Army gearing up for transformation
DOD is poised to award a contract that will serve as the centerpiece for an initiative known as Objective Force
The Defense Department could award a contract this week that will serve as the centerpiece for an initiative known as Objective Force, which is expected to change nearly every aspect of how the Army operates during war and peace.
The systems integration contract for the Future Combat Systems (FCS), expected to be worth more than $150 million, will integrate information technol.ogy into vehicles used throughout the service for command and control, surveillance, reconnaissance, combat and other missions by the end of decade.
Claude Bolton Jr., assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said science and technology would enable the Army's transformation into Objective Force, which is envisioned as more deployable than the current armored forces and better able to survive an all-out fight than current light forces.
Technological innovations and business process changes are necessary for success, Bolton said, because the service hasn't faced a change like this in 50 years. "Virtually every fabric of the Army [is] touched somehow," he said, speaking last week at the Association of the U.S. Army's 2002 Winter Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
As soon as the integrator is selected, its team will begin working with government colleagues at Fort Knox, Ky., which has been established as the Objective Force Battlelab Federation for FCS, said Brig. Gen. Robert Mixon Jr., deputy commanding general of the Army Armor Center at Fort Knox.
On March 1, the site became the hub for collaboration by DOD and industry laboratories, serving as the "engine of tactical development for the Objective Force," Mixon said. "We have the engine running, and our nation deserves no less."
Gen. Paul Kern, commanding general of the Army Materiel Command, said the service "knows how to integrate systems, but now must integrate systems of systems." That means collaboration among the Army commands, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, industry and academia, Kern said.
The Army's focus on Objective Force is reflected in its budget.
The service is spending 95 percent of its science and technology budget and 70 percent of its research and development budget on its transformation to Objective Force, and funding must increase in the future, Army officials said.
Maj. Gen. William Bond, director of force development in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs, said it is already clear that more money will be needed in upcoming budgets for Objective Force, which means completely phasing out legacy systems.
"The fiscal 2004 budget will be much more focused and have more money," and that will continue through fiscal 2009, Bond said.
Future Combat Systems vehicles will cost $7 million to $9 million each.