INVESTING IN THE FUTURE


HANDS-ON TEST


A Soldier with 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment works with a newly installed component of MAPS GEN I at Rose Barracks, Germany. Members of PM PNT worked with a team of stakeholders to install the new system on Stryker vehicles so that Soldiers could use and provide feedback on the equipment. (U.S. Army photos by John Higgins, Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors)


WITH ALL SPEED Te Army Modernization Strategy charges the APNT Cross- Functional Team and the U.S. Army Futures Command to reduce the time it takes to deliver new weapon systems, which includes a significant reduction of the requirements development process to 12 months or less.


Te directed requirement for MAPS was approved in Janu- ary 2019. “Tere were numerous challenges in developing the MAPS requirement,” said Willie Nelson, director of the APNT Cross-Functional Team. “Because almost all combat and combat support systems require GPS in some way, developing a require- ments document that would encompass them, while staying affordable, posed its challenges.”


Te initial requirement “took a systems-of-systems approach, which was difficult to get through the Army Requirements Oversight Council and Joint Requirements Oversight Council process,” Nelson said. “Tat process requires a more ‘big picture’ approach that was cumbersome. Instead, the [cross-functional team] made the decision to break up the large requirement into smaller, focused requirements, and to condense the requirement document to only seven pages in length.”


Breaking down the larger assured-PNT requirement into sepa- rate requirements—one requirement for a mounted system, and a separate requirement for the dismounted system—made them more manageable and agile. “Tis makes it much easier to understand, and it took only three months to get the MAPS directed requirement approved, which was a big win for the


140 Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2020


[cross-functional team], the Army and, most importantly, the Soldier,” Nelson said. Assured PNT has broad functionality, but rather than have all stakeholders design an entire system, its devel- opment was divided into “apps” that each focused on one aspect. Mounted and dismounted functions required different “apps” to meet different user needs and size, weight, power and cost stan- dards, as well as access to different kinds of data.


“Te key to the rapid development of the mounted APNT require- ment was focusing our documents to bring the most pertinent information forward to decision-makers and users,” said Col. Daniel Kuntz, TRADOC capability manager for tactical radios.


“We tightly worked with tactical units, materiel developers and testers, coupling technological innovation and operational feed- back in order to give our Soldiers the best equipment available.”


OTA PAVES THE WAY


“Accelerating the process of developing and fielding the latest PNT capabilities to the Soldier is essential to preserving America’s inter- ests and reassuring our allies throughout the globe,” said Col. Nick Kioutas, project manager for PNT. His organization is using other-transaction authority (OTA) agreements to rapidly develop assured navigation solutions like MAPS GEN I.


Rapid solutions are what OTA agreements are designed for, as they are independent of the Federal Acquisition Regulation—with other more specific which at least one-third of the cost of the proj- ect comes from nonfederal sources. As such, they open the door regulations in place—and thus have a greater degree of flexibil- ity. OTAs require at least one nontraditional defense contractor


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