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History suggests that a combination of a war on two fronts and a tight Defence Budget requires a major rethink by MoDs and the Armed Forces alike to create a balance between protecting troops on the ground by providing the best equipment in the fastest time and balancing the books at the same time in order to keep mainstream procurements active. The arrival of 24/7 news coverage on the battlefield also brings any breakdown in this process directly into the living rooms of the general public and the families of those soldiers on the ground. Thus, given this technology, MoDs have to react quickly to bring new equipments into theatre using innovative procurement techniques – the Urgent Operational requirement (UOR) being the benchmark. The defeat of the IED is top on the agenda.
Armies are fighting a battle today which changes the way we do business, we have to deliver the capability required faster and more efficiently. Today’s conflicts require vehicles to fight through the enemy and survive. This has meant a complete rethink on the protection levels given to vehicle fleets. These vehicles, their crew and their cargoes must now survive any engagement and survive the battlefield. Thus, proper armoured protection mist be provided to vehicles down to the light fleet. These protection packages must be flexible in their application and be taken off when not in use.
This huge growth in the use of complex IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan has spurred the U.S. DoD in particular to find new methods to defeat this awesome and effective weapon. The DoD has set up a special fund with a $4bn injection to fund new methods of defeating IEDs. All the major defense contractors have formed IED segments to access this fund and thus produce the required solutions.
This year has seen the growth of topics at Conferences and Exhibitions designed to address these particular issue rather than generic product and future Requirements.
In April Raytheon Company launched a new Web site to recruit industry and academic partners to help defeat improvised explosive devices (IED), the No. 1 killer of service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. Potential partners can join the effort by registering solutions and ideas at www.raytheon.com/missions/rtn07_ied
The Web site allows industry and academia to make teaming and partnership recommendations for proposed solutions and to receive rapid, confidential reviews and feedback on those solutions. The site also maintains proprietary safeguards to protect submitted information against improper disclosure.
Lockheed Martin is also believed to be looking at new technologies. But, one company, ITT is ahead of the bunch following its smart move to acquire EDO. Another company following close behind is Allen Vanguard, the Canadian specialist EoD Company. We will discuss these two companies in particular later in the piece.
AUSA Greater Los Angeles Chapter Meet
One of the platforms used to great effect by the U.S. Army was this year’s AUSA Greater Los Angeles Chapter Meet held at The Westin Hotel, Long Beach, California, USA, from May 29-30. The Editor was lucky enough to receive an invitation from Dave Hall of Agile Communications and Felicia Campbell of DRS Technologies who organized the event.
Expecting to find the usual scenario of some good, some bad, speeches and Q&As, the Editor found the best kept secret on the Conference Circuit!
Firstly, the speaker line up was one of the most impressive I have seen to date, numbering no less than four serving U.S. Generals and a superb Chairman in DRS’s Robert Viviano, 1st Vice President, Greater Los Angels Chapter, AUSA.
It is worth outlining the Day 1 Conference Program and speakers for those wishing to sign on for next year. The Editor has already accepted the invitation. As an aside, on the last night there is the Army Birthday Ball. This year I missed it, but Felicia told me that it was an amazing evening. Miss California sang "You make me feel so young" to a 93-year-old World War II vet. They strolled the dance floor as she sang to him and at one point he even gave a little high kick! They brought the house down. For that reason alone, this must be one for the calendar next year!
The Conference was named ‘Space & C4I: Bridging From Current to the Future Force.’
Day 1 speakers included:
1. The Warfighter’s View: Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell, Commanding General U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command; Brig. Gen. John Seward, Deputy Commander General for Operations, United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command; Col. Timothy Coffin, 1st Space Brigade Commander; Col. C. Putko, 31st ADA Brigade Commander; Col. B. Shannon Davies, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff, Fort Carson; Lt. Col. J. Rice, G-3 Operations, Senior Mission Commander, 4th Infantry Div.
2. Challenges to Developing Space and C4ISR Capabilities: Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, Director, JIED Defeat Organization; Brig. Gen. J.C. Horne, Deputy Commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space; Brig. Gen. Alan Lynn, Chief of Staff, Defense Systems Agency; Col. H. Greene, Director of Materiel, G-8; Col. L. Buckhout, Chief EW Div. U.S. Army.
3. New capabilities and Challenges for the Next Five Years: Brig. Gen. Nikolas Justice, PEO, Command, Control and Communications; Mr. Scott Davies, Deputy PM, FCS BGT Operations; Mr. Allan Resnick, Director, Capabilities, Development & Assessments, TRADOC; Col. P. Rayermann, Chief Space & Missile Defense Div. Army G-3/5/7; Col. L. Benedict, TRADOC Capabilities Manager Satellite and Network Extension; Mj. J. Neushul, I MEF Future Operations Communications Officer USMC; Brig. Gen (Retd.) Phil Coker, Division Director Northrop Grumman, Mission Systems.
4. Balancing Military Spectrums in the Face of Growing Commercial demands: Mr. R. Bechtold, Director Army Architecture Integration Center HQ, Dept. of the Army C10/G6; Mr. F. Williams Head, Conference Preparatory Meeting Delegation, U.S. Dept. of State; Mr. J. Capps, Deputy Commander UY.S. Army Signals Center and Fort Gordon; Ms. Paige Atkins, Director Defense Spectrum Office; Col. Jay Moody, Commander TSAT Integration Group; Mr. P. Atwal, Independent Consultant Telecom and Wireless Industry.
At first sight this could have been seen as ‘technology overload’ in excess, but that was not the way it turned out. Recently promoted General Nik Justice has an obvious secondary career looming as a TV Presenter! After a very good lunch, delegates returned to hear a speech from Gen. Metz asking industry for IED solutions in particular. There was a particular concern raised that the Supplementals so prevalent to vital innovations such as IED defeat would dry up with the next President, so other funding avenues must be found. Thus General Justice rallied delegates from industry to speak openly on the floor giving their opinions and possible solutions. Thus any form of the usual post-luncheon boredom was blown away to have an excellent afternoon’s discussion! As the only invitee from the U.K. the Editor could not resist a reference to Bowman!
The Second Day, which the Editor did not attend due to a previous engagement, had the same excellent speaker line up.
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