RESEARCH WITH A DIFFERENCE
academia, industry, RDECs [research, development and engineering centers] and innovation hubs becomes crucial in order to develop a comprehensive part- nership that is capable of delivering a product from a theoretical concept to a disruptive technology.
Army AL&T: How would you define “disruptive”?
Perconti: Disruptive is a term used to describe a drastic improvement to the way a technology is produced, enhanced or performs. Te improvement is so great that it disrupts the linear incremental process in the advancement of a technology.
Army AL&T: In a speech you gave to the Federal Laboratory Consortium in May, you discussed the need for early involve- ment of the warfighter, academia and industry when developing new capabili- ties. Talk about that.
Perconti: Te problems we face today are way too complex to solve either in isolation or sequentially. Early and intimate collab- oration between warfighters, large and small businesses, academia and govern- ment labs is a must in the 21st century and a major objective of the Army Futures Command. In the current global envi- ronment, we no longer are afforded years of lead time in developing new capabili- ties for the Army. By bringing all parties together early in a collaborative environ- ment, we can foster and accelerate new concepts, ideas and capabilities through an Army innovation ecosystem focused on delivering new capabilities as quickly as possible.
Army AL&T: ARL needs to respond to immediate needs from the field; to build capabilities needed in the next 10-25 years; and to look to the future for capabilities that will be required 30-50 years from
98 Army AL&T Magazine October-December 2018
now. How does the laboratory respond adequately to such a wide-ranging mission, and how does that affect the laborato- ry’s research priorities? How does the lab incorporate new strategic thinking about the way the Army of the future will fight? Talk about the long view versus quick capabilities.
Perconti: As the creators and custodi- ans for the Army’s far-term S&T, ARL’s mission is to understand and trans- late cutting-edge science into actionable knowledge that will enable future Army capabilities. Often risk of failure is high in research, because project outcomes are uncertain. However, we learn from every experiment, and we use this knowledge to reduce the uncertainty in S&T options and to identify and quantify technol- ogy risk, so that our leadership has the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions.
Army AL&T: Where do you see ARL doing its most important “revolu- tionary” work in the near term? How about the most important evolutionary
developments? Discuss incremental versus disruptive technologies.
Perconti: Disruptive innovation is our sweet spot. We seek to change the way the Army fights and wins our nation’s wars by moving trajectories of technologies off the existing path and into new directions with the potential for greater warfighting capa- bility—we want the U.S. Army to own technological surprise.
Take, for example, the Generation II Advanced Combat Helmet fielded to warfighters last spring. It’s 22 percent lighter than the legacy Advanced Combat Helmet, based on the use of ultra-high- molecular-weight polyethylene and other materials. ARL developed the manufac- turing science for this helmet as part of foundational research with academic and industry partners. ARL is working with its partners—PEO [the Program Execu- tive Office for] Soldier, NSRDEC [the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Develop- ment and Engineering Center], industry, academia—on further enhancements in helmet technology to provide greater
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