MAKING ACQUISITION RAPID: A PRACTITIONER’S VIEW
scratch, SOF acquisition adopted the existing Southwest Airlines Row 44 Ku-band internet solution with slight modifications to ensure connection to the necessary networks. Later, Warfighter Information Network – Tactical Increment 1 adopted this solu- tion for an initial operational capability (IOC) in the Army, calling it the Enroute Mission Command Capability (EMC2), while simultaneously taking the next step and adding Ka-band to the antenna for the full operational capability (FOC).
Tese small steps allowed the effort to build momentum and provide immediate capability to the Soldier while developing the future capability. Each of these phases (SOF capability, Army IOC capability and Army FOC capability) was two to three years long. DOD names as a primary goal of Better Buying Power (BBP) 3.0 incentivizing greater and timelier inno- vation by removing barriers to the use of commercial technology. Leveraging commercial technology can make big efforts small and small efforts fast.
Te lesson learned? Leverage other people’s developments and make your efforts small to win big.
LESSON 2: SLOW IS SMOOTH, SMOOTH IS FAST (SNIPER MAXIM) When USSOCOM initially approached the Air Force program office, the time estimate for the C-17 antenna installations was six years—a lifetime to special operations. To reduce that time- line, USSOCOM framed the effort. Instead of immediately chartering a project and standing up an integrated project team, USSOCOM went back to basics, launching a series of studies.
Te first was a network study to figure out which military or commercial airborne satellite network should be leveraged, fol- lowed by an antenna placement study to determine where on the aircraft the antenna should be located to minimize technical risk and, therefore, cost. Te approach was most aptly summed up by the deputy J-6: We were “going slow to go fast.”
Doing two studies allowed for better framing decisions to be made, which reduced the risk to the antenna and aircraft con- tractors and the government at the same time. A prototype further reduced risk, followed by a kit-proof, or operational pro- totype effort, before the full production run.
All this time, we managed the two contractors (antenna and air- craft providers), rather than putting one in charge of the other. By production time, all the risk was wrung out of the effort, which reduced costs by more than half between development and
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AIRBORNE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS A Global Response Force paratrooper uses the Army’s EMC2 for in-flight situational awareness while flying from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, in December 2015. The EMC2, or “flying command post,” improves situational awareness, command and control for airborne elements. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Lisa Beum, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division (1-82 ABN) Public Affairs).
production. Overall, the original six-year and $50 million-plus working estimate for a “give it to a prime integrator” approach was reduced to three years and just under $25 million. Effec- tively, both the budget and schedule were cut in half.
Te lessons learned? Take the time to do the brain work up front, be innovative in your approach, control the process and keep the system-level integration in-house if possible.
LESSON 3: START SMALL, BUILD ON SUCCESS For the Army’s Transportable Tactical Command Communica- tions program, which provides small satellite dishes to teams through company-sized Army units, the program office lever- aged a developmental effort from USSOCOM—the X-Band MicroSat Project (XBMS). Te XBMS project produced the first high-bandwidth, sub-one-meter X-band satellite dishes through a three-part developmental effort: a proof of concept through the Air Force Research Laboratory, followed by an open com- petition for prototypes and a production competition for those who submitted prototypes. Te total cost of development was less than $1 million and took about a year and a half. Tat three-step process resulted in the full fielding of these terminals throughout subordinate units at a little over the original tar- geted price of $50,000 per terminal.
Army AL&T Magazine
July-September 2016
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