need to tackle in the coming years as they develop requirements for innovative new battlefield capabilities with


strategic consideration for their long-term use and ultimate disposal—in short, the entire life cycle.


Because of international restrictions on the use of landmines and the aging of the U.S. stockpile, DOD needed a better solution to replace the Gator Land- mine system, which dates to the 1980s. Right now, four teams are trying to solve that problem after a Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) study showed the feasibility and affordability of a potential technological solution. A whole new way of thinking about terrain-shaping may spin off technologies that have considerable utility in other realms.


It’s one thing to put a lot of “dumb” explosives in a field to prevent access; it’s another thing entirely to create a sophisticated system that allows access to friendly forces while denying access to enemies. But it’s just this kind of tantalizing prob- lem that technology increasingly is solving through innovation. Many times these innovators are small companies, and the Army is looking for ways to make it easier for them to do business with the government.


Along with Russia, China and other countries, the U.S. is not a signatory to the treaty officially known as the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on their Destruction, commonly known as the Ottawa Treaty. However, it has been U.S. policy during the Obama administration to hew to the treaty’s intent. Te treaty requires any anti-personnel (AP) munition to have a human-in-the-loop initiation system, which significantly impacts the effectiveness of all current mine systems in the U.S. inventory. Tat left a major capability gap. But it also created opportunity.


38


Army AL&T Magazine


January-March 2017


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