ARMY AL&T
THE MAKING OF A PACKARD
Rapid acquisition of electronic warfare capabilities served an urgent need, and in the process set an award-winning example of phased prototyping, experimentation and fielding with creative resourcing.
by Nancy Jones-Bonbrest, John Higgins and Claire Heininger I
n March 2014, before the rest of the world could react, Russia invaded Crimea, then annexed the region, a peninsula at the southern end of Ukraine. Russia’s subsequent actions in Ukraine revealed electronic
warfare (EW) capabilities that not only overwhelmed Ukraine but could rival those of the United States. Te U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) commanding general at the time, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, determined that electronic warfare was a critical strategic gap and pushed an opera- tional needs statement to the Pentagon for quick action.
In response, the Army moved electronic warfare to the top of its list for rapid acquisition and endorsed a new approach—phased prototyping, experimentation and field- ing—that would incorporate Soldier feedback throughout, infuse new technology as it became available and quickly deliver incremental upgrades to reduce operational risk while informing program-of-record (POR) capabilities currently under development but not yet ready for field- ing. Tis strategy required a creative resourcing approach that combined existing funds, reprogramming actions and a new rapid prototyping program, and ultimately entailed more than 100 separate contract actions.
To formulate and execute the plan, the secretary and chief of staff of the Army tapped the then-newly formed Rapid Capabilities Office (now the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, or RCCTO) and the Project Manager for Electronic Warfare and Cyber (PM EW&C), part of
the Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEW&S), to lead the execu- tion of the project, working directly with operational units such as the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Europe. Less than a year after the project’s approval, the Army fielded new elec- tronic warfare prototypes to select units in Europe, giving Soldiers the ability to implement electronic protection for their own formations, detect and understand enemy activ- ity in the electromagnetic spectrum, and disrupt adversaries through electronic attack effects.
For their efforts in addressing this urgent operational need, the RCCTO and PM EW&C received the 2018 David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award. Te Packard is DOD’s most prestigious acquisition team award. It is given annually to a few select recipients across the armed services and defense agencies for significant contributions demonstrating exemplary innovation and best acquisition practices.
Te award-winning effort required teamwork, innova- tion, a user-centric attitude and a willingness to accept that the prototypes being fielded were just that. Tey were not completely perfect solutions, but instead incremental advances, with the capability improving at each step as the effort progressed.
On the following pages, you’ll read about several of the key players who made the Army’s electronic warfare project a
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