Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Ground Combat Technology, Volume 2 Issue 6, November/December 2011
Citation preview
November/December 2011 Volume 2, Issue 6
www.GCT-kmi.com
SoldierEquipper
Maj. Gen. Kurt J. Stein
Commanding GeneralU.S. Army TACOM LCMC
The Publication of Distinction for the Maneuver Warfighter
Soldier Modernization O Air-Missile DefenseHMMWV Modernization O Mobile Power SourcesPRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGEPAID
LEBANON JCT., KY
PERMIT # 805
Kevin M. FaheyPeOCombat Support &Combat Service Support
EXCLUSIVEEXECUTIVE INTERVIEW:
The Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare
AUSA Winter Symposium and ExpositionA Professional Development Forum
AMERICA’S ARMY– DECISIVE FORCE
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: AUSA, Industry Affairs, 800-336-4570, ext. 365
22-24 FEBRUARY 2012Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center Fort Lauderdale, FL
Register online at www.ausa.org
Ground Combat teChnoloGy november/deCember 2011 volume 2 • Issue 6
Features Cover / Q&a
departments2
3
14
27
Editor's Perspective
Intel/People
Innovations
Calendar, Directory
Industry IntervIew
16
www.GCT-kmi.comJames Yakel
Manager of Business DevelopmentLord Corporation
28
Major General Kurt J. SteinCommanding General
U.S. Army TACOM—Life Cycle Management Command
7
Soldier ModernizationBattlefield communications are undergoing a revolution. In an era of rapidly appearing—and disappearing—enemies, instant access to intel and close air is critical.By Henry Canaday
22
Mobile Power SourcesWhen you hear the term “military power,” many envision massive machines of war. But to ground troops, “military power” also has another meaning: electric power requirements critical to today’s e-warrior.By Steve Goodman
25
Air-Missile DefenseIt is said that in numbers there is strength, and that applies in a major way to air and missile defense, where artfully merged input from many sensor systems helps to ensure a successful takedown of an incoming enemy threat.
4
HMMWV ModernizationWith the Army issuing a draft request for proposals to recapitalize 60,000 or more high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs), major defense contractors are poised with innovative visions of what future HMMWVs can provide to warfighters.By Dave Ahearn
11Command Overview:
Maneuver Support Center of Excellence
12
Kevin M. FaheyPeOCombat Support & Combat Service Support
EXCLUSIVEEXECUTIVE INTERVIEW:
18TACOM LCMC
It’s been a while since I held an Army rifle in my hands and looked down the sights. But I got to squeeze off a few rounds during the Association of the United States Army annual meeting.
Steve Didier, CEO and owner of Phoenix RBT Solutions LLC that provides UTM, Ultimate Training Munitions, gave me the opportunity as he explained these training rounds.
The key points he made are that UTM training rounds are safe, predictable, don’t pollute for easy cleanup, and provide realistic training down to the recoil that mimics that of a live round.
A trainee can use his own weapon that will be used in theater, and can fire 5.56 mm training rounds that shoot a wax projectile marker onto the target. “You train as you fight,” Didier noted.
With an aluminum base and a plastic dome, there is nothing to pollute the ground, so everything in the training round is landfill-safe, Didier explained. Because the UTM rounds are aluminum, rather than lead or zinc, and use very little propellant powder, there is no need to dispose of them as hazardous waste. Also, little propellant means less weapon-cleaning time, with cleaning needed perhaps every 1,000 rounds, he remarked.
The rounds work in all weather conditions, with projectile markers available in different colors to identify which trainee fired them.
There are numerous safety precautions. By firing only the tiny marker projectile, the dangers of firing live rounds are avoided. The bolt in the weapon is replaced with a training bolt that won’t accept live rounds. The clip also accepts only training rounds, not live ammo. Both the clip and bolt are blue, to distinguish them from the hardware capable of containing and firing live rounds. “There is no way that [the weapon] can fire a live round,” Didier emphasized.
Both Picatinny Arsenal and Aberdeen Proving Ground rate the UTM training system as 99.9 percent reliable, he said. “The accuracy is comparable to live ammo,” he added.
Oh, and how did I do in firing that weapon? Well, all of my shots hit the target in a nice, tight grouping, a pattern about the size of my thumb-nail. So were they in the bull’s-eye? No way.
The Publication of Distinction for the Maneuver Warfighter
edItorIal
EditorDave Ahearn [email protected] EditorHarrison Donnelly [email protected] Editorial ManagerLaura Davis [email protected] Baddeley • Christian Bourge • Peter Buxbaum Henry Canaday • Matthew Cox • Phillip Gentry Steve Goodman • Leslie Shaver
art & desIGn
Art DirectorJennifer Owers [email protected] Graphic DesignerJittima Saiwongnuan [email protected] Designers Amanda Kirsch [email protected] Morris [email protected] Waring [email protected]
advertIsInG
Account ExecutiveJason Perkins [email protected]
KmI medIa Group
PublisherKirk Brown [email protected] Executive OfficerJack Kerrigan [email protected] Financial OfficerConstance Kerrigan [email protected] Vice PresidentDavid Leaf [email protected] McKaughan [email protected] Castro [email protected] Show CoordinatorHolly Foster [email protected]
operatIons, CIrCulatIon & produCtIon
Manager - Circulation and OperationsToye McLean [email protected] CoordinatorDuane Ebanks [email protected] SpecialistsRebecca Hunter [email protected] Johnson [email protected] Jones [email protected] Walker [email protected] Villanueva [email protected] Winston [email protected]
a proud member oF:
subsCrIptIon InFormatIonGround Combat Technology
ISSN 2157-1503is published eight times a year by KMI Media Group.
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly forbidden. © Copyright 2011. Ground Combat Technology is free to
qualified members of the U.S. military, employees of the U.S. government and non-U.S. foreign service based
in the U.S. All others: $65 per year. Foreign: $149 per year.
Corporate OfficesKMI Media Group
15800 Crabbs Branch Way, Suite 300 Rockville, MD 20855-2604 USA
Telephone: (301) 670-5700Fax: (301) 670-5701
Web: www.GCT-kmi.com
Ground Combat teChnoloGy
volume 2, Issue 6 november/deCember 2011
KmI medIa Group maGazInes and websItes
www.GCT-kmi.com
Ground Combat
Technology
www.MT2-kmi.com
Military Training
Technology
www.SOTECH-kmi.com
Special Operations Technology
www.TISR-kmi.com
Tactical ISR Technology
www.GIF-kmi.com
Geospatial Intelligence
Forum
www.MAE-kmi.com
Military AdvancedEducation
www.MIT-kmi.com
Military Information Technology
www.MLF-kmi.com
Military Logistics
Forum
www.MMT-kmi.com
Military Medical/CBRN
Technology
www.USCGF-kmi.com
U.S. Coast Guard Forum
Dave AhearnEditor
Army Colonel Walter E. Piatt has been nominated for appoint-ment to the rank of brigadier general. Piatt is currently serving as commandant, U.S. Army Infantry School, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, Ga.
Marine Corps Sergeant Dakota L. Meyer, a Medal of Honor recip-ient, was inducted into the Hall of Heroes in a Pentagon auditorium ceremony. Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta, Secretary of the Navy Ray E. Mabus, Commandant of the Marine Corps General James F. Amos, and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps
Michael P. Barrett participated. In Afghanistan, Meyer repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire and was wounded as he saved lives of dozens of Marines and recovered bodies of casualties.
John M. Urias has joined Oshkosh Corp. as executive vice president and president, Oshkosh Defense. Urias will lead all aspects of the company’s global defense segment, including all tactical wheeled vehicle programs, new product development, vehicle life cycle sustainment and aftermarket services.
The Harris Corp. board of directors appointed William M. Brown president and chief executive officer. The board expects to appoint Brown to the board at its December meeting.
Thomas E. Romesser, vice presi-dent of technology development
for the Advanced Programs and Technology Division of Northrop Grumman, was selected for a three-year term on the National Research Council–Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable.
Ammunition feed systems provider Nobles Worldwide announced the appointment of retired Navy Vice Admiral John Morgan as execu-tive chairman. In this new position, Morgan will serve as chairman of the board and have an active management role in driving the development of innovative warf-ighter solutions and leading the strategic growth of the company.
people
William M. Brown
Just as a news story is likely to be far superior if it includes several points of view instead of one person’s thinking, so too will an air-missile defense system be far more likely to annihilate an incoming enemy threat if the system is informed by data from multiple sensors instead of just one radar.
That is the driving force behind the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) program, according to Robert Jassey, Northrop Grumman program director for IBCS.
Air defense is critical in an era when terrorists have graduated from using rifles and crude explosive devices to firing cruise missiles at U.S. and other coalition forces, creating “the poor man’s air force,” Jassey noted in an interview. A retired colonel, he was formerly a TRADOC systems manager.
Those weapons, while not cutting-edge, “can be pretty effective,” he observed. “We’ve always been the ones launching the cruise missiles. Well, now we have the cruise missiles launched against us.”
Being able to meld data from disparate sensors not only helps a U.S. defense system know where the enemy weapon is, the combined data also help to determine what it is. “Is it a missile?” he asked. “Is it an airplane? Is it a cruise missile? Is it an anti-radiation missile? Is it a mortar? Rocket? The airspace over the tactical battlefield—I would argue, in my opinion, it’s the most ambiguous terrain on the planet.”
For example, he said, “everything that can fly in that area has significant overlap in their characteristics. Speed. Altitude. Heading. All those little things that might be used to properly classify and identify something.”
American Innovations Inc., in conjunction with NAVSEA Naval Surface Warfare Center, developed a bulk HME (homemade explo-sives) precursor detection kit to detect the most common IED precursor materials being employed in Afghanistan. Soldiers and Marines are testing more than 1,000 of these kits in theater.
Grant Haber, vice president of American Innovations, explained in an interview how the Ai-HME kit permits unskilled personnel to rapidly, within seconds, clear legal farm fertilizer while effectively detecting illegal HME precursors commonly used as the main explo-sives charge in most IEDs employed in Afghanistan.
That means that if a farmer is hauling harmless fertilizer to his fields, U.S. military personnel equipped with the Ai-HME kit won’t be inclined to confiscate and destroy it for fear it might be used to make IEDs. And that in turn means “good community relations with farmers who rely on their crops for survival,” Haber explained.
IEDs remain the leading cause of fatalities and life changing injuries among U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Reliable detection of the main ingredients used in these highly effective weapons of strategic influence remains a leading priority for government and military leadership. The Ai-HME kit is being looked at as a game-changing technology because of its low price, small footprint and ability to rapidly detect nitrates, urea and chlorates without causing a false alarm on di-ammonium phosphate and other harmless substances.
Kit to Detect IED Precursor Materials Tested in
AfghanistanIntegrated Air-Missile Defense Aids
Warfighters with Clear Picture
www.GCT-kmi.com GCT 2.6 | 3
By Dave ahearn
GCT eDiTor
a-Team Companies roll ouT revoluTionary ways To upGraDe vehiCles.
With the Army issuing a request for propos-als to eventually recapitalize 60,000 or more high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs), major defense contractors are poised with innova-tive visions of what future HMMWVs can provide to warfighters.
The $1 billion program has attracted an all-star group of competing contractors, teams led by AM Gen-eral, BAE Systems, Ceradyne, Oshkosh and Textron, that are expected to vie for the work on Army vehicles and some 3,000 Marine Corps HMMWVs.
But a cloud hangs over the HMMWV recapitaliza-tion program: A congressional Super Committee failed to find $1.2 trillion in spending cuts. So an automatic provision in law may slash defense spending by up to $1 trillion over 10 years.
Lawmakers seeking programs to cut have placed the HMMWV recap program, the Joint Light Tactical Vehi-cles (JLTV) program and the planned Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) project in their sights. At this point, the Senate Appropriations Committee has pressed to kill the JLTV program, though it is not certain that the full Senate and House will enact such a measure.
What often is lost in the debate is the fact that American military personnel in harm’s way need safer, better transportation in a theater rife with terrorists planting IEDs and wielding other weapons. And those who wear the cloth need that increased safety fast.
On the one hand, rebuilding a HMMWV has the virtue of being quicker and potentially cheaper than developing a new vehicle, because a substantial portion of the existing HMMWV is used in building the new recap asset. Some 160,000 or more HMMWVs have been built over the years, though some may be older models rather than the expanded-capacity HMMWVs eligible for recapping. On the other hand, some indus-try observers assert it is better to invest in completely new-design vehicles built to survive in a theater filled with IEDs and RPGs. But military leaders say warf-ighters have a critical need for both HMMWV recaps and new-design vehicles.
Meanwhile, the HMMWV recapitalization program—called the Modernized Expanded Capacity Vehicle (MECV)—has spurred industry competitors to create some innovative solutions for warfighters’ mobility requirements that offer improved survivability.
www.GCT-kmi.com4 | GCT 2.6
Each of the teams has formulated its MECV proposal partly in response to a request for information that TACOM released earlier, before the request for proposals.
am General
AM General is offering two MECV HMMWV modernization vehicles, and each would provide greater protection for warfighters against IED blasts, Chris Vanslager, AM General executive director of program management, said. Why offer two vehicles as possible solutions? “We decided to be prepared with multiple solutions to meet a wide range of vehicle requirements for modernization com-petition,” Vanslager said. “And we decided to ‘push the envelope’ to know how far we could advance HMMWV protection.”
AM General has built the gigantic fleet of HMMWVs, the work-horse of the U.S. military.
“We also wanted to be sure that advancements in other HMMWV subsystems—such as engine, transmission and suspension—are ready to complement the alternative protection solutions,” he emphasized.
“We have funded, developed, tested, refined and re-tested systems that can dramatically improve crew protection, boost per-formance, raise fuel efficiency, and maximize commonality with existing HMMWV parts and components,” he said.
One AM General MECV solution was produced in a collaboration between AM General and Plasan, a company with a world-class track record in armor technology, he said. It is the AM General-Plasan Survivability Solution.
It uses a “kitted” crew capsule protection approach. The capsule is mounted on a HMMWV chassis with HMMWV components, he explained.
The reason that newer HMMWVs will be eligible for the recapi-talization program is that they include multiple improvements over old vehicles, Vanslager continued. Newer HMMWVs have beefed up frames, suspensions, better engine cooling and transmission oil cooling. “All of these are components that have been re-engineered and improved in the last 10 or 15 years. The more of that you have, the less you have to [rebuild in the recapitalization program], and the less the cost” to the military.
The other vehicle on display is the AM General Hardwire, he said.
Whichever one you consider, the occupants would have a high level of safety against flames erupting after the vehicle takes a hit from an enemy weapon, he said. And that is but one facet of an over-all much safer environment for vehicle passengers. “These solutions can deliver protection never achieved in a light tactical vehicle,” he emphasized. “It has to do with the shape and design of the vehicles. It has to do with the use of materials. It has to do with components such as blast mitigating seats, crush zone floors, fire suppression systems.”
With either vehicle, the occupants would have a much higher level of safety against the blast effects of IEDs and other enemy weapons, now and in future contingencies.
Bae sysTems
BAE is offering its Smart V system for the HMMWV recap solu-tion, a vehicle that has been through design, development and extensive testing at the Nevada Automotive Test Center near Carson
City, said Adnan Hiros, director of business development for light tactical vehicles at BAE Systems.
The vehicle looks similar to a standard HMMWV, but it actu-ally features a monocoque design. When struck by the blast of an IED, the vehicle is designed to fly apart in three sections, a self-sacrificing feature that helps to absorb the energy of an explosion, Hiros said.
It also has a V-shaped hull to help deflect the impact of an IED blast, and inside are blast-mitigating seats with advanced restraints. The seats absorb impact energy both at the time of the blast that tosses the vehicle in the air, and at the time of the slam-down hitting the ground. Additionally, the Smart V offers increased power and a better suspension, he said.
There also is a special lighting system that after emergencies—such as an enemy round detonating or IED explosion—can guide warrior passengers safely out of the vehicle, showing them where the door is even if smoke fills the cabin, or, if the door won’t open, where a hatch window is located.
Batteries have been moved under the hood, safely away from passengers in the cabin, and the fuel tank for the same reason has been shifted to the rear of the vehicle, instead of under seats.
There are no chassis and no frame rails in the BAE Systems HMMWV recap. Rather, the vehicle features a unitized monocoque construction, which is light while affording protection to occupants. That means reduced weight, which translates into increased vehicle performance.
To save money, perhaps 40 percent of the existing HMMWV is used in building the recap version of the vehicle. Further, that means that many parts already in the logistics supply chain still can be used with the revamped vehicle. And there are improvements to the engine, suspension and brakes, Hiros noted.
CeraDyne
Ceradyne’s offering for the HMMWV recap program is informed by NASCAR racing, said Andrew C. Taylor with Gravikor, a spokes-man for Ceradyne.
The Ceradyne vehicle uses a space frame, a tubular structure that is stiff and strong, similar to the tubular frames in race cars that permit drivers to hit walls while hurtling at 200 mph and walk away from the wreck unhurt, Taylor explained. “You have a very stiff, strong structure,” which is mounted on top of the existing HMMWV chassis, he said.
The tubular frame in the recapped HMMWV creates an adapt-able asset that can tailor its armoring to the threat environment, Taylor said. Lightweight body parts can be used on recapped HMMWVs being driven in the United States, while tough armor can be applied to the tubular frame if the vehicle is to be driven in theater.
Although it can be expensive to create such a tubular frame, Taylor explained that the cost is reduced by high-tech welding tech-niques that weld the frame in less than half a second, which is very cost-effective.
The underbelly of the vehicle features a blast mitigation struc-ture that is designed to crumple, to absorb the energy of a deto-nating IED, he continued. That means the IED blast doesn’t toss the vehicle as high in the air, and it therefore has a gentler slam-down. Safety for warfighters is further improved by adding a fire extinguishing system.
www.GCT-kmi.com GCT 2.6 | 5
For more information, contact GCT Editor Dave Ahearn at [email protected] or search our online archives for related stories
at www.GCT-kmi.com.
Rapid Detection:Nitrates: 5 seconds
Ammonium NitrateUrea Nitrate, CAN-26Potassium Nitrate
Chlorates: 5 secondsPotassium ChlorateSodium ChlorateSodium Chlorate
Take Sample Add Water Nitrate Detected
FREE SAMPLE!CONTACT US TODAY
Samples limited to Military & Federal Agencies Only
Will they be equipped to detect the next HME threat on their mission...?
...with the Ai-HME Kit they will be!
The Ai-HME Precursor Detection kit weighs 6 ounces, fits in cargo pockets, and detects in seconds the most common HME ingredients being used to make IEDs in Afghanistan.
Suitable for Entry Control Points (ECPs), Site Exploitation, Route Clearance and other missions. No Power Required.
NSN: 6665-01-596-1416 DOD Emall: SPM7W1-05-DE-045
GSA: GS-07F-5556P ; CAGE Code: 1BUP8IMPAC Credit Cards Accepted
www.AmericanInnovations.com +1 (845) 371-3333American Innovations, Inc.8(a), HUBZone, 8(m) SBA Certified
Thanks to the Ceradyne design, “we’ve dramatically reduced the weight of the vehicle … by over 1,500 pounds,” he said, “which is a big deal.”
That lighter weight means better fuel economy, increased vehi-cle performance, less wear on the vehicle and its suspension, and a lessened cost to deploy the vehicle over its life cycle, Taylor said.
oshkosh Defense
Precisely what will be included in the Oshkosh Defense proposal for the HMMWV recap is keyed to the final detailed requirements the military set for the future vehicle, said Dave Diersen, Oshkosh program manager for U.S. Marine Corps Programs. It is clear that the Oshkosh offering will be a superior vehicle with improvements in several key areas.
For example, the suspension will be improved greatly, so that passengers aren’t pounded on long off-road rides toward objectives, Diesen said. “That’s one of the things that we’re known for, is our suspension systems,” he explained. “We’ve got the TAK-4 suspension system” designed for military vehicles, and the TAK-4 L, or Lite. With a suspension offering longer wheel travel, occupants receive a better ride, he stressed. “That’s one of our hallmarks,” he noted. In provid-ing 14 inches, even 20 inches, of wheel travel, Oshkosh can provide vehicles with suspensions that “soak up rough terrain,” Diersen observed.
TAK-4 suspensions already have proved themselves in theater, mounted on MTVRs, the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement, he said.
Oshkosh vehicles have been subjected to thousands of miles of testing at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., and at the Nevada Auto-motive Test Center, he continued.
To provide safety against IEDs, there will be advanced arma-ment and other features for increased survivability, he added. And to guard against deadly fires that can erupt when a HMMWV is hit by an IED or other enemy fire, the recapitalized vehicle would include an automatic fire extinguishing system, Diersen said. He noted that such systems already are included in other military vehicles.
TexTron
Textron Marine & Land Systems and Granite Tactical Vehicles Inc. have created the Survivable Combat Tactical Vehicle (SCTV) system for the HMMWV recap solution.
SCTV is a complete vehicle system designed for seamless inte-gration with the HMMWV chassis to handle the asymmetric battle-field with advanced technologies and features that provide increased mobility, survivability and performance for all HMMWV variants.
The Textron/Granite team has incorporated rugged, durable, tested components, including a blast-protected crew compartment, or capsule, with total system integration.
“The SCTV is more than a modernization of the HMMWV, it is revolutionizing the HMMWV,” said Granite Tactical Vehicles Presi-dent Chris Berman. “The protection upgrades hung on the HMMWV through the years have seriously compromised the performance of the vehicle. It was never intended to handle the weight it is being required to carry or provide protection levels required on today’s battlefield. Our SCTV gives soldiers and Marines the performance and protection they need in the near term.”
The SCTV has undergone independent and U.S. Marine Corps blast and mobility testing. The independent blast testing confirms the vehicle is capable of protection levels equal to mine resistant ambush protection level 1 specifications. While providing unparal-leled protection, the SCTV’s mobility and performance exceed cur-rently fielded HMMWVs by reducing overall weight and integrating upgraded suspension and engine technology.
“Today’s operational tempo and combat challenges demand greater tactical mobility and survivability of the HMMWV,” said Tom Walmsley, Textron Marine & Land Systems senior vice president and general manager. “With the cost and operational effectiveness of our SCTV, combined with our track record of on-time deliveries and low-risk performance, the Textron/Granite team is ready to bring the HMMWV fleet into the future.” O
www.GCT-kmi.com6 | GCT 2.6
By henry CanaDay
GCT CorresponDenT
Soldier ModernizationwarfiGhTers Gain markeD aDvanCes in CommuniCaTions CapaBiliTy.
Battlefield communications are undergoing a revolution. For example, the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) will connect tactical warfighters, providing a cybersecure, wireless communication network for forces on ground, air and sea. It integrates high-bandwidth infor-mation, including sensor data, with radios that act like cell towers and routers and need no fixed infrastructure.
Today, soldiers rely on point-to-point communications, requiring labor-intensive relays, hindering operations in urban environments and preventing continuous position reporting. JTRS automates relay of critical information up to three hops, reducing transmission time and verbal errors.
AR Modular RF offers superior comms gear, Chris Heavens, vice president/general manager, explained, such as “our AR-50 50W multi-band amplifier system that is about half the size of its predecessor, and units with more efficiency than in the past like the latest KMW1031 20W amplifier that uses half the power of the previous model.”
The less power that electronic warrior gear uses, the less fuel has to be transported into theater, meaning fewer chances for the enemy to attack convoys.
Military communications are undergoing changes, with a move away from the old concept of a hub and spoke kind of communica-tions between a few key individuals and locations, shifting to a world where everybody needs to be able to “reach out and touch someone” on the other side of the planet in real time, Heavens said. That means networking and big internet protocol pipes in the sky are an essential part of everybody’s world, he continued.
For warriors, comms are critical, providing lifesaving intel about enemy positions, movements and intentions. So AR Modular provides solutions to fill that requirement, systems that are multi-facetted yet easy to use, he observed. “AR Modular RF’s product line spans much of the VHF, UHF and SHF communications bands (30 to 2000 MHz), with powers from 20W up to 200W in our standard family of communica-tions amplifiers, he said. “But customer-specific units of many hun-dreds of watts have been built for those who need a little more reach than normal,” he added. And all systems must be built for the harsh handling typical in theater. “Ruggedness has been key to our success, and our ultra-low return rates are proof of our effective designs,” Heav-ens emphasized. “The 20W man-portable unit, our KMW1031, is fully
SPECIAL SECTION
GCT 2.6 | 7 www.GCT-kmi.com
submersible to 60-plus feet, and other systems like our vehicle units, the bigger 50W and 75W units—the AR-50 and AR-75—have been tested to meet the demanding requirements of helicopters, subma-rines, SOF Zodiacs and large warships to name but a few.” Aside from land, sea and air, AR Modular offers systems linked to space, he noted. “Satellite access (satcom) is key to modern communications, and our units offer switchable low-noise receiver amplifiers with extra co-site filtering. By the end of the year all of our products will offer these kinds of features,” he concluded.
JTRS compliant radio systems like the new PRC-117G are now a reality and offer today’s warrior the very latest networking modu-lations like ANW2 and SRW, so AR’s products such as the 50 watt AR-50 are being constantly improved, field tested and then certified for interoperability with these exciting new radio systems, Heavens emphasized.
Beyond hardware, Heavens stressed that AR Modular brings 40 years of experience and the expertise of veteran employees to bear on requirements, which can translate into swift research and develop-ment of new systems thanks to having already designed similar assets.
Challenges include ensuring interoperability and maximizing efficiency in using the available spectrum. Nevertheless, development of JTRS is already over 80 percent complete, with many capabilities demonstrated at the Army’s Network Integration Exercises (NIE).
Handheld, manpack and small form fit (HMS) radios have reached limited production for the Rifleman radio and two-channel manpack.
JTRS prime vendors include Boeing, General Dynamics, Lock-heed Martin, ViaSat, Rockwell Collins, Harris, Thales, ITT, BAE Sys-tems, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, BBN and Motorola.
The AN/PRC-154 Rifleman radio is part of JTRS HMS. “Rifleman radios enable soldiers to have secure, mobile voice, video and data communications capabilities similar to those available through com-mercial cellular networks,” underscored Bill Rau, director of radio programs for General Dynamics C4 Systems. All in a radio that weighs less than two pounds.
Defense recently ordered 6,250 Rifleman radios. During NIE the radio will complete initial operational test and operational evaluation, “the final government test before full-rate production and deploy-ment to forces worldwide,” Rau said.
But there is a lot more to this communications revolution than JTRS, and still more to come.
Harris RF Communications developed the handheld PRC-152 and the manpack Falcon III AN/PRC-117G, both of which also fit in vehicles, explained Dennis Moran, vice president of government busi-ness development. About 160,000 PRC-152s have been deployed and 10,000 PRC-117Gs delivered, with 3,000 in Afghanistan. The 117G provides wideband to connect video and data over the network.
“These are no theory; they are combat-proven,” Moran stressed. At NIE, Harris’s new wideband PRC-152A will be evaluated. New applications will be developed, including fire support, logistics and intelligence.
Vice President Nick Ortyl described L-3 Integrated Electronics Corporation’s Videoscout as technology to manage, receive, store and distribute full motion video, metadata, signals and human intel-ligence across theater, in real time, for action as well as analysis.
Improvements have allowed Videoscout to deploy even further forward, from laptops to tablets and Droids. Soldiers can use it to call in air strikes or view full motion video from airborne assets, pushing or pulling data as needed.
Videoscout will evolve further, supporting new data types and sources and interoperating with tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) equipment. It may eventually allow ground soldiers to control air-asset cameras.
L-3 also developed the remotely operated video enhanced receiver (ROVER) III in 2004 to give ground soldiers laptop displays of unmanned aerial system (UAS) results. George Hill, vice president of business development for the communications systems group of L-3, said the company produced over 10,000 ROVER IIIs, IVs and Vs. ROVER V weighs six pounds and receives and transmits on five bands. Future models will be smaller and more flexible.
Future UAS receivers may be either federated or integrated. Federated means different devices with different functionalities con-nected wirelessly. Integrated means functions packed in the same device.
L-3’s latest product, the Soldier ISR Receiver (SIR), receives on five bands, weighs three pounds and fits into infantry vest pockets. It can display results on eye monocles in the field or large-screen TVs at base. SIR is in the field now.
“Once he gets out of a vehicle, today’s soldier is lucky if he has push-to-talk radio with limited range,” said Mike Bradley, business development analyst for advanced development ventures at Lockheed Martin. “We take 18 year olds used to the latest technology, put them in uniform, and they use 30-year-old technologies like push-to-talk.”
Lockheed is working on the MONAX rapidly deployable cellular network for contingency operations. The company has developed applications for demonstrations and is working on more apps for command and control, ISR and logistics.
Under MONAX, Lockheed has deployed for Army evaluation a 4G cellular system with antennas mounted in vehicles, buildings or aerostats. Challenges include ensuring security and deciding what information can be transmitted. “How do you do it without towers every three to four miles?” noted Bradley. “If you set up a base station you must guard and operate it.” MONAX could be used for logistics and other purposes. “Every soldier can be a sensor, sending infor-mation back to command and getting situational awareness from others.” The Army must understand how to plug MONAX into exist-ing systems and get data from legacy systems and servers. “We also want to make it sustainable as technology improves every two years. The Army does not want to take eight years to install a system in 45 brigades, by which time it is out of date,” Bradley said. “They want to upgrade 10 brigades every two years.”
Motorola Solutions exploits commercial business to develop products and hold unit costs down, according to Paul Mueller, vice president and general manager for federal markets.
“Our bread and butter for defense is land-mobile radio used by garrisons,” Mueller said. Motorola enhances commercial systems with information assurance hardware and software. “The theme is applying COTS [commercial off-the-shelf] and federalizing it to give the military 85 percent of the solution at a lower cost.”
Motorola’s individual integrated squad radio was developed for the Marines from a commercial radio with military features added at low cost. Mueller said JTRS targets costs at $1,800 per unit. “We are selling well below that.”
Motorola is looking at the next generation of radios needed by soldiers in 2014 or 2015. The Army is testing COTS technologies for these purposes. Motorola concentrates on two areas, very high-speed wireless broadband technology for point-to-point communication,
SPECIAL SECTION
www.GCT-kmi.com8 | GCT 2.6
These battle-tested booster amplifiers expand the range of tactical radios with clean, clear signals even in extreme conditions. They’re tough, dependable, compact, versatile, and easy to use.
We offer a variety of man-pack and vehicle-mounted units with power from 20 to 200 watts (30 to 512 MHz). These state-of-the-art amplifiers support modern tactical waveforms including DAMA, SINCGARS, HAVEQUICK, HPW, IW and ANW2.
Custom designs are available in addition to these innovative off the shelf units.
Compromise Elsewhere!AR-50 (JITC Certified) • JITC Cert, PRC-117G, PSC-5D• 50 watts of power • Fast automatic switching• Switchable LNA and co-site filters• Small size
KMW2030 (JITC Certified) • JITC Cert, PRC-117F, PSC-5D• 125 watts of power • Automatic band switching option• UHF co-site filtering eliminates
interference from nearby transmitters• Protection against VSWR, antenna
mismatch, over temperature, excessive current draw and DC power mismatch
KMW1031 Kit• The “lightest” 20-watt amplifier kit
on the market at less than 2.5 lbs.• Fully automatic band-switching• No VSWR fault or reset required• 12/24 Volt vehicle operation• Single battery full spec operation• Waterproof• Kit includes amplifier, 30-512 MHz antenna,
RF cables, battery cable and tactical vest pouches for both the amp and the antenna.
All AR products are backed by the 3 year no nonsense warranty. GSA Contract Number GS-07F-0371U. For more information, call us at 425-485-9000 or visit us at ar-worldwide.com.
modular rf Other ar divisions: rf/microwave instrumentation • receiver systems • ar europeCopyright© 2010 AR. The orange stripe on AR products is Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM. Off. The Battle Tested logo is Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM. Off. # 3,821,099.
AR-75 Vehicle-Mounted Booster Amps• 75 watts of power • Fast automatic switching • Separate antenna ports for line-of-sight
and satellite communications• Switchable LNA and co-site filters• Waterproof
Ask about our full-line catalogue of Booster Amps,Modules & Amplifier Systems.
Ground_Combat_Tech_Comp_ElseW:Layout 1 12/1/11 1:38 PM Page 1
and WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) tech-nology for point-to-multipoint communication.
Motorola is excited about the shift to smartphones and tablets. The company is investing in adapting commercial devices for the assured mobile environment the military needs. It is developing encryption and virtualization that goes on smart cards and can be inserted in Motorola or third-party devices in the field.
Northrop Grumman Information Systems works on extending command, control, communication and computing (C4) to the sol-dier edge, explained Dan Verwiel, director of Northrop Battle Manage-ment Systems. Work on the joint capabilities release for the Force Battle Command, Brigade-and-Below system has extended capabili-ties through satellite to a hundred thousand vehicles. The next step is getting them out to individual soldiers.
Challenges include making the extension cost-effective, keeping size and weight low, preserving security against intercept or capture, ensuring reliability and making it all easy to use. Any new system must exploit existing equipment, not add another piece of gear to be carried.
Verwiel believes the answer lies partly in adapting COTS devices like cell phones to military requirements and linking to Army radios. Northrop hopes its advanced meshnet technology will allow the Army to plug useful current capabilities into soldier devices. For example, warnings now given by Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar within seconds of mortar launch to forward bases could also be sent to sol-diers on patrol in the target area.
Meshnet can also manage the massive amount of data likely to be transmitted when soldiers discover how much data is available on the tactical internet. Videos, biometric data, pictures and other data will put large burdens on the system.
Northrop prides itself on communication and software expertise. Buying and modifying commercial devices may make more sense than developing small volumes of ruggedized military devices for thousands of dollars apiece. “If a $250 device doesn’t work, you can just throw it away and get a new one,” Verwiel said.
Northrop’s solution must still go through NIE. That probably puts deployment off another 12 to 18 months.
Northrop has also developed the Enhanced C4 ISR Operation Response Enterprise, explained John Lynch, director of business development for C4ISR Networked Systems in Northrop ISR Systems. This means that eCOR establishes a framework, architecture and standards so that ISR can be extended to soldiers and commanders rapidly. Users need only a single sign-on and then can query by space, time or contextual query, as in Google, to access all ISR data for which they are eligible. To place it in perspective, eCOR is the foundation for a number of products already in the field.
Maingate is the backbone of a Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) for radio, explained Scott Whatmough, vice president, integrated communication systems at Raytheon Network Centric. “It allows legacy radios and cell phones to talk to each other. They have not been able to do that before.” Maingate is distinguished by its bandwidth, 10 megabits per second, enough to handle 20 full motion video channels simultaneously.
Thirty Maingates are in Afghanistan. The system will be demon-strated in a 12-node test at NIE. Maingate goes beyond capabilities sought in JTRS, supporting 3G and ultimately 4G communication.
Raytheon is also working on Nett Warrior, hands-free communi-cations. And the company is involved in the Secure Mobile Anti-Jam
Reliable Tactical Terminal program, an extremely high frequency system for communication between large units over satellites.
Thales focuses on radio communication, noted Aaron Brosnan, director of business development for tactical systems. Thales worked on the Rifleman radio under JTRS HMS with prime General Dynam-ics. The first unit will be delivered in October. Rifleman radio allows soldiers to build MANET networks with each other in the field and communicate locations, pictures, text message and videos, all without communication towers.
An early use will be location. A small personal digital assistant can be attached to Rifleman to show soldiers and commanders where troops are. “Down the road, biometrics and pictures of the local popu-lation could be transmitted,” Brosnan said. Chat applications can be added, as can data on chemical and biological agents.
Thales and General Dynamics will each do half initial production. Ultimately the Army wants about 160,000 Riflemans, and the firms will compete for this volume. Marines are watching the program carefully.
3M Peltor has fielded about 200,000 COMTAC earmuff headsets worldwide. Tom Lavalle, business development manager for 3M Occu-pational Health and Environmental Safety, said the future will see an expansion of communications to virtually all soldiers and increasing emphasis on hearing protection.
Both earmuff and in-ear headsets have advantages, depending on conditions and mission. 3M has developed a hybrid in-ear and earmuff headset called the COMTAC IV that combines features of both ver-sions. It is now in testing and evaluation.
Equipping more soldiers with communications should reduce prices. “If you give soldiers $200 smartphones it does not make sense to give them $700 headsets,” Lavalle noted.
TEA specializes in headsets for Special Operations Command, noted Steve Tocidlowski, vice president and director of business devel-opment. Its Invisio series offers a very small in-ear bone-conduction headset, giving soldiers a light and compact device. The next chal-lenge is preserving situational awareness while enhancing protection of hearing. TEA has been working on a new version of Invisio to meet this challenge.
TEA also makes standard, over-the-ear headsets and push-to-talk switches. “The trend is to smaller form factor, size and weight,” Tocid-lowski said. “There is a lot of interest outside special operations. The trend is to replace the bulky earmuffs. They want headsets smaller and lighter with more situational awareness. They want smaller push-to-talk switches but still with a tactile feel.”
Tocidlowski believes TEA can prove its worth outside special operations. Its headsets provide 29-decibel hearing protection, versus 19 decibels for traditional headsets. The TEA exec sees the military emphasizing cable and power management for all the gear soldiers must carry. “We would like to get involved in that,” he said.
Tactical Electronics has not forgotten another friendly on the tactical edge. Its K-9 mounted camera sits on the back of a dog and transmits video back to the handler. A built-in mini-DVR records audio and video directly to an SD card for post-operation review and archiving. O
For more information, contact GCT Editor Dave Ahearn at [email protected] or search our online archives for related stories
at www.GCT-kmi.com.
SPECIAL SECTION
www.GCT-kmi.com10 | GCT 2.6
GCT 2.6 | 11 www.GCT-kmi.com
Command Overview
Maneuver Support Center of Excellence
SES/Deputy to the CG
G-8
Chief of Staff
G-1 G-2 G-3/5/7 G-4
43d AGBn
G-6
CommandSergeant Major
MSCoECommanding
General
Capability Development & Interaction
USACBRNSU.S. Army Chemical, Biological,
radiological, Nuclear School
USAESU.S. Army
Engineering School
USAMPSU.S. Army Military
Police School
NCOANon-Commissioned
officer Academy
MEDDACMedical and dental
Activity
DENTACdental Activity
FLW GarrisonFort Leonard Wood
Garrison
Exclusive Executive Interview
JLTV, MRAP/M-ATV: Providing Warfighters with Safe Rides
Kevin M. Fahey was selected for the Senior Executive Service in Feb-ruary 2000. As the pro-gram executive officer for Combat Support & Com-bat Service Support, he is responsible for all activi-ties necessary to develop, produce, field and sustain tactical vehicle systems and force projection
equipment that supports and safeguards our armed forces fighting across the globe.
He is responsible for the life cycle management of more than 350 diverse systems, to include all of the Army’s tactical wheeled vehicles (including the family of mine resistant ambush protected vehicles and the joint light tactical vehicle) and critical soldier support systems (force projection equipment, petroleum and water systems, construc-tion and material equipment, tools and diagnostics equipment), across 16 product lines. He oversees the execution of an approxi-mately $10 billion annual budget for all combat support and combat service support equipment and develops a workforce of more than 1,100 employees.
During his tenure as the program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems, he was responsible for the life cycle manage-ment and systems integrator of the Army’s ground combat vehicle programs, leading Army transformation for the future force. His portfolio included the heavy brigade combat platforms such as the Abrams, M113 and Bradley fighting vehicles, along with the Stryker Brigade Combat Team and the Joint Lightweight Howitzer Systems. He successfully executed a budget of $11 billion in 2007, $4 billion in 2006 and $5 billion in 2005. In 2007, Fahey was identified by the Department of Defense to lead the Army’s Mine Resistant Ambush Protection program, delivering more than 9,000 MRAP vehicles in less than 24 months to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of an urgent combat need.
Operating as the deputy program executive officer for ammu-nition, he was responsible for the management of critical Army ammunition programs and personnel. He effectively managed cost, schedule and performance parameters across the Army’s ammunition programs to include: equipping soldiers with combat ammunition, and fire combat and ammunition training support for dismounted soldiers, combat and tactical vehicles, helicopters, Naval vessels and high performance aircraft.
As the senior technical executive, close combat armament sys-tems, U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering
Center, he served as the research and development director for arma-ment and munitions systems. He was the senior technical expert of smaller, lighter and more lethal munitions which increased mobility and counter-mobility of the Army’s operating forces.
Q: What is your assessment of the joint light tactical vehicle program?
A: The TD [Technology Development] phase was highly successful. The TD phase satisfied its intended purposes: demonstrate the integration of mature technologies as a complete system and provide an assess-ment of the technical, performance cost and schedule risks relevant to entering the EMD [Engineering and Manufacturing Development] phase. It gave the Army and USMC exactly the kind of information we needed to make really well-informed decisions about what JLTV can be and what it should cost.
Competitive prototyping during the TD phase improved the fidel-ity of the designs, demonstrated mature technologies, increased con-fidence in operational performance, fully informed requirements, and increased the confidence in cost estimates for the program life cycle. Currently, we are taking a hard look at ways to reduce the program schedule and costs necessary to execute the next phase of the program. We are working diligently to drive our costs down to ensure JLTV remains affordable, working with our joint users to lock in require-ments that correspond to that affordable vehicle design, and refining our acquisition strategy to reduce schedule and risk.
The next program phase will include full and open competition, with the selection of multiple offerors. Our aim is to give industry greater latitude to demonstrate what’s achievable on a light plat-form—our competitive strategy is intended to deliver the best vehicle possible at the price that the program can afford.
Q: Will JLTVs provide the mobility and safety that the armed forces are seeking?
A: Yes. JLTV is a major Army-Marine Corps acquisition program for a new generation wheeled vehicle that would replace a portion of the services’ high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle [HMMWV] fleet. The program’s aim is to develop a new multi-mission light vehicle family with superior crew protection, payload and performance com-pared to the HMMWVs. The JLTV family will balance critical weight and transportability constraints within performance, protection and payload requirements, all while ensuring an affordable solution for the Army and USMC.
Q: There is talk of substantial defense funding reductions. Have you instituted any cost-cutting or efficiency moves?
Kevin M. FaheyProgram Executive OfficerCombat Support & Combat Service Support
www.GCT-kmi.com12 | GCT 2.6
A: Over the past year, the PEO CS&CSS has been working diligently to support the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army in identify-ing and implementing ways to become more efficient and effective. As an organization, PEO CS&CSS has actively participated in numerous capability portfolio reviews over the past year with the vice chief of staff of the Army where he has focused and challenged the Army commu-nity on requirements and affordability. Concurrently, PEO CS&CSS has been working hard to implement the under secretary of defense for acquisition, logistics and technology’s Better Buying Power initia-tives. In addition, over the past several years we have devolved a very strong Lean Six Sigma capability within our organization, which has resulted in significant cost savings and efficiencies for the Department of Army.
Q: How has your command expanded and improved over the past year?
A: In April, we gained a new responsibility to actively support the life cycle management of commercial light and medium tac-tical wheeled vehicles for the Afghan National Security Forces [ANSF]. The product director non-standard vehicles [PD NSV] port-folio includes the currently fielded Ford Ranger and Navistar vehicle fleets, as well as any future procurements. The goal of PD NSV is to provide the ANSF the capability and capacity to be self-sustaining and independently able to conduct security operation missions. PD NSV’s mission is a critical part of the overall Afghan transition plan.
Additionally, as we focused on ways to be more efficient and effec-tive, it caused us to assess our organization to identify ways to better manage our systems by portfolios, thus resulting in better alignment of programs and management of our systems from a fleet perspective. Based on those assessments, we transitioned some offices within PEO CS&CSS across the organization to enable greater portfolio align-ment and maximum efficiency.
For example, the product manager joint light tactical vehicles transitioned under the leadership of Colonel David Bassett, project manager tactical vehicles [PM TV], to greater align the Army’s Tacti-cal Wheeled Vehicle [TWV] programs under one PM office. This will ensure synergism between the HMMWV program and JLTV, and enable a cohesive management of the Army’s light tactical vehicles from a fleet perspective, consistent with the Army approved TWV strategy.
Additionally, the product manager armored security vehicles [ASV] and PD NSV transitioned from PM Tactical Vehicles and PM Force Projection, respectively, to PM Joint Combat Support Services [PM JCSS] effective October 1, 2011. The ASV and NSV programs are both primarily focused on providing equipment and capability to the Afghanistan National Army and Security Forces. The alignment of ASV and NSV under PM JCSS will ensure we remain focused on a consolidated approach to providing capability to the Afghanistan National Army consistent with the U.S. policy.
Q: Has the strategy of developing different versions of the MRAP worked well?
A: Our mission has always been to get the maximum number of sur-vivable vehicles, with test-proven performance, delivered in the short-est time possible. The rapid acquisition strategy using multiple IDIQ [indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity] contracts allowed us to do that. So the short answer is, yes, the strategy has been very successful.
Q: How do you assess the work of revamping and updating MRAPs for duty in Afghanistan?
A: We’ve been very successful in refurbishing MRAPs for Afghanistan. The acquisition of an MRAP all-terrain vehicle [M-ATV] is also a big part of that equation. Today we have about 15,000 MRAPs in Opera-tion Enduring Freedom and about 7,000 of them are M-ATVs. We have never fallen below the CENTCOM requirement for readiness. We have a large support element of about 3,000 people OCONUS pro-viding critical support doing de-processing, maintenance, and battle damage and repair.
Q: How has the M-ATV fleet performed in Afghanistan?
A: The ability to go off road gives troops the ability to be less predict-able by going off road rather than driving on predictable routes. The M-ATV also gives combatant commanders the flexibility to seize the offensive while remaining protected from IEDs and ambush attacks. The M-ATV has performed very well.
Q: Are MRAPs and M-ATVs protecting troops well in IED detonations?
A: M-ATVs and MRAPs are saving lives. They offer a proven capabil-ity to reduce combat deaths and casualties associated with roadside bombs and other explosive threats.
Q: Does the IED detection equipment that you attach to vehicles work well?
A: The ongoing and additional procurements of this equipment provide us affirmation that the detection equipment is desired by the warfighters. They would be the best source of how well the equipment works, but the additional orders seem to indicate the effectiveness of the equipment.
Q: What are your closing thoughts about CS&CSS and the men and women who serve in it?
A: The men and women who serve in this organization are simply amazing. They are the most competent and dedicated group of people you will ever meet. They have done remarkable work providing tre-mendous equipment to our men and woman who serve our country with honor. It is relatively easy for us to stay focused knowing that what we do makes our military’s lives better and contributes to them being able to do their mission effectively and safely. The biggest worry I have is if these tremendous folks can continue the pace, but they never cease to amaze me! O
Exclusive Executive Interview
www.GCT-kmi.com GCT 2.6 | 13
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
The new Sidewinder vehicle mount, built by General Dynamics C4 Systems, cost-effectively equips vehicles that do not have communications capability with tactical radios operating in the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) network.
An accessory for the networking AN/PRC-154 Rifleman radio, the Sidewinder quickly transitions the radio from a body-worn radio to a vehicle-mounted radio, augmenting its power and extending its range. Just as quickly, the Rifleman radio can be removed from the Sidewinder while maintaining connectivity with the tactical network.
“The Sidewinder Vehicle Mount is a stellar example of how the rapid acquisition process can work to equip military users with network connectivity in virtually any military vehicle,”
said Chris Brady, vice president of Assured Communications for General Dynamics C4 Systems. “Moreover, the Sidewinder-Rifleman radio combination costs two-thirds less than legacy ‘manpack’ solutions and it easily loads the voice, video and data communications capabilities into tactical vehicles.”
The Sidewinder’s hardware assembly includes the 20-watt power amplifier from another JTRS HMS radio, the AN/PRC-155 and connectors that work with the vehicles’ existing intercom systems and are compat-ible with standard mounting trays that most vehicles already have in place.
The Sidewinder-Rifleman radio combina-tion has been selected by the Army for evalua-tion at the Network Integration Exercise 12.1, at White Sands Missile Range in White Sands, N.M., and concurrently at Fort Bliss, Texas.
How high-tech can a water bottle be? Camelbak’s newest water-purifying bottle comes complete with its own USB cable.
The All Clear Microbiological UV water purifier turns questionable water into drinkable H2O in 60 seconds. Just screw it onto to Camelbak’s 750 ml bottle, push a button and the LCD display counts down the seconds until it’s ready to drink.
“We are pretty excited about it,” said John Austen, director of product manage-ment at Camelbak, describing how the All Clear kills roughly 99.9 percent of all bacteria, viruses and protozoa.
The All Clear purifier weighs about 1.6 ounces and comes with a carrying case, a standard bottle lid and a USB cable for recharging the purifier. The filter has a projected lifespan of 10,000 purification cycles and will purify about 80 bottles of water between recharging, Austen said. The All Clear will be avail-able in February and retail for $99, said Camelbak officials, who added that it will likely be priced at approximately $75 for military personnel.
Northrop Grumman has begun delivering LRS-2000 rate sensor assembly units to General Dynamics Land Systems for the stabilized commander’s weapon station on the Army M1A1 Abrams main battle tank.
Under the $23 million contract, Northrop Grumman will deliver more than 2,400 LRS-2000 units to General Dynamics between now and September 2013. The production contract marks the culmination of a cooperative design, develop-ment and qualification process that began when Northrop Grumman was initially awarded the project in October 2008.
The LRS-2000 is a two-axis rate sensor that supports gun and turret stabilization applications. Based on Northrop Grumman’s G-2000 dynami-cally tuned gyroscope, it functions as part of a larger system that provides added protection from enemy gunfire or improvised explosive devices by allowing soldiers to fire the tank’s machine gun from inside the armored vehicle.
“The safety of soldiers is a top priority for Northrop Grumman,” said Gorik Hossepian, vice president of navigation and positioning systems for Northrop Grumman’s Navigation Systems Division. “Rolling out the LRS-2000 rate sensor assembly will ultimately help to save military men and women’s lives while increasing their effectiveness on the battlefield.”
The G-2000 gyroscope is a key component of the LRS-2000 and offers superior accuracy stabi-lization in a small package. It is the smallest dynamically-tuned gyroscope produced and offers high performance, small size, excellent reliability and low cost, according to the company. Its accu-racy is enhanced by a servo-electronics card that is tailored to maximize the performance of the two-axis gyroscope.
More than 40,000 G-2000 gyros have been produced for a variety of military and commer-cial applications since 1992. General Dynamics completed the first article and first piece inspection (FPI) of the LRS-2000 in July, paving the way for Northrop Grumman to begin deliveries of the rate sensor assembly units. FPI involves the inspection and testing of pre-production samples of parts to ensure that they meet quality control requirements prior to contract approval.
Rate Sensors Being Delivered for Abrams
Weapon Station
Light sticks have a wide array of military uses, Andrew Wilson, vice president of business development and research and development with Esterline Technologies Corp., said in an interview.
Very bright light sticks can last for hours and be used to identify trainees, mark a helicopter destination for night landings, or illuminate a tent interior, Wilson said.
Esterline offers light sticks in widely varying colors, with the lumi-nescence triggered by snapping the plastic tube, then shaking the tube to mix chemicals inside it.
The tubes are biodegradable and non-toxic, he noted.
There also is an invisible light stick which emits infrared, which can’t be seen by the naked eye.
These light sticks are “very cost competitive,” he said, adding that he expects further improvements in their technology. They are available in six-inch tubes, with other lengths possible.
Light Sticks Offer Multiple Military
Uses
Water Purification System Unveiled
Radios Form Nodes on Net
www.GCT-kmi.com14 | GCT 2.6
Honeywell First Responder introduced the next generation of tactical intelligent hearing protec-tion and communication systems for military and tactical operations.
QuietPro QP400 provides soldiers with smart personal hearing protection, situational aware-ness enhancement, and the clearest incoming and outgoing communication throughout the full spectrum of training and deployment operations.
“As a Tactical Communication and Protection System, QuietPro QP400 enables soldiers to communicate in combat scenarios without compromising their ability to hear their natural surrounding and their tactical commu-nications,” said retired Lieutenant Colonel Brian Burns, U.S. Army, business development director for Government Programs, Honeywell First Responder Products. “QuietPro QP400 delivers the clearest in-ear communication essential for understanding and adapting to rapidly changing environments. On the battlefield we were always
taught to ‘shoot, move and communicate.’ Half of communication is the ability to hear. QuietPro QP400 allows the soldier to hear in all situations, and by protecting their hearing they are able to accomplish the mission and come home safely.”
The new Honeywell QuietPro QP400 improves a soldier’s two-way communications and speech intelligibility, especially in high noise. Its patented digital active noise reduction technology delivers results by continuously monitoring ambient sound and reducing the levels of noise across the spec-trum of frequencies to acceptable levels in real time. This allows soldiers to hear ambient sounds at safe levels—even in intermittent and impact noise—and provides increasing low frequency attenuation for clear, intelligible communications.
On foot patrol, mounted in a vehicle, or in the air, QuietPro QP400’s new quick connection/disconnection cables allow full jump-on/plug-in transition on all mobility platforms. QuietPro QP400 now features a four-channel/intercom
capability through a smart comms hub, and adapts to the widest range of radio and intercom platforms, enabling soldiers to be networked and connected during all stages of their mission.
QuietPro QP400’s new push-button interface provides quick and easy access and control of functions, while its one-side cable design elimi-nates excess connections. Its new voice feedback menu walks the user through each function for easy operation and control of system function and modes.
Since entered into operational service, more than 63,000 of the original Nacre QuietPro intel-ligent hearing and communication system have been fielded across 13 countries. More than 40,000 are in daily service with the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. special forces and U.S. government agencies, and is the only in-ear intel-ligent hearing protection and communication system approved for the U.S. Army Nett Warrior soldier modernization program.
An Office of Naval Research scientist, Roshdy George S. Barsoum, has developed a coating mate-rial that is blast- and fire-resistant. The special high-tech surface tech-nology, HybridSil Fire/Blast, acts like a force field that surrounds and protects any type of surface, making it blast-, ballistic- and fire-resistant.
“You can take an existing material and change it completely to make it more useful for the warfighter,” said Barsoum, ONR’s manager, explosion-resistant coating, Ships and Engineering Systems Division. The coating is sprayed onto surfaces just like paint, with minimal
surface preparation. It is applied in variable thick-nesses—less for fire-proofing and more for blast-resistance. But the tricky part is that the law of diminishing returns is at work: at some point, the more you apply, the less effective it becomes. Determining the appro-priate amount for each surface and user need is complex, Barsoum said.
The Navy is particularly interested in the material’s fire-resistant properties, since fires, along with floods, present the greatest threats on a ship or subma-rine. The Army and Air Force have also been inves-tigating its use to protect buildings against vehicle-
borne explosive devices. The coating was developed with industry partner NanoSonic Inc., and the cost per gallon is equivalent to premium house paint. It can be used on new and old materials alike, making it easy to apply to existing ships or vehicles.
The research into this coating began after the bombing of USS Cole (DDG 67) on October 12, 2000. The Navy wanted to find new ways of protecting ships, including coatings and polymers that could shield against explosions and fire. The research took off after 9/11, and the new defensive coating was applied to rebuilt sections of the Pentagon.
BAE Systems and Iveco Defence Vehicles announced their official teaming relationship to provide the U.S. Marine Corps Personnel Carrier (MPC). That move followed the licensing agreement announced last June. The companies have signed both a teaming agreement and technology cross licensing agreement. “This teaming agreement is particularly timely as we recently responded to the Marine Corps’ request for information for the MPC program. Combining our expertise allows us to best address the requirements of the U.S. Marine Corps and its MPC program with an affordable amphibious platform that balances performance, capability and cost,” said Ann Hoholick, vice president and general manager of amphibious and new programs at BAE Systems. “We are well positioned to meet any current and future amphibious vehicle needs that our Marine Corps customer faces.”
Firms to Vie for Marine Corps
Personnel Carrier
Hearing Protection and Comms System Launched
Spray-on Protective Coating Shields Against Blast, Fire
www.GCT-kmi.com GCT 2.6 | 15
Soldier Equipper Ground Combat Vehicle Critically Needed as TACOM Aids Warfighters
Q&AQ&A
Major General Kurt J. Stein assumed command of the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command on January 29, 2010 following his assignment in Iraq where he served as the deputy chief of staff, MNF-I Combined Joint 1/4/8.
He entered the U.S. Army as an enlisted soldier in October 1976 and achieved the rank of staff sergeant. In 1982, he was commissioned as an ordnance officer from the Officer Can-didate School at Fort Benning, Ga. His military education includes the Ordnance Officer Basic and Advanced Course, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, the Army Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College.
His previous assignments include maintenance division chief, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; maintenance platoon leader and shop officer, C Company, 123rd Main Support Bat-talion, 1st Armored Division; battalion adjutant, 123rd MSB, 1st AD; Commander, D Co. 123rd MSB, 1st AD; ordnance assignment officer, PERSCOM/HRC, Alexandria, Va.; execu-tive officer, 610th Ordnance Battalion, Fort Belvoir, Va.; sup-port operations officer, 782nd Main Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C; executive officer, 407th Forward Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division; S-3, 82nd DISCOM; deputy commander, 20th Support Group, Taegu, Korea; executive officer, 82nd DISCOM; commander, 82nd Forward Support Battalion; G-4 82nd Airborne Division; Com-mander, 2ID DISCOM, deputy director for power projection, Joint Staff, J-4, executive officer to the J-4, Joint Staff, Wash-ington D.C. assistant chief of staff, J4, Headquarters, United States Forces Korea (USFK), deputy assistant chief of staff, C4, Combined Forces Command (CFC), deputy commanding general for support, Eighth United States Army (EUSA), Yong-san, Korea, deputy commanding general of USFK (Advanced Element), Camp Humphreys, Korea and MNF-I CJ 1/4/8, Baghdad, Iraq.
His personal awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Joint Staff Achievement Medal, the Army Achieve-ment Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the Iraq Cam-paign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal, the Korean Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, the National Defense Service Ribbon, the NCO Development
Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon (5 tours), the Master Parachutist Badge and German Jump Wings.
Q: In January, it will be two years since you assumed command. What changes have you seen occur, and what improvements have you effected in the command?
A: Perhaps the biggest change we’ve seen is the final execution of our base realignment and closure [BRAC] responsibilities and actions this September. The largest and most complex BRAC action involved the relocation of procurement manage-ment and materiel management functions from Rock Island Arsenal to the Detroit Arsenal. More than 1,100 positions trans-ferred as a result of this action. Many of these positions provide direct and indirect logistics support for the Army’s ground combat systems. During the past two years, the Detroit Arsenal also experienced major changes in its physical plant with the completion of four major BRAC and non-BRAC construction projects. Our installation [Detroit Arsenal] looks much differ-ent than it did two years ago.
In the near future, the Army will face both increased demands for war fighting capabilities and reduced budgets.
Major General Kurt J. SteinCommanding General
U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management
Command
www.GCT-kmi.com16 | GCT 2.6
We’ll be asked to do more without more. We’re not waiting to see what happens. On multiple fronts, the TACOM LCMC is exploring ways to gain resource efficiencies in our organiza-tion. Our goal is to develop and execute a workable plan to maximize our operational efficiencies in order to better position our workforce for the future. Our people, products, processes, and culture enable the TACOM LCMC to provide the best pos-sible support to America’s soldiers. We’re planning and moving forward now to maintain our ability to provide that support for many years to come.
Q: What challenges do you see ahead for the command in the next five years?
A: For the past decade, the Army has been the beneficiary of ample resources. Funding has been there to support the 1.1 million soldiers who have deployed to combat during the past 10 years. Our Army continues to perform full spectrum missions around the world, but changes are underway. Shifting national priorities, new mission requirements, and coming budget deci-sions will have a pronounced effect on the Army. The fiscal reality is that we will get smaller. How we do it is the hard part. Setting priorities and channeling resources will be a grueling effort. I believe these may be the most challenging times our Army has seen in many years.
Many question marks surround the Army’s combat vehicle programs. This applies to all programs—not just the new ground combat vehicle. It’s extremely difficult for the Army to plan, project, and program its requirements in the face of such uncertainty. In a very real sense, we’re waiting for the budget bus. Money’s going away and there are major decisions to be made. What equipment are we going to keep? What equipment will the Army choose to sustain? What portion of the Army’s future focus will be on developing new systems? What steps will the Army take to upgrade its existing combat vehicle fleet? The national budget deliberations have scrambled the decision-making processes the Army typically uses to answer questions like these.
The questions multiply when the subject is the new ground combat vehicle. Questions run the gamut from funding, sol-dier capacity, and tactical mobility ... to force protection, fuel efficiency, and the expansion potential for future upgrades. What’s the best approach to get what the Army wants? Right now, there’s more mystery than clarity involved in the effort to discern the best path forward.
The years ahead will bring even more tough challenges. The persistent conflict we’ve endured for the past decade will not end in the near future. Although the Army’s combat vehicle pro-grams are currently in flux, the demand for military resources will likely continue to remain strong. The nature and role of the Army’s heavy combat assets will continue to be debated.
Q: What is the status of the ground combat vehicle program, and what are the next milestones?
A: The Ground Combat Vehicle program was approved for the technology development phase in August 2011 and this was fol-lowed with the Army awarding two contracts for the technology development phase.
The ground combat vehicle, or GCV, is the Army’s No. 1 vehicle development priority and the No. 2 modernization priority overall. There are some important reasons why the development of the GCV is so critical. Lessons learned from nearly 10 years of conflict show us that we must have the ability to deliver a full infantry squad to a position of decisive advantage on the battlefield in varied terrain types. Our cur-rent combat vehicle fleet has served us well, but the battlefield has evolved to include combinations of conventional, irregu-lar, terrorist and criminal elements—often mixed among a civilian population. The use of improvised explosive devices is one strong example of this new and emerging threat from a highly adaptive enemy. To meet this threat we have had to increase force protection on vehicles with additional armor. We have had to increase the force’s effectiveness by adding a host of computing and electronic capabilities. The additional weight and power demands of these added capabilities have maxed out the vehicles in terms of space, weight, power and cooling.
We know the threat will continue to evolve, so developing the GCV as quickly as possible is critical. Additionally, we are all operating in a resource-constrained environment that does not allow for risks in schedule slippage or increase in cost. The GCV effort addresses the critical operational and financial issues as a leader in acquisition through better buying power, where affordability and efficiency are major concerns. In the GCV, the focus is on mature technologies, solid requirements and more competition among vendors.
Overall, there is a critical need for the GCV. Army leader-ship has been behind the effort and continues to support it. Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli told lawmak-ers in October that the GCV is absolutely essential and went on to say that not proceeding would cost lives. The Army is serious about affordability and making sure the requirement set is correct. Ms. Heidi Shyu, the Army’s acting acquisition executive, also recently called the ground combat vehicle effort an excellent example of the Army’s improved approach to acquisition.
Q: How is the joint light tactical vehicle program performing?
A: The JLTV technology development phase was highly suc-cessful and satisfied its intended purposes. The purposes were to demonstrate the integration of mature technologies as a complete system and provide an assessment of the technical, performance cost and schedule risks relevant to entering the engineering and manufacturing development phase. It gave the Army and Marines exactly the kind of information we needed to make really well-informed decisions about what JLTV can be and what it should cost.
Competitive prototyping during the technology develop-ment phase improved the fidelity of the designs, demonstrated mature technologies, increased confidence in operational per-formance, and increased the confidence in cost estimates for the program life cycle. The engineering and manufacturing development phase will include full and open competition with the selection of multiple offerors. Our aim is to give industry greater latitude to demonstrate what’s achievable on a light platform—the refined acquisition strategy is designed to put a
www.GCT-kmi.com GCT 2.6 | 17
TaCom LCmC Command Group
Integrated Logistics Support Center
Business management Directorate
Weapons Product Support Integration Directorate
Tactical Vehicles Product Support Integration Directorate
Deployment Equipment Product Support Integration Directorate
Combat Support/Combat Services Support, Readiness & Sustainment
Logistics Integration
Tacom LCmC G3
Soldier, Biological, Chemical operations
Chemical/Biological Defense Product Support Integration Directorate
G4/Logistics, Engineering & Environment Directorate
G6/Chief Information office
■ Executive Director
■ Director ■ Automation Management & Support Division Director
■ Integrated Financial Management Division
■ Administrative Services Division
■ Director ■ Heavy Truck Group ■ Light Truck Group ■ Medium Truck Group ■ Light/Medium Systems Contracting Group
■ Trailers
■ Director ■ Troop Support Group ■ Construction Equipment Group
■ Materials Handling Equipment Group
■ Petroleum & Water ■ Logistics Group ■ Watercraft Inspection Group
■ Director
■ Director ■ Associate Director
■ Director ■ Deputy Director
■ Director
■ Director ■ Contracting Associate Director ■ Product Support Integrator Decontamination & Collective Protection Group
■ Chemical Defense Equipment New Initiatives & Support Group
■ Product Support Integrator IP/Alarms/Bio Group
■ Chief Info Officer ■ Chief Information Management & Technology Business Management
■ Information Management & Technology Business Collaboration
■ Chief Technology Officer ■ Information Assurance & Management Office
■ Director
■ Commanding General ■ Deputy To Commanding
General ■ Chief Of Staff ■ Deputy Chief Of Staff ■ Command Sergeant Major
■ Director ■ Associate Director ■ Apache Team ■ Apache Longbow Team ■ USA Helicopter Team ■ Crew Served Weapons Team ■ Individual Weapons Team ■ Small Arms Group ■ Heavy Machine Gun Team ■ Medium Machine Gun Team ■ Light Machine Gun Team ■ Rifle & Carbines Team ■ Mount Team ■ Associate Director/Executive Agent Small Arms Logistics & Demilitarization
■ Logistic Team ■ Team Support Group ■ Resources Team ■ Provisioning Team ■ Special Projects Team
Ground Combat Support, Readiness & Sustainment
Light Combat Product Support Integration Directorate
Field artillery Directorate
Security assistance management Directorate
Industrial Base operations
anniston army Depot Command Staff
Red River army Depot Command Staff
Sierra army Depot Command Staff
Light armored Vehicle
■ Director
■ Director ■ Bradley Armanment & Mines Group
■ Bradley Mobility Group ■ M113/Fox Mobility Group ■ Brigade Combat Team Support Group/Interim Armored Vehicle Support Team
■ Director ■ M109 Family Logistics Leader ■ M109 Supply Team ■ Medium Towed & Fire Control ■ Light Towed & Fire Control ■ Towed Artillery Net Team ■ Towed M198 Team ■ Towed M119/M102 Team ■ Operations Teams ■ Target Acquisition Team
■ Director ■ Geographic A Division Chief ■ Geographic B Division Chief ■ Technical Support/Operations C Division ■ Management Office
■ Commander ■ Deputy To Commander ■ Contracting Director ■ Information Management Director ■ FOIA Coordinator ■ Public Affairs Officer ■ Public Works Director ■ Small Business Coordinator ■ Garrison Manager ■ Materiel Management Directorate ■ Engineering & Quality Directorate
■ Commander ■ Deputy To The Commander ■ Chief Of Staff/Garrison Manager ■ Sergeant Major ■ Public Affairs Officer ■ Information Management Director ■ FOIA Coordinator ■ Contracting Director ■ Legal Officer ■ Director Of Maintenance, Logistics Director
■ Public Works Manager ■ Resource Management Officer
■ Commander ■ Deputy To Commander ■ FOIA Coordinator ■ Information Management Director
■ Public Affairs Officer ■ Public Works Officer ■ Small Business Coordinator
■ Program Manager ■ Deputy Program Manager
■ Business Financial Manager
■ Rapid Acquisitions & Modifications (RAM)
■ Contract Manager
■ Director
Heavy Combat Product Support Integration Directorate
■ Director ■ Heavy Armor & Recovery Group
■ Abrams Armament Group ■ Combat Support ■ Mobility Group
premium on driving down costs, reducing risk and getting vehicles into the hands of warfighters quicker.
The JLTV program followed a disciplined requirements management process with eight knowledge point reviews that used emerging analysis and test data throughout the technology development phase to adjust the requirements primarily to drive down vehicle weight. The idea is to get a vehicle that can be incrementally improved on over time. Within the program’s key performance parameters there is sufficient trade space to give manufacturers latitude to be creative and to demonstrate what’s achievable on a light platform.
Q: What is the purpose of the HMMWV recapitalization program?
A: The competitive HMMWV recapitalization and mod-ernization program will utilize the expanded capability vehicle chassis as a ‘seed’ to recapitalize into a modernized expanded capability vehicle with enhanced capabilities. By opening the HMMWV recap program to competition, we hope to capitalize on the engineering and design expertise of industry to provide a level of protection that makes it a viable choice for combat operations.
The Army intends to focus on improvements to crew sur-vivability and transportability, restoring payload capacity and automotive/mobility performance, and will incorporate lessons learned from recent operational need statements.
By divesting our oldest, least capable HMMWV fleet and replacing the vehicles with the JLTV as it comes into produc-tion, those are all key elements of the Army’s approved tactical wheeled vehicle strategy.
Q: Congress is weighing very substantial reductions in defense spending and programs, with a possibility of 5 percent to 10 percent across-the-board cuts DoD-wide. What steps has the command already taken to make itself more cost-efficient? What further steps are envisioned?
A: Recent public statements by the Secretary of Defense [Leon Panetta] highlighted the seriousness of the funding challenges ahead. Shrinking the number of troops, cutting new weapons purchases, dramatically slowing equipment modernization programs, reducing the nuclear arsenal, a potential new round of base closings, and possible changes to military medical and retirement benefits are among the spending categories under consideration for possible reductions. The congressional, DoD, and Army budget deliberations are taking place in a setting of widespread public concern regarding our nation’s financial health.
The BRAC consolidation of positions at the Detroit Arse-nal helped us facilitate a realignment of resources that have common and consistent missions to support soldiers and Army combat equipment. Our logistics assistance, training and fielding, and fleet management expanded organizations were consolidated into a single field support organization that shares skills and resources. In anticipation of reduced sustain-ment budgets in the next few years, we moved very cautiously in filling positions that were vacated in the transfer. This will
enable our command to more readily absorb budget reductions while minimizing potential adverse effects on our current workforce.
The TACOM LCMC has embraced numerous recent and ongoing cost savings initiatives. Approximately 47 percent of our workforce includes teammates in one of our six indus-trial base arsenals and depots. Lean six sigma activities are a particularly important source of real cost savings at these facilities. Commandwide, we’ve achieved validated cost savings of $136 million in FY10 and $150 million in FY11 as a result of our robust lean six sigma programs. The award-winning TACOM LCMC value engineering program is consistently one of the Army’s best. In FY10, the command amassed a record $1.6 billion in savings via 39 implemented value engineering programs. The best part of the value engineering approach is that it frees up funds that can be used for other purposes. The command has also been on board from the beginning regarding [then-Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, and now Deputy Secretary of Defense] Dr. Ashton Carter’s better buying power initiatives. Our local contract-ing folks have reported excellent early savings resulting from application of the better buying power guidelines. Finally, the TACOM LCMC is an enthusiastic participant in the Army Mate-riel Command’s new bold ideas initiative that seeks to stimulate many short-term, high impact ideas to save costs and improve performance.
Q: PEO Soldier has moved to provide better gear to personnel. What does the command see as the highest-priority innovations that PEO Soldier is working on to improve the lethality and survivability of the soldier?
A: PEO Soldier’s key innovations for soldier lethality include the XM.25 Individual Semi-Automatic Airburst System and the upgraded M2A1 .50 caliber machine gun.
The developmental XM.25 is designed to address the chal-lenge of defeating enemies behind cover. The XM.25 fires 25 mm ‘smart’ munitions that can be programmed to detonate at precise distances. The system incorporates a full-solution
The XM.25. [Photo courtesy of ATK]
www.GCT-kmi.com20 | GCT 2.6
target acquisition/fire control that enhances a soldier’s ability to deliver rounds at ranges and accuracies not seen in today’s small arms. Soldiers who have employed prototype XM.25s in combat report that the systems provided added capability while shortening the length of engagements.
The M2A1 upgrades include a quick change barrel, fixed headspace and timing, and a new flash hider that reduces the weapon’s flash signature by 95 percent. The fixed headspace and timing enhancement resolves the number one safety issue for soldiers operating the weapon system. The quick change barrel speeds target engagement and improves survivability and safety by reducing the time required to change the barrel and eliminating the timely procedure of setting headspace. The result is that unit M2A1s will have near constant firepower and less downtime. PEO Soldier fielded the first M2A1s this sum-mer. The Army’s goal is to upgrade over 45,000 M2s to the new M2A1 standard.
In the realm of survivability, research and development efforts are being conducted in the areas of advanced fiber technologies for lighter weight ballistic materials, improving ceramic hardness and durability, pelvic protection systems to reduce blast injuries to the groin region, and helmet sensors that measure and record trauma to the head. These efforts work to improve soldier survivability by maintaining or increasing current personal protective equipment capabilities while reduc-ing weight, adding ballistic protection to vital areas, and as an outcome of the Helmet Sensor Program, assist in correlating medical data with head trauma for the development of screen-ing tools to identify mild traumatic brain injury.
Q: The System of Systems Integration Directorate is a newer organization in TACOM. Could you describe its work and the advantages it confers upon warfighters?
A: The System of Systems Integration Directorate stood up on October 1. The directorate is headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., which makes sense as the directorate primarily integrates network capability and the Army’s net-work community is based at Aberdeen. However, the System of Systems Integration Directorate has a significant presence at TACOM. With business offices and operations cells, they team with the TACOM contracting center for acquisition and TAR-DEC for engineering support
Their stand up is part of continuing acquisition improve-ments to streamline procurement practices and requirements, better manage cost and schedules, integrate new technologies before they are sent to theater and work more closely with industry. The System of Systems Integration Directorate will spearhead acquisition management of the network integration evaluations and is a key team manager, bringing together more than 11 PEOs, of what is being termed the agile process. This acquisition process seeks technology improvements from both large and small industry partners to fill hardware and software needs as determined by requirements analysis linked to the ARFORGEN model—the systematic process in which Army brigades equip, train and deploy.
Q: In the Joint PEO for Chemical and Biological Defense, where do you place greater emphasis: on detection, protection,
decontamination, avoidance or medical treatment? Or must each area be given equal emphasis?
A: The Joint PEO for Chemical Biological Defense portfolio consists of an evenly balanced mix of non-medical equip-ment and medical countermeasures that include prophylaxes, therapeutics, bio-surveillance, and diagnostics. This ratio represents a recent strategic shift towards a comprehensive response to the threat of bioterrorism and emerging chemical threats.
President [Obama] and the secretary of defense have pro-vided renewed importance on rapidly and efficiently develop-ing and manufacturing effective medical countermeasures for weapons of mass destruction through executive orders, homeland security presidential directives, and the National Strategy for Countering Biological threats. Our core competen-cies within bio-surveillance, diagnostics, and the new medical countermeasures initiative support this shift.
The capability to obtain early warning about the deliberate use or natural emergence of dangerous pathogens hinges upon the development of a global bio-surveillance network. Diag-nostics is fundamental to bio-surveillance, and it is a key area of our expertise within the Joint PEO for Chemical Biological Defense. We develop and integrate state-of-the-art chemical and biological diagnostic and identification systems to enable both force protection and force health protection.
Detection, protection, decontamination, contamination avoidance, and medical treatment all play key roles in provid-ing world-class capabilities that allow our servicemembers to fight and win decisively in CBRN threat environments. The first step in enabling the Warfighter to operate successfully in such environments is to develop the proper mix of joint capabilities for current military operations, while also preparing against emerging threats. In so doing, it is essential that we maintain a comprehensive portfolio of medical and non-medical CBRN capabilities.
Q: Do you have any closing thoughts on your command, the people who staff it, and the capabilities that you provide to those in uniform?
A: Providing support to the warfighter is the reason the TACOM LCMC exists. It’s our top priority and the basis for everything we do. Placing the warfighter at the center of our mission and vision statements is a must. Placing the warfighter at the center of our daily work effort—in the shop, lab, or office—is better still. Our responsibility is to try to see the link between the work we perform here ... and the soldier in the field. It’s that kind of focus that adds real value and meaning to our daily labor. This is our expectation for every TACOM LCMC teammate.
The work we do requires the assistance of many organiza-tions within our life cycle management command. Effective communication, coordination, and collaboration are essential to achieve success in our work to support soldiers. We seek to master these skills because they help us serve soldiers better. We have a tremendous TACOM LCMC team and I am proud to be part of it.
Finally, if a soldier eats it, wears it, drives it, or shoots it... TACOM LCMC develops, supplies, or sustains it. O
www.GCT-kmi.com GCT 2.6 | 21
When you hear the term “military power,” what comes to mind? If you are like most people, it is an image of the prodigious military might of the U.S. armed forces, which are arguably the most powerful, the best trained, the most lethal warfighters in the world. But to ground troops and support strategists, “military power” also has another meaning: electric power requirements.
“There is a broad need for energy-effi-cient, standalone products to support secu-rity, development and disaster recovery, and other military operations worldwide, rang-ing from what would equate to base-level operations, to the small teams of soldiers performing missions as fast-moving, mobile ‘islands’ of sorts,” said Melissa G. Burns, vice president of marketing and project manage-ment for Princeton, N.J.-based WorldWater & Solar Technologies Inc.
WorldWater provides DoD with solar-powered water purification systems that can
also generate off-grid power via their pho-tovoltaic collectors. Burns said the need for clean water and power in theater are inextri-cably linked. “We focus on the nexus between power delivery and water delivery. While the power generated by our products can be used to power any tool or application, the use of distributed power platforms to support dis-tributed water delivery platforms is critical for work done and people operating in any remote area.” Twenty-five of WorldWater’s Mobile MaxPure (MMP) units were recently installed by paratroopers from the 3rd Bri-gade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division along the Tigris River in Iraq.
Energy availability has long been a lim-iting factor in military operations. Access to expeditionary or “off-grid” power has always been a challenge for forward units. Today, with increased network-centric opera-tions and a greater reliance on sophisticated field electronics and digital communications
technologies, it is even more so. Having access to reliable sources of “off-grid” power not only reduces the warfighters’ logistical footprint, in the case of solar powered solu-tions, it also reduces reliance on fossil fuels.
And that translates into fewer fuel truck convoys for enemies to target.
But no matter the source, even if it is more traditional gasoline or diesel powered generators, one thing is certain: Energy is power. Tactical electronics are a key force multiplier to today’s ground troops. Night vision equipment, image intensifica-tion devices, laser rangefinders, GPS, and long-range and short-range communica-tions equipment are just a small sample of the current and growing list of such energy-hungry devices.
But their use is limited by battery life and access to the ability to recharge in the field. Beyond that, forward bases simply need power just to function. “We’re turning the
By sTeve GooDman
GCT CorresponDenT
solar solDiers anD G.i GeneraTors: e-warfiGhTers run on eleCTriC power.
www.GCT-kmi.com22 | GCT 2.6
lights on, we’re powering the environmen-tal control unit, we’re powering the radios, the galley that cooks the food,” said Doug Moorehead, president of Earl Energy, of Portsmouth, Va. “For the most part, that is powered by a diesel generator that is running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.” Earl Energy is developing and fielding technology that is designed to make those Tactical Quiet Gen-erators (TQG) much more efficient.
The military’s provider of tactical electric power is Project Manager Mobile Electric Power (PM MEP). The mission of PM MEP is to “provide standardized tactical electric power and environmental control capabili-ties to the Department of Defense in support of national security.”
On September 7, 2011, Colonel Brian P. Cummings assumed the role of project man-ager of PM MEP. Among the major projects Cummings has inherited from his predeces-sor are the Army’s first micro-grid, which is currently installed at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, and production of the next generation of standard tactical generators, which will be shipped to Afghanistan starting later this year. As a DoD project manager, Mobile Electric Power supplies equipment to all branches along with the Army, serving as a central hub for power system expertise, training and research.
The PM MEP portfolio of equipment includes several classes of conventional generators, as well as power distribution equipment, environmental control units and hybrid system prototypes that use solar power and other alternative energy sources.
power players
Energy Technologies Inc., of East Man-sfield, Ohio, supplies a complete line of off-grid solutions from tactical generators to fuel cells. ETI’s Military Power line includes commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and Mil Spec “smart” uninterruptible power sup-ply units, frequency converters, power dis-tribution units and battery systems. The “smart” features include the ability to field monitor and control the equipment and modulate their loads by remote control interfaces. Their WorldPower versions are designed to operate from all worldwide volt-ages and frequencies, including aircraft or vehicular power.
DRASH, a division of DHS Technologies LLC, is best known for the Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelter, or DRASH, for which it is named. DRASH, based in Orangeburg,
N.Y., has designed what it calls Intelligent Power Technology, or IPT. IPT delivers maxi-mum power with minimal fuel consumption by allowing multiple generators to operate together in parallel, creating what amounts to a deployable power grid. “Smart” chips within these digital generators allow them to be turned on and off without affect-ing one another to respond to changes in power requirements. When combined with the DRASH utility support transport trailer, you get mobility and networked power, in any terrain accessible to military vehicles. Field tests of these smart digital generators have shown fuel savings of anywhere from 13 to 20 percent over the use of standard “analog” generators. “Although relatively new, several DRASH IPT trailers can found in multiple locations around the world with U.S. and NATO forces,” said Ken Sincerbox, communications specialist with DHS. Some specific Department of Defense programs that IPT trailers support include: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, Harbormas-ter command and control center, Patriot battery command post, mobile tower sys-tem, and long-endurance multi intelligence vehicle.
Cummins Power Generation, a division of Cummins Inc., provides PM MEP with its advanced medium mobile power source (AMMPS). AMMPS was designed to replace the aging fleet of the Army’s TQGs under PM MEP’s tactical electric power portfo-lio. According to Cummins, the advantage of AMMPS over TQG is that it provides “smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient power in the field, with a 21 percent improvement in fuel consumption. Cummins Power Genera-tion Americas is located in Minneapolis.
It is important to point out that technol-ogy and systems such as AMMPS and IPT, which are designed to boost the efficiency of traditional diesel generators, save a lot more than fuel. According to a 2003-2007 Army study, one out of eight Marine fatalities are killed protecting fuel convoys. “It’s a very serious problem,” said Moorehead. “There is the cost that is way beyond just the cost of fuel. That is why we are so passionate about this.”
Moorehead, a SOF veteran, has dedi-cated himself to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy and energy management technology to help DoD maintain operation readiness, and at the same time reduce its massive fuel demands.
“Our technology allows our military cus-tomers to save on their costs of energy, to
built for
battleThe US miliTary’S nexT-
generaTion leUpold TacTical opTicS are now in Service on Today’S baTTlefield. deSigned, engineered,
machined, aSSembled, and relenTleSSly TeSTed in
oregon, USa.
inSiST on mark 4™ and mark 8™ moUnTing SySTemS for The moST demanding applicaTionS.
mark 8™ cqbss™ 1.1-8x
designated marksman and battle rifle optic
service rifle and carbine optic
mark 4™ er/tπ 6.5 -20x m5 auto-locking adjustment
long-range sniper optic
mark 4™ hamr™ f ixed 4x reflex red dot
available now @ 1-800-leupold #[email protected] www.leupold.CoM/TaCTiCal
~ porTland, oregon, u.S.a. ~
auSa booTh # 4007Modern day Marine booTh # 3408
www.GCT-kmi.com GCT 2.6 | 23
reduce their needs to resupply, to take what they have and make it more economical and efficient,” he said. The system is called FlexGen. It allows the diesel generator to run only for brief periods of time at its most efficient loads, takes that energy and stores it in batteries, which are then used to provide power as needed. As the battery power begins to run low, the diesel generator automati-cally turns back on to recharge the batter-ies, creating an energy generating and fuel savings cycle. “In the first units we deployed with the Marine Corps we saw a 60 percent reduction in diesel fuel consumption, and in testing with the special forces we just concluded [in September 2011], we saw a 69 percent reduction in consumption.”
here Comes The sun
A typical three-day mission in Afghani-stan requires a soldier to haul along about 20 pounds of batteries, from tiny AAs for night vision goggles to large brick-size packs used in tactical radios. An average infantry battalion on a one-year deployment will burn through roughly $150,000 worth of batteries.
According to the Government Account-ability Office, the DoD spent over $2 billion on tactical power sources between 2006 and 2010, but that investment has done little to lighten the battery load on ground troops. Many expeditionary power experts believe the best chance to do that is with solar power.
“The use of solar power to solve many of the challenges of light weight, reliability and sufficient power to perform mission-criti-cal activities has distinct advantages,” said WorldWater’s Burns. “Even under cloudy conditions, solar panels produce power. They also come in a variety of configurations including foldable, flexible and glass, which presents a great many options in terms of weight and footprint.”
WorldWater is not the only supplier of expeditionary power to DoD that is look-ing up for its solutions. Powerenz of Ken-nesaw, Ga., provides a variety of military spec and made-to-order custom off-grid solar solutions, including several man-car-ried, lightweight sling packs. Marines have been looking at folding “power mats” such as the one designed by SBM Solar of Con-cord, N.C., and the Solar Tactical Advanced Recharger, manufactured by Energy Mas-ters, and distributed by Sunshine Works of Winchester, Tenn.
Earl Energy’s Moorehead explained that technology that improves the efficiency of existing diesel generators is just the start. DoD is seeing the value in turning toward renewable sources such as wind and solar. “[Diesel generators] are not going away any time soon. They will continue to be the pri-mary power-producing asset for some time to come on the battlefield. Renewables are a great secondary way to augment and supple-ment diesel power, but for now, our primary goal is to improve the efficiency of existing generators, and we are accomplishing that.” Moorehead said that by integrating solar cells into a FlexGen system being used by a Marine unit in Afghanistan, they were able to add an additional 7 percent fuel savings to the already 60 percent achieved by the stand-alone system.
fuTure GeneraTions
PM MEP is also actively pursuing and supporting research into alternative portable power technologies, one of the most promis-ing of which may be man-portable fuel cells. According to a recent Pike Research Report, “military man-portable applications such as remote monitoring/sensing and mobile sol-dier power remain a strong area of focus for fuel cell developers, and are expected to be the largest revenue category for portable fuel cells.” An oxide fuel cell developed by Delphi of Troy, Mich., is already being tested for use in Marine convoy vehicles that will allow
troops to power devices such as GPS, comms gear and laptops, when turning the engine off while idling at check points. It does use fuel, but converts it directly to electricity, which is more efficient.
Developing and future technologies aside, PM MEP remains a critical part-ner in the military’s aggressive efforts to reduce its energy footprint while ensur-ing troops’ power needs are met. Initia-tives such as AMMPS, centralized power systems for command posts and proven smart micro-grid technologies all cut down on the amount of fossil fuel needed to produce power.
GPS, the Internet, and many of the other technologies that civilians take for granted had their origins in DoD programs. It is only a matter of time before military portable power also goes the tactical-to-practical route, and these innovations trickle down to consumer and commercial appli-cations, reducing overall U.S. demand for fossil fuels.
“At the end of the day I think the military is the flagship customer, for energy efficiency technology,” said Moorehead, “because there isn’t any other consumer that pays a higher dollar per kilowatt-hour delivered than does the military on the battlefield.” O
For more information, contact GCT Editor Dave Ahearn at [email protected] or search our online archives for
related stories at www.GCT-kmi.com.
The Mobile MaxPure system provides solar power and pure water. [Photo courtesy of WorldWater Solar Technologies]
www.GCT-kmi.com24 | GCT 2.6
The U.S. Army Air and Missile Defense (AMD) Concept and Opera-tional and Organizational Plan for the Future Force calls for a transfor-mation to a network-centric Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense (AIAMD) capability that enables effective use of all Army AMD sensors and weapons with common battle management, command, control, communications, computers and intelligence.
This future architecture will enable the distributed support of engagements with available sensor assets not limited to system-centric organic sensors. The United States Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space (PEO MS) is applying an AIAMD system of systems (SoS) acquisition approach to meet the requirements of the soldier and obtain the desired capabilities of the Army AMD future force. This approach calls for a restructuring of systems into sensor and weapon components with common command and control (C2) using a stan-dard set of interfaces among those components and a standardized set of networks to communicate. The AIAMD Program is a direct response to the Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense System of Systems Increment 2 Capability Development Document.
sysTem DesCripTion
The AIAMD Program will enable transformation to a network-centric system of systems capability that integrates all Army AMD sen-sors, weapons, and C2. The AIAMD Program will initially integrate the Patriot radar and launchers, Improved Sentinel, and Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System components to support the engagement of threats including air breathing targets, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems and tactical ballistic missiles.
As additional capabilities are developed and fielded, the AIAMD architecture will include the terminal high altitude area defense, indirect fire protection capability and avenger components, as well as the air defense and airspace management cell. As a result, AIAMD com-mon software and common soldier-machine interfaces will be fielded from AMD platoon to Army Air and Missile Defense Command levels. The AIAMD program achieves its objective by establishing the IAMD architecture and developing these major end items: the IAMD battle command system (IBCS) engagement operations center (EOC) that provides a common mission command capability; plug and fight kits that will network enable multiple sensor and weapon components; and an integrated fire control network, with established communications protocols, standards and interface control documents, that allows joint access, provides fire control connectivity and enables distributed operations. Further, it will provide standard configurations and capa-bilities at each echelon, thereby addressing the significant training and operations challenges caused by soldiers currently burdened with having to master multiple unique C2 systems. It allows AMD forces to
organize based on mission, enemy, terrain, troops, time available and civilian considerations. AMD sensors, weapons and IBCS EOCs are added to the AMD Task Force (TF) to enable the broader missions and wider span of control executed at higher echelons. AMD TF communi-cation capabilities will enable a commander to easily maintain C2 over a wide area, thus significantly increasing the commander’s ability to provide protection from long-range threats. The network-enabled plug and fight architecture and common IBCS EOC will enable dynamic defense design and task force tailoring, and provide the capability for interdependent, network-centric operations that link joint IAMD protection to the supported force scheme of operations and maneuver.
aCquisiTion approaCh
The AIAMD program represents a shift from a traditional system-centric weapon systems acquisition to a component-based acquisition approach. This component-based acquisition approach will provide the most efficient way to acquire and integrate the components of the incremental AIAMD architecture. Unlike traditional acquisition programs that focus primarily on the development of a single system or platform, the AIAMD program is structured to enable the develop-ment of an overarching SoS capability with all participating AMD components functioning interdependently to provide total operational capabilities not achievable by the individual element systems.
proGram sTaTus
The IAMD Project Office successfully achieved Milestone B (MS B) approval in December 2009 and was the first program to reach MS B under the new competitive prototyping policy. Northrop Grumman was selected as the prime contractor as a result of the competition. A subsequent contract was awarded to Raytheon to assist in the network enabling of the weapon systems. The program is progressing through engineering and manufacturing development. The next major review will be a series of component critical design reviews culminating in an AIAMD Program critical design review. The project office works closely with the combat developer and Training and Doctrine Command capa-bility managers at Fort Sill to resolve questions and issues and ensure their complete understanding of the program design as it is developed.
DesiGn ConCepT: enTerprise arChiTeCTure
Historically, weapon and sensor system developments have relied on tightly-coupled, vendor-unique, proprietary, closed systems in order to meet their performance requirements. The result has been systems
By proGram exeCuTive offiCe, missiles anD spaCe
inpuT from many sensors BolsTers CapaBiliTies.
Air-Missile Defense
www.GCT-kmi.com GCT 2.6 | 25
with exceptional capabilities that are difficult to maintain, evolve and modernize. This issue is further exacerbated by the inclusion of proprietary software and data inhibiting the government’s ability to cost-effectively manage the system’s life cycle. Advances in computing capacity, information technology, and communication bandwidth and latency now make it possible to integrate these stovepipe systems to create an operationally effective, integrated system of systems.
In order to comply with the government’s modular open systems approach initiative and the AIAMD open architecture computing envi-ronment guidance document, the IBCS contractor is implementing a non-proprietary enterprise architecture and software approach. The enterprise architecture is not the software architecture of the compo-nents, but how the components interact. The intent of this approach is to maintain the established component interaction structures while individual software components are added and deleted. The enter-prise architecture is driven by information and network standards, not individual software components. The IBCS integration strategy is not to view the system as an integration of existing weapons and sensors or other software components in a point-to-point fashion, but to integrate components into an Enterprise Integration Bus (EIB)—a data architecture that enables sensor/weapon integration. Information flows onto or off the EIB from anonymous publishers and subscribers, thereby maintaining loose coupling and well-defined modularity in an extensible, flexible architecture.
The EIB is depicted as a set of information pipelines that soft-ware components (red boxes) can publish information to or draw
information from (subscribe to). The actual pipelines themselves are aggregates of certain information categories. The data definitions for information on the bus are conceptually independent from the producers and consumers, making the software components more self-contained, modular and replaceable
virTual maChine approaCh
IBCS development will maximize the utilization of non-devel-opmental item (NDI)/government furnished equipment software in order to reduce development efforts and cost, maximize supportability, minimize life cycle cost, and minimize unique training needs. The design uses a Virtual Machine (VM) approach to integrate NDI into the architecture.
The NDIs are brought into the architecture with their native operating system by means of virtual machines. The VM-based NDI can expose its native warfighter machine interface (WMI), thereby retaining its native capabilities without compromise and at minimal cost. In addition, adaptors are built to expose information from the NDI on the EIB. EIB information can be used by other IBCS software components to enhance or provide other value-added functionality. The IBCS CWMI can use this information to display in conjunction with the native WMI, thereby integrating it into the more comprehen-sive display environment. The VM makes it possible to accommodate various NDI components without devoting unique hardware/operat-ing system to the application. As more applications migrate to a thin client approach where the WMIs are not as tightly coupled into the functional processing, more information can be brought to the EIB for direct access by the CWMI, thereby making a migration path for a more integrated fire control environment.
iBCs sofTware
Eight IBCS common software modules (CSMs) are in develop-ment in accordance with the Software Domain Description Document (SD3) and Common Warfighter Machine Interface (CWMI) Style Guide. The SD3 provides descriptions of the IBCS from a software perspective and logical software decomposition that spans the AIAMD architecture. The CWMI Style Guide defines a common look and feel for the user interface based on usability experiments conducted with soldiers in the field, allowing them to test the prototype user interface components and collect qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate operator preferences. By following the CWMI Style Guide, software developers will be able to improve and standardize user interfaces for the warfighter, which should significantly increase operator efficiency and safety, decrease operator errors, minimize training needs, and add substantive strategic advantage in combat. The IBCS CSM software components are being designed for strategic reuse to include pre-planned variation mechanisms.
AIAMD SoS is designed for the future and will provide the Army AMD commanders and soldiers with a single air and missile defense mission command capability—all echelons, all systems. O
For more information, contact GCT Editor Dave Ahearn at [email protected] or search our online archives for related stories
at www.GCT-kmi.com.
North America’s only Soldier & Marine Modernization Event
January 23rd – 26th 2012Marriott Gateway,
Crystal City VA
Request the Program TodayCall: +1 (888) 482.6012
Email: [email protected]
www.soldiertechnologyus.com
10% Discount extra off current price for Ground Combat Technology Readers – Just quote GBT
7620 8.375 X 10.875.indd 1 19/10/2011 09:50
www.GCT-kmi.com26 | GCT 2.6
The a
dver
tiser
s ind
ex is
pro
vide
d as
a se
rvic
e to
our r
eade
rs. K
MI c
anno
t be h
eld
resp
onsib
le fo
r disc
repa
ncie
s due
to la
st-m
inut
e cha
nges
or a
ltera
tions
.
advertIsers Index CalendarAmerican Innovations .................................................. 6www.americaninnovations.com
AR Modular ................................................................... 9
www.ar-worldwide.com
AUSA Winter ................................................................C2
www.ausa.org
Ball Aerospace & Technologies ...................................C4
www.ballaerospace.com
Leupold ........................................................................ 23
www.leupold.com/tactical
Soldier Technology 2012 ............................................ 26www.soldiertechnologyus.com
January 17-20, 2012Shot ShowLas Vegas, Nev.www.shotshow.org
January 23-25, 2012Tactical Power Sources SummitAlexandria, Va.www.tacticalpowersourcessummit.com
January 23-26, 2012Soldier Technology USArlington, Va. www.wbresearch.com
February 6-8, 2012Military Radar SummitWashington, D.C.www.militaryradarsummit.com
February 22-24, 2012AUSA’s ILW Winter Symposium & ExpositionFort Lauderdale, Fla.www.ausa.org
April 1-4, 2012AAAA (Quad A) Army Aviation Association of AmericaNashville, Tenn.www.quad-a.org
www.GCT-kmi.com GCT 2.6 | 27
Industry IntervIew Ground Combat teChnoloGy
James Yakel is the manager of business development, military ground vehicles market, for Lord Corp. With more than 35 years of experience, Yakel has worked with the design, development, manufac-turing and testing of high-quality, sophis-ticated military and heavy commercial vehicles.
Q: Can you describe Lord Corporation’s history and evolution?
A: Founded in 1924 by Hugh Lord, Lord has a long history of innovation. By lever-aging our core competencies of surface [interfacial, adhesion] science, polymer science and engineering, material science, mechanical design, dynamic system design and analysis as well as electromechani-cal systems, we have developed a wide array of proprietary technologies. These include elastomeric and fluid vibration isolation and damping; active vibration control systems; magneto-rheological [MR] fluids, devices and systems; real-time balancing of rotating equipment; elastomer bonding and coating; struc-tural bonding; electronic materials; as well as high-performance and heat-reflective coatings.
Approximately 10 percent of our annual revenues are invested in R&D efforts. To date, we have received 2,464 patents com-panywide on a global basis, 555 of which are currently active.
Q: Could you provide some background on the company and its product line, focusing on the needs of the military?
A: Lord has a long history of serving the military, especially in the aerospace market. Today, we continue to serve as an integral supplier as a prime and subcontractor to the DoD for motion, vibration and noise control products for the rotary and fixed wing markets. This experience includes a fair amount of passive isolation dampers and mounts that were designed specifically for our mili-tary. Today, in addition to our aerospace products, one of the technologies Lord is adapting to serve the U.S. military is our MR fluid technology.
Q: What is MR fluid?
A: Lord MR is more than just fluid. The technology is based on commercial propri-etary and patented fluid, damper, mount, brake and clutch designs as well as sophis-ticated computer control algorithms. When exposed to a magnetic field, MR materials change state nearly instantaneously and with complete reversibility. As a result, MR technology provides fast and infinitely variable control of energy dissipation for industrial and automotive devices. As the only provider of commercial MR fluids, We are the largest manufacturer of MR devices and systems globally.
To date, our MR fluid has been inte-grated into more than 650,000 devices on more than a dozen models from multiple automotive OEMs as part of the MagneR-ide suspension system developed by BWI Group. Another application of our MR fluid technology is in seat dampers as require-ments limiting the level of whole body vibration exposure for construction, agri-cultural and related machines are grow-ing because long-term exposure can cause nerve damage, fatigue and overall stress.
Q: How are you positioned for the future within the military?
A: With respect to our primary suspension line, we are positioned with maturing prod-uct offerings in the light ground vehicle class through the mine resistant ambush protected vehicle class. Lord has invested in developing a simple retrofit that can be field applied, offering substantial improvements in mobility and ride quality.
In addition to improvements in damp-ing, the system provides electronic stability control, improving safety by sensing the roll, pitch and yaw of the vehicle and mak-ing real-time adjustments to the damping
force, greatly improving vehicle stability. This method of stability control is most effec-tive under cross-country terrain as typically encountered by tactical military vehicles.
Building on our long history of serving the U.S. military, and in order to ensure that volume production rates can be met, Lord established a production center for the MR primary ground vehicle suspension product line in Cambridge Springs, Pa. This plant is capable of meeting high volume production rates.
Lord invested more than $1 million in the MR suspension production cell for assembly and fill of the MR dampers, pro-viding a flexible high-volume capability to meet expected customer demand.
Q: What is today’s military customer asking for?
A: The key themes are cost-effective, easily maintained systems that address concerns of mobility and armor protection, while maintaining payload in tactical vehicles.
Q: What is an example of your success in the military?
A: We recently completed 10,000 hours of durability testing of our MR suspension sys-tem for military vehicles. Under third-party testing at the Nevada Automotive Testing Center, the test vehicle, an M1078 light medium tactical vehicle, surpassed 10,000 miles of durability miles without a single fault noted.
This third-party durability testing suc-cess follows lab tests conducted by Lord, in which MR dampers for the HMMWV and other military vehicles reached 5 million cycles of durability testing, far exceeding the U.S. government’s requirements for pas-sive dampers. This testing validates a high level of performance, better than that of the existing, passive dampers in use.
Other non-confidential vehicle programs include Stryker, which successfully demon-strated combined 4,000 miles of perfor-mance and durability testing earlier in the year at Aberdeen Testing Center (ATC) and Yuma Testing Center, as well as a HMMWV, which will enter into performance and dura-bility testing at ATC later in the year. O
James YakelManager of Business Development
Lord Corporation
www.GCT-kmi.com28 | GCT 2.6
February 2012Volume 3, Issue 1NEXTISSUE
FeaturesHandheld Comms in combat, as in other endeavors, knowledge is power. Myriad communications systems provide the power of near real-time intel to combatants, including voice, data, cartography-GPS and video.
Vehicle Axle and Suspension Systems in the decade of combat in Afghanistan, the addition of heavy armor to combat iEds imposed a crushing load on vehicles. But new axles and suspensions are designed to carry those burdens with grace and ease—while providing combatants a comfortable ride.
Carbines As a competition heats up to provide a new weapon to warfighters, we present a comparison of proposals for the next carbine, and how they will provide warfighters with upgraded accuracy, firepower and more.
AUSA Winter
Fires Center of Excellence
Special Section Ground Vehicle ProgramsWe examine the programs to provide new transporta-tion to the military, replacing worn-out wheels, and how those new vehicles would counter increasing threats in theater.
Supplements Q&A InterviewAn in-depth discussion with Major General david C. Halverson, Commanding General, Fires Center of Excellence
Bonus Distribution:
Insertion Order Deadline: January 17, 2012 • Ad Materials Deadline: January 24, 2012
General David M. Rodriguez
Cover and In-Depth Interview with:
CommanderU.S. Army Forces Command
