THE OTHER SNOWBALL EFFECT
CONCLUSION Continuing the philosophies that were applied to the Profiler system over the past few years, the PdM MaTIC office, in conjunction with its teammates, is taking the next step in the system’s evo- lution. Te goal is to provide the artillery community the vital weather data it needs using platform-agnostic software.
IN SYNC WITH AFATDS
The Profiler Block III, basically a software application hosted on a laptop computer, can autono- mously provide meteorological data messages to the AFATDS system upon request. Here, PFC Sedric Lakey, a fire support specialist assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division (1/1 CAV), performs tasks on AFATDS during a Mission Command Systems Integration training exercise March 5 at Fort Hood, TX. (Photo by SGT John Couffer, 1/1 CAV Public Affairs)
PdM MaTIC and its teammates antici- pate that by 2015, a program called Profiler Virtual Module (PVM) will, in many cases, remove the need for the standard Block III laptop. PVM will be a platform-agnostic system that the Army can use in whatever future Common Operating Environment it develops. Once again, early communi- cation among the PM, user and testing communities is enabling the swift tran- sition of Profiler
capability easy-to-use snowball in reverse.
Now, when AFATDS has a fire mission and needs a fire solution, it
sends a
MET data request message addressed to the Profiler laptop over the TOC LAN. Based on the request, Profiler autonomously generates and sends the required MET data back to the AFATDS terminal. Te reduced logistics footprint of the Block III configuration, along with the elimination of dedicated system manpower requirements, will further increase the O&S cost avoidance.
Ultimately, PM MaTIC and its partners from TRADOC, U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, HQDA G-8 and industry have allowed the Army to transition from a system that was very labor-intensive and demanded a large
148
footprint to a solution residing on a lap- top, a thin client or a blade server, which offers increased flexibility to support the field artillery mission and benefit the warfighter.
In addition to the collaboration among Army partners, PdM MaTIC worked hand in hand with the U.S. Marine Corps, which also uses Profiler as an inte- gral part of its AFATDS firing solution. Te Marine Corps
provided invalu-
able input and support that made these changes possible. By taking part in early discussions on the future of the Profiler system, the Marines will
also benefit
from various improvements to the system as well as the cost savings made possible by Profiler’s smaller footprint.
LTC MICHAEL PARODI is the PdM MaTIC. He holds a B.S. in business admin- istration from California State University, Sacramento and an M.S. in information management science from the University of Southern California. He is a graduate of the Army Signal Officer Basic Course; Army Signal Officer Advanced Course; and the U.S. Army Command and Gen- eral Staff Officer Course. Parodi has been a member of the Acquisition Workforce for six years.
MR. BRANDON POLLACHEK, of AASKI Technology, is the public affairs offi- cer for PEO IEW&S. He holds a B.S. in liberal and professional studies from Caze- novia College and has been writing about military systems for 14 years.
from a
logistic and financial burden to a flexible, cost-effective,
solution—a
Army AL&T Magazine
October–December 2013
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