FEEDBACK IS KEY: A Soldier wears the IVAS and wields a Squad Immersive Virtual Trainer prototype at a touch-point event. If not for constant Soldier feedback from these events, the…
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HEAVENLY HOST: The cloud reduces hosting costs, improves continuity of operations and increases security. (Photo by GettyImages) U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center charts a course to cloud migration…
KEEPING UP: Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael A. Grinston, center, remotely drives a pre-prototype Robotic Combat Vehicle from inside a Mission Enabling Technologies Demonstrator at Fort Carson, Colorado, in…
The COVID-19 pandemic forced U.S. Army Operational Test Command to innovate during a new system’s operational test. by Maj. Graham L. Mullins The proverb “Necessity is…
VITAL LINK: Researchers from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory and Texas A&M University developed a first-of-its-kind, 3D printable and stimuli-responsive polymeric material expected to…
GET ON THE AI TRAIN: Appropriate training environments and tools are essential to successfully integrating AI. The GCSS-Army virtual training environment could be a tailorable platform used to train Soldiers…
LOCK AND KEY: All Army employees, military and civilian, are charged with protecting classified information. But problems can arise from trying to promote full and open competition while also protecting…
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION: A Crane Army Ammunition Activity employee labels containers of hand sanitizer. Crane Army collaborated with McAlester Army Ammunition Plant to develop a hand sanitizer…
WHAT A GEM: The U.S. Army ground effects machines, or GEM, was a hovercraft powered by two aircraft engines driving ducted fans and was capable of traveling over land or…
MOVE OUT: The author participated in Capability Set 23 planning discussions, which involved tailoring the ITN to Stryker and armored units. He saw results of the Network Cross-Functional Team’s…
A NEW LOOK: Ruben Cruz, procurement analyst for the Army Artificial Intelligence Task Force, examines sensors in an autonomous robot built at Carnegie Mellon University in the 1980s….
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS: The proposal development process is a huge and sometimes expensive undertaking. Winning business can dictate whether the company can stay in that line of business. (Image…
INTEGRATED NETWORK: The ITN provides smaller, lighter, faster and more flexible communications systems with multiple connectivity options primarily at battalion and below. Paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division provided the…
AUSTERE CARE: NETCCN is meant to provide military medical care to the austere environments likely to be found during multidomain operations, like the ones these U.S. Marines found in August…
The Army’s xTechSearch program uncovers value and innovation. By Jess Stillman A panel of Army experts chose 48 concept white papers from the 351 submitted for…
Innovation Combine finds better, cheaper and faster in more ways than one. By Kristin Mcnelis Finding novel technology solutions to the Army’s modernization challenges is just that—challenging….
The Army’s xTechSearch program leverages its success to find the innovation the Army needs—and reveals good old American ingenuity. by Christopher J. Semancik The COVID-19 pandemic hit the…
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Sailors and civilians assigned to Naval Medical Center San Diego attend a Bureau of Medicine and Surgery roadshow that brought the Army’s GFEBS rollout team to…
FLIGHT TEST: The JAGM missile was tested at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, before the project moved into low-rate initial production. (Photos by U.S. Army) Missile-seeker components illustrate how the…
BUILT FOR SURGE: Contractor employees at Iowa Army Ammunition Plant prepare 155 mm artillery rounds to be filled as a part of the load, assemble and pack operation. The plant…
NOT YOUR MOTHER’S MICROWAVE: RCCTO will field a prototype Indirect Fire Protection Capability – High Power Microwave at the platoon level in fiscal year 2024. (Photos courtesy of RCCTO) …
DOD and the Army can do more to help, innovative firms say. by Michael Bold Tapping the innovation of small high-tech businesses has been a goal of…
LIVE COMMUNICATIONS: The Army needs advanced interoperable communications so that Soldiers can communicate in real time, helping to ensure mission success. (Photo courtesy of PacStar) Industry helps to keep…
FORT BELVOIR, Va. (October 14, 2020)—The Army relies on the industrial base to produce things—like helicopters, tanks and satellites—that it just can’t buy at the local supermarket. The…
MANUAL INSTRUCTION: Maj. Sarah Sanjakdar, center, learned the value of seeking feedback on the function and usefulness of two FDA-approved TBI screening devices at medical facilities across the U.S. Central…
SETTING UP: Spc. Cheryll Eguilos, left, demonstrates how to set up a Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, in February 2018. Radio communication in Afghanistan…
The Army’s requirement calls for the highest energy-density fuel combined with the lowest mass and volume—and gasoline and diesel win over alternative energy. by Dr. David J….
QUICK DRAW: Sgt. Brett Knox with the Kendrick Memorial Blood Center, located outside Fort Gordon, Georgia, takes blood from Patrick Young, an employee at Winn Army Community Hospital, as a…
THE DIVISION: The Kansas City District Contracting Division is pictured with then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement Stuart Hazlett, outside of the Bolling Federal Building in downtown Kansas…
REAL-WORLD TEST: During PNTAX, developers and Soldiers assessed how more than 80 mounted, dismounted and NAVWAR capabilities and systems operated within a replicated real-world, anti-access and area-denied environment. (Photo by…
THE MODERN LOOK: Modern storage magazines, which are larger, drier and provide electrical service, would provide greater capability to properly store modern munitions. The organic industrial base needs…
FIBER OPTICS: Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) research and development technician Chhea Chhav monitors a fiber draw on one of AFFOA’s five fiber draw towers. Draws need to be…
SEEING THE SUPPLY CHAIN: Full visibility of the supply chain has been a high priority for the PM IVAS team, in collaboration with industry partners. The security and quality of…
APPLYING TRAINING: The Department of Defense Security Cooperation Workforce Certification Program is based on nine security cooperation competencies and 58 job tasks. It has three elements: training, experience and continuous…
READY, AIM, TRAIN!: The XM808 limited user assessment had many intangible benefits—information sharing provided engineers and instructors with experiences that may help improve their jobs. In a normal test environment,…
