Communications command starts

Army officials have officially formed the Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command as part of the service's new acquisition community reorganization.

The new command combines the Army's Communications-Electronics Command, the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical (C3T), and the Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (IEW&S). Maj. Gen. Michael Mazzucchi will lead the new organization and also serve as program executive officer for C3T, said Army officials in a Feb. 2 service statement.

"Creation of the Life Cycle Management Command forces us to change the way we think about what we do and allows us to collaborate extensively across the Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command and with the Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center for optimum effectiveness and efficiency in meeting user requirements," Mazzucchi said in the statement. He hinted about the name change in September in a letter to attendees of the Network Centric Operations 2004 conference in Atlantic City, N.J.

The new command will operate under the Army Materiel Command. Army officials announced last summer they would restructure the service's acquisition community to shrink the management structure and better manage programs from development to fielding.

Three deputies will report to Mazzucchi. They include Victor Ferlise, deputy to the commanding general for operations and support; Edward Bair, deputy to the commanding general and program executive officer for IEW&S; and Col. Nicholas Justice, deputy to the commanding general and deputy program executive officer for C3T.