UNDERSTANDING ARMY ACQUISITION
By bringing ITCs (or their higher head- quarters at CCDC forward element commands) in early and often, science and technology and acquisition leaders can facilitate a consistent and intentional message to foreign partners: We are seri- ous about collaborating with our allies and will do so in a logical, defined way.
TALENT MANAGEMENT Working at an ITC is not for everyone. Despite international locations, the job comes with surprising challenges: Every project is slow-moving, return on invest- ment is hard to define, and frequent travel means that bags are always packed. An ITC team member has to be extroverted, emotionally intelligent, multilingual, tech- nically competent (engineering degrees preferred), and familiar with the breadth of the acquisition enterprise. (For a recent participant’s perspective, see “Working Globally, Tinking Locally,” Page 62.)
Military ITC members also need some slack in the career timelines: Despite their level of responsibility, ITC director- ships are not board-selected key leadership (“command slate”) positions, so being in one too long will impact promotion pros- pects. For many potential candidates, family concerns also dominate, as an inter- national move can uproot school-aged children, force decisions on real estate and limit job opportunities for spouses.
Finally, international experience is a plus, but there is no substitute for training in international program management. Te Defense Acquisition Workforce Improve- ment Act provides only three career certifications for Army officers: contract- ing, program management, and test and evaluation. However, despite the lack of an international career certification similar to the one offered to Army civilians, Army officers can still take Defense Acquisition University classes, which are essential to
NEW TECH, FOUND
An ITC director engages with the Dutch and German armies as they roll out the Leopard IIA6 FüFa, a network-enabled main battle tank with improved situational awareness for NATO missions.
developing a foundation for presenting competent and capable collaboration in support of the Army’s international search for the world’s best technology.
CONCLUSION ITCs have been in place for over 70 years and have well-established mech- anisms and networks for international research and development collaboration. What does this ultimately mean for the warfighter? In the past, it meant integra- tion of systems such as the L/44 120 mm smoothbore cannon on the M1 Abrams main battle tank (the L/44 was developed in Germany), as Jean M. Dash and David J. Gorsich state in their 2012 publication,
“Te TARDEC Story: Sixty-Five Years of Innovation.”
In the future, it could mean artifi- cial intelligence algorithms developed in conjunction with Czech universities, unmanned aerial systems underpinned by Austrian Army research, and third- generation forward-looking infrared
scopes built with technology from Lithu- ania. As AFC seeks to answer the Army’s technology needs, ITCs bring the best of what the world has to offer.
For more information, go to https://
www.army.mil/ccdc.
LT. COL. MARC MEEKER is director of the International Technology Center – Northern Europe, with offices at the Frankfurt Consulate and Koblenz, where he is co-located with the German Ministry of Defense’s acquisition arm. 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 conversational Spanish and is fluent in German (with a hint of a Bavarian accent).
https://asc.ar my.mil
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