NOT QUITE REFORM, BUT IT WORKS
“By emphasizing the value of integration within our workforce, our engineers and scientists were sensitized to the value of developing with change in mind,” stated Dr. Donald A. Reago Jr., NVESD director. “Tis paid huge dividends in enabling our staff to support others with integrating emerging technologies into conventional acquisition programs.”
Te U.S. military is now integrating 3rd Gen FLIR technologies across multiple platforms, including the Stryker and the Joint Strike Fighter.
COMMERCIAL TECHNOLOGY INSERTION Organizations that recognize the value of deliberately planning for future unknown technology can take advantage of develop- ment opportunities to insert cutting-edge technologies fast enough to be operation- ally useful. Establishing frameworks for inserting commercial technology allows the military to develop solutions that can adapt rapidly in response to hybridized or near-peer threats, even within complex systems with long lead times. Tis frame- work enables acquisition to leverage areas of technology experiencing explosive growth.
For example, the global trend toward the
“internet of things” is rapidly expanding sensor development within the com- mercial landscape. For DOD to take advantage of this
trend and militarize
these capabilities on a timely schedule for the plethora of military systems using sensors, an integrated sensor architecture (ISA) is necessary to provide a framework for incorporating future sensor technolo- gies as yet unknown.
Tere is a push within DOD to establish an ISA, which involves working with commercial manufacturers and sensor developers to promote a common set of
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An organization that is aware of the need for change and its potential benefits plans for and rewards change. It can identify and adapt early to emerging challenges such as the need for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to counter anti-access and area denial requirements within the Asia-Pacific region.
protocols and standards for how the sen- sor systems communicate and network. (See “Hybrid Treats, Hybrid Tinking,” Army AL&T, January-March 2015.)
HORIZONTAL INDUSTRY INTEGRATION Horizontal integration enables the U.S. military to develop conventional, large military systems using the “best of the best” from across the entire industrial base. Traditional acquisition practices have tended to promote a vertical integra- tion framework, whereby large defense contractors develop isolated systems and component technologies with proprietary interfaces that significantly limit the abil- ity for innovation and cross-pollination from other companies and industries.
Te sensor community recently devel- oped and successfully demonstrated a horizontal integration model in the Vital Infrared
Sensor Technology Accelera-
tion (VISTA) program. (See “Breaking Barriers to Innovation,” Army AL&T, July-September 2016.)
Te model incorporated the following critical aspects:
• Engaging the user community. • Using trusted entities to share break- throughs between competitors. • Facilitating industrial buy-in.
Te key to the success of this model was in how the government organiza- tions involved saw themselves as “trusted entities,” whose primary role was to facil- itate vigorous dialogue and information exchange among all of the competing contractors. Additionally, these trusted entities used their position to distribute government-funded intellectual property across the entire industrial base.
Tis enabled a far greater number of defense contractors to participate and build on previous technical successes than a traditional, vertically integrated acqui- sition would allow. It also helped ensure the development of systems in which no single entity was the sole proprietor. Tis significantly reduced the risk that closed, proprietary systems would limit partici- pation, innovation and collaboration by other third parties in the future.
Successful programs such as VISTA, which established a new industrial base for focal planes, have demonstrated how
Army AL&T Magazine October-December 2016
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