Army studies IT for budget briefing

The Army is wrapping up a plethora of studies on information technology-heavy programs as it prepares to brief the Office of the Secretary of Defense on its future funding needs.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin Griffin, the Army's deputy chief of staff for programs (G-8), said his office would brief the OSD on the service's Program Objective Memorandum for fiscal 2004 to 2009 as early next week.

"The G-8 is responsible for the future force," Griffin said during a Sept. 4 briefing at an Association of the U.S. Army conference in Falls Church, Va., adding that the Army has taken risks with its legacy force to keep the development and fielding of the Objective Force on schedule.

Griffin said his office is concluding studies in several areas -- including command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) -- to determine their impact on the memorandum and the Objective Force, which will transform the Army's forces to make them better able to survive an all-out fight.

"I think C4ISR is probably the No. 1 study we're doing with respect to OSD," Griffin said.

Other study areas include indirect fire alternatives, an information operations road map, the Comanche helicopter and advanced mobility concepts.

"All the studies will come to fruition to impact the current" Program Objective Memorandum, he said, adding that his office has enjoyed an open dialogue with OSD and the joint staff throughout the budget planning process.