START THE FIRE


by creating new organizational constructs and processes to maintain, or in some areas regain, operational overmatch.


Tese efforts indicate that the Army is attempting to move beyond identifying and clarifying the modernization problem to actually address it by leveraging mod- ernization. It is one thing to announce change, claim its importance or provide top-level guidance to “innovate.” It is quite another matter to fund, educate and build organizational teams working in an environment that can make innovation a reality—and provide the U.S. Army the advantage in deterring, shaping or win- ning any conflict.


THE SPARK: OVERTURN THE INDUSTRIAL AGE MODEL Te Army modernization problem is clear. Te major weapon systems developed in the 1970s and fielded in the 1980s are marking four decades in service, with dozens of upgrades and strapped-on fixes to maintain operational readiness and provide incremental, evolutionary improvements. During the past decade, near-peer competitors have worked to close the gap in our systems’ current advantages. As McCarthy wrote in a mod- ernization priorities memo in October, the consequence of this modernization problem is the Army’s loss of competitive advantage against emerging threats, com- petitors and adversaries.


Senior leaders trace the current modern- ization model to the Industrial Age, and cite the need to reform processes that are slow, overly bureaucratic and stove- piped. Tis top-level problem has three distinct parts: requirements generation, technology integration and improvement of acquisition processes. Te challenge is well-framed and understood, serving as the spark to leverage innovation as a solution.


250 Army AL&T Magazine


ACQUISITION MISSTEP


The Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle was part of the canceled Future Combat Systems (FCS). The overly ambitious FCS program was intended to usher in a new generation of capabilities, but in a major blow for Army acquisition, DOD canceled the program in 2009. After FCS, the Army acquisition enterprise preferred incremental improvements to existing systems over risky, large-scale innovation. (U.S. Army photo)


So what does it mean to innovate? Web- ster’s Dictionary describes innovation as “a new idea, device, or method, or the act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods,” but it can be further broken down into two categories: evo- lutionary and revolutionary innovation.


January - March 2018


Evolutionary innovation is synonymous with incremental change, which builds upon known products or capabilities. It is relatively low-risk with predictable and advantageous


outcomes. Revolutionary


innovation involves breakthroughs that address problems from a completely new


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