FIELDING THE FUTURE
to South Korea as part of a bilateral CUAS developmental agreement. Testing it at the range would solve both problems, as well as provide 8th Army with a way of seeing exactly where training rounds were going. With this knowledge, range procedures and terrain could be examined to (poten- tially) preclude future out-of-impact-area incidents. Te 8th Army commanding general and staff saw this as a solid win, as all they needed to provide was, in essence, paperwork.
Te emplacement of the counter-rocket and mortar radar at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex was just one smart, multi- purpose step in a chain of events that are still playing out today. Te CUAS also received more than $1 million in DOD Coalition Warfare Program funding, which was extended in 2019. CCDC’s Armaments Center has collaborated with the Project Director for Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar, under the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, to mature the effort toward transition, while actively developing subtechnolo- gies with the South Korean Ministry of Defense’s research arm, the Agency for Defense Development. Tis effort likely would have stopped back in 2016 if 8th Army hadn’t been informed of the costs up front, allowing it to conduct a well- informed cost-benefit analysis.
CONCLUSION Program managers and the CCDC researchers who feed the materiel devel- opment pipeline are constantly seeking details on what the warfighter wants, while at the same time trying to mature the technologies in their portfolios. CCDC’s FAST teams are ideally positioned to help achieve these goals simultaneously, while providing real-world feedback from the Soldiers within combatant commands and Army service component commands.
By approaching FAST with capable tech- nologies that meet warfighter needs, a program manager can expect assistance in building momentum and consensus toward established goals, from clarifying requirements through maturing technol- ogies, and onward toward low-rate initial production. By tying into greater efforts such as the big six modernization priorities (and subtechnologies), program managers can ensure relevance and assured interest from the commands, facilitated by FAST officers who will regularly assist with communication between the program manager and the respective command. Finally, to garner command sponsorship, it is critical to state the costs up front for an accurate cost-benefit analysis; if, after that analysis, the answer is “no,” then a direction has been chosen, and informed adjustments can be made.
Te network of FAST advisers is already established worldwide. Trough purpose- ful planning via CCDC’s Exercise Management Plan, key technologies are being aligned to insert in named exercises and in accordance with established and emerging warfighter requirements. FAST is a critical tool in ensuring relevance and effective development of systems for the Army’s future.
For more information, go to the CCDC webpage
at
https://www.army.mil/
ccdc#org-resources. LT. COL. MARC MEEKER is
the
director of the International Technology Center – Northern Europe, with offices at Frankfurt Consulate and Koblenz, where he is co-located with the German Ministry of Defense’s acquisition arm. He most recently wrote for Army AL&T about the international worldwide
technology (“International
centers’ mission Innovation,”
Winter 2020 issue, Page 54). He holds an MBA with an acquisition focus from the Naval Postgraduate School and an undergraduate
degree in mechanical
engineering and design technology from Oklahoma State University. He is Level III certified in program management and an Army Acquisition Corps member. He speaks fluent German, conversational Spanish and passable Japanese.
By building consensus within USAREUR and with the right points of contact, the FAST team successfully demonstrated a technology that met the emerging needs of the USAREUR command, paving the way for further development of Li-Fi technologies.
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