RAPID ROBOTIC REQUIREMENTS RELAY


Many of fices from across the Detroit Arsenal raced to develop requirements and gather information for the light- and medium-robotic combat vehicle concepts’ transition to reality.


by Corey Richards and Maj. Cory Wallace


ments. It is imperative that the Army, at all levels, leverage the vast expertise within DOD to define reasonable near-term goals, while at the same time defining the objectives that lie beyond that which current technology can achieve.


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Inherent to both lines of effort is a simple yet often overlooked principle: teamwork. Tat’s how the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team (NGCV-CFT) worked with agencies both on Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, and across DOD to transition the light- and medium-robotic combat vehicle concepts into modified off-the-shelf surrogates in fewer than 18 months. While our approach was certainly not perfect, future permutations could share certain foundational principles; namely, building a talented team with people from different agencies to develop solutions for a capability gap as quickly as possible.


In simple terms, our approach communicated require- ments—derived through aggressive teamwork across many organizations—clearly and frequently to industry. Bound by a common vision and purpose, our team enabled the contracting command to craft proposal requests, negotiate terms, execute procurement instruments and enter agreements with two different firms (Textron, with major partner Howe and Howe Technolo- gies Inc.; and QinetiQ North America, with major partner Pratt Miller Defense), which are both on pace to deliver platforms with technological maturity we did not expect to see until 2023.


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s the Army drives toward its goal of modernizing the nation’s ground combat force, it must strike a balance between defining achievable near-term objectives and defining aggressive stretch goals for future incre-


Many residents of the Detroit Arsenal joined the NGCV-CFT in their project: the Program Executive Office (PEO) for Ground Combat Systems, the PEO for Combat Support and Combat Service Support, Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center. Te transition of Light and Medium Robotic Combat Vehicle concepts into their surrogates was not a sprint—it was a relay, one in which each participating office would lead with their expertise as needed.


PUT ME IN, COACH Given the developmental nature of both robotic combat vehicle variants, the Ground Vehicle Systems Center acted as the relay team’s coach, devising the general strategy and directing when the baton transitioned to a different runner.


Te first athlete out of the starting blocks was the requirement owner—in this case, the NGCV-CFT, which began an aggres- sive assessment of existing mature technologies relevant for the vehicle variants by meeting with different industry vendors. Te team met with both well-known vendors, who routinely manage multibillion-dollar defense contracts, as well as small startups from Silicon Valley. Eventually, the number of meetings outpaced the team’s ability to travel to them, and they developed an initia- tive called Modernization in the Motor City, which invited technology companies from across the world to travel to Detroit Arsenal and pitch their solutions to the government.


Tese efforts to engage with industry helped the NGCV-CFT understand what industry could deliver if the government asked


Army AL&T Magazine


Summer 2020


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