SEIZING THE ADVANTAGE
Capabilities Office reports to a board of directors led by the secretary of the Army and including the chief of staff and the Army acquisition executive. Te board directs the Army Rapid Capabilities Office to explore materiel solutions based on identified threats, capability gaps and technology opportunities, triggering prototyping efforts.
All decision-making authority related to the organization’s projects will flow from the board of directors to the Rapid Capabilities Office, including address- ing requirements refinement, acquisition tailoring, contracting execution, testing and potential limited fielding decisions. Tis streamlined structure is essential for the organization to meet its rapid acquisition mandate and maintain a competitive edge.
Te Army is also following the Air Force example by incorporating early and prominent warfighter involvement into the prototyping process, to ensure that materiel solutions are not only vetted by operators but also delivered to units as a holistic capability with the right support and tactics, techniques and procedures in place. In addition to having an opera- tional community presence on its staff and providing matrix support, the Army Rapid Capabilities Office will work with receiving units or their representatives to
A HIGH PRIORITY Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning speaks at a DOD ceremony June 20 at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia, welcoming him to Washington. Fanning made creating the Army Rapid Capabilities Office one of his top priorities. (Photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Tim D. Godbee, Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs)
confirm prototypes’ utility to Soldiers and to expedite the test and evaluation process.
However, the Army Rapid Capabilities Office departs from the Air Force model in several ways to meet the Army’s distinct needs. Tough technically an acquisi- tion organization, the Rapid Capabilities Office is a total Army effort that will leverage capabilities and expertise from across the service, especially the Army staff, program executive offices (PEOs), the training and doctrine community, intelligence community and science and technology community. Te Army Rapid Capabilities Office’s initial tech- nology focus will be on the areas of cyber, electronic warfare, survivability, and posi- tioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Tese capabilities—in high demand to meet current and future threats—are also cross-cutting, meaning that they affect and integrate with systems across differ- ent program portfolios. Te classification levels of rapid capability projects will vary based on need, but keeping details out of adversaries’ hands will be paramount.
Operating in stealth should not be mis- taken for operating in a vacuum. While the office’s institutional prominence and authorities are new, the concept of rapid acquisition is not. In addition to mirror- ing the Air Force organization, the Army
Rapid Capabilities Office is incorporating lessons learned through other rapid acqui- sition efforts. Tese include the quick reaction capabilities and the prototypes- turned-programs
form OIF and OEF;
exercises like the Network Integration Evaluation; and specialized entities such as
the Joint Improvised-Treat Defeat
Agency, the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force (REF) and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
THE ‘SWEET SPOT’ Another thing that makes the Army Rapid Capabilities Office unique is its focus on projects with a one- to five-year horizon for completion. Tis mission is complementary to programs of record that aim deeper into the future, as well as to the REF, which has a 180-day turnaround time. While a REF project delivers a specific piece of kit to meet the urgent operational needs of a specific forward-deployed unit, the Army Rapid Capabilities Office will provide more units with broader capability solutions, such as a family of PNT or electronic warfare technologies that deliver a com- bined operational effect.
Aiming for the one- to five-year “sweet spot” allows the Army Rapid Capabili- ties Office to concentrate on leap-ahead prototypes that will have immediate or near-term operational relevance for our
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Army AL&T Magazine October-December 2016
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