FUNDING KICK-START
In the spring of 2018, RCCTO submitted additional requests and received FY18 funds for optical augmentation technology, which will provide Army scouts the ability to detect adversary weapon systems, increasing vehicle protection and survivability. With each project, the Rapid Prototyping Program has increased the pace of progress and served as a key partner in the Army’s successful development of needed capabilities.
A NEW PROTOTYPING PARTNERSHIP Established in 2017, OSD’s Rapid Prototyping Program is designed to accelerate services’ and defense agencies’ proto- typing by reducing technical and integration risk, establishing affordable and realistic requirements for programs of record, and supporting timely development of fieldable prototypes—all to enable rapid modernization. Te fund is structured to support the unique model of prototyping, which recognizes that a partic- ular capability is not a “one size fits all” answer to be fielded and sustained universally across a service. Instead, a prototype capability provides an interim solution that targets a specific need, incorporating Soldier feedback and technology advances to inform longer-term solutions.
Te Rapid Prototyping Program seeks a new set of innovative projects annually, awards exclusively research, development, test and evaluation funds, and has a relatively small budget. In its first year, it awarded approximately $100 million to eight programs.
In FY18, it provided approximately $50 million to four programs. In its third year, the program awarded approximately $80 million to a slate of projects in April.
Te program is open to applicants across the armed services. Te process generally starts in August, when applicants are asked to submit a white paper that outlines the project for which they’re seeking funding. Te paper includes a project description, the objective, what the capability will accomplish and why it’s rele- vant to today’s threat environment and modernization efforts. Applicants also provide funding needs and plans, key partici- pants, transition and post-prototyping strategy, project schedule, risk mitigation and metrics.
Each white paper is evaluated by the Rapid Prototyping Program Office, experts across DOD and a cross-functional team of repre- sentatives from the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, and the Joint Staff. Winning entries are announced early in each calendar year.
After the selection phase ends, the execution process begins. Winning project leads from the services meet with program repre- sentatives. Tey review each project and its funding requirements in detail, making any necessary updates that may have occurred after the submission. Once a funding decision is received, the
COVERING NEW GROUND
Strykers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, negotiating the terrain of the Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, were among the first units to receive the new electronic warfare prototype systems provided by the Army RCCTO and PM EW&C and funded in part through the OSD Rapid Prototyping Program. (U.S. Army photo)
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Army AL&T Magazine
Summer 2019
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