STAR 21 Strategic Technologies for the Army of the Twenty-First Century (1992) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
5 Technology Management Strategy
5 Technology Management Strategy
Pages 204-239
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 204... ...
Interested readers are urged to consult the separate reports for additional detail and, in some instances, different emphases and opinions. The STAR Committee's suggestions to the Army on technolo~v management are organized here under five headings: A · a general implementation strategy to move new technology into Army systems; · a set of recommended focal values for technology implementation, which apply across the major combat and support functions and can serve as key elements of a strategic focus on advanced technology applications; · technology management recommendations specific to each of the high-impact functions discussed in Chapter 2; 204
|
From page 205... ...
The third section, High-Impact Functions, applies the implementation strategy and the focal values to technology management issues within each of the principal combat and support functions discussed in Chapter 2. The focal values and major topics discussed in the third section are listed on the right side of Figure 5-1.
|
From page 206... ...
TO ACHIEVE :: ::: l , _ :: S:IRATEGIC i: : : FOCUS :: ~ :: ~ :: :: :: it:: ::: :: i: :: : i: ~1 l ~~ :~ ~ T;: ~ :BASIS FORT::: ~ ~ :: ~: ~ ~ ~ FOCAL: INHERE :: ~ :~ : l I: i: :: FOCAL~VA~LUES : : ~ ~ ~ :: A: ~~:~: T~ l · Affordability · Reliability · Deployability Joint Operability Stealth and Counterstealth Casualty Reduction Support System Cost Reduction ~ ~ TT T: : :HIGH-IM~PACT F:UNC~ONS: ~ ~ ~ : : Winning the Information War - C3 I/RISTA - UAV-Borne Sensors - Space-Based Systems · Integrated Support for the Soldier Combat Power & Mobility - Long-Range Mobility - Battlefield Mobility - Lethal Systems · Air and Ballistic Missile Defense Combat Services Support - Health and Medical Systems - Simulation Systems FIGURE 5-1 A focused implementation strategy for technology management. Basis for Focal Interests.
|
From page 207... ...
Implementation Actions Nine of the recommendations from the TMDP Subcommittee are presented here as key elements of an implementation strategy for technology management. The TMDP Subcommittee report amplifies the summary account of these implementation elements given here.
|
From page 208... ...
The TMDP Subcommittee has presented cogent arguments for combining an increased focus on subsystems with new approaches to platform development. This six-point plan could significantly shorten the platform development cycle and reduce costs.
|
From page 209... ...
These same characteristics were selected by senior military leaders or advisers as important to the success of the Army in its anticipated future roles. The STAR Committee has selected the seven most pervasive and potentially beneficial of these attributes to recommend as focal values for the Army's technology implementation strategy (Figure 5-2~.
|
From page 210... ...
Casualty Reduction * Support System Cost Reduction FIGURE 5-2 These seven technology management values apply across Army systems and technology development efforts in all mission areas.
|
From page 211... ...
(SOURCE: China Lake Naval Air Station.)
|
From page 212... ...
They already use practices such as structured programming, rapid prototyping, and software reuse, with the aim of helping software performance keep up with advances in computer hardware performance. However, the large software systems made possible by future hardware will require software engineering techniques far more advanced than the current state of the art.
|
From page 213... ...
During Desert Storm the services managed coordinated operation of systems that had been designed for use by each service operating independently. However, to achieve systems that will later work well together, decisions on a multiservice archi
|
From page 214... ...
Particularly in rapid-deployment contingency operations, fixed concentrations of forces and logistic lodgements are likely to be far more vulnerable to the level of stealth technology available to an adversary than they have been in recent operations. At present, U.S.
|
From page 215... ...
Support Systems Cost Reduction In close alliance with the values of affordability and reliability, the Army should institute an across-the-board technology management goal to reduce support system costs. Reduction in the cost of both the systems themselves and the support manpower they require is essential to the leaner Army of the future.
|
From page 216... ...
Improved fault detection and isolation for highly integrated systems can substantially reduce the maintenance burden of fault diagnosis; it should be a key design requirement of such systems. FOCAL INTERESTS WITHIN THE HIGH-IMPACT FUNCTIONS The preceding sections of this chapter recommended an implementation strategy for technology management and an initial set of pervasive values on which that strategy could focus.
|
From page 217... ...
But realization of that potential will require both receptivity to commercial technology from the private sector and its successful adaptation to the military world of C3I/RISTA. UAV-Borne Sensor Systems The achievements of UAVs have thus far fallen short of what was predicted by previous panels of the Army Science Board and Defense Science Board, and UAVs have never received full acceptance by the Army.
|
From page 218... ...
During the Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations, for example, the U.S. Army Central Command apparently2 used satellites for communications, location and maneuver, terrain mapping, environmental assessments and prediction, ballistic missile early warning, and battle damage assessment.
|
From page 219... ...
From within this framework of active participation and improved understanding of the options, the Army will be in a better position to determine how far it can rely on someone else's assets and how best to exploit the technological capabilities of other players to fulfill Army requirements. Integrated Support for the Soldier Army policy is already placing increased emphasis on the soldier, and the trends in technology support this emphasis.
|
From page 220... ...
The STAR Committee recommends that a major systems effort be undertaken to determine and pursue those technologies within the psychological and medical fields that appear most likely to enhance the performance of the individual soldier. Combat Power and Mobility The technology management issues for this function fall naturally into the same three categories used in Chapter 2: long-range mobility, battlefield mobility, and lethal systems.
|
From page 221... ...
With respect to technology management in support of immediately deployable forces, the STAR Committee has several substantive recommendations. The transport problem will only grow as the Army becomes largely based in the continental United States, but the funding realities portend that fielding of a new long-range transport is unlikely.
|
From page 222... ...
With respect to ground vehicles, a key issue for technology management is to determine precisely what capabilities will be required of future armored vehicles to engage in the anticipated range of contingency operations. Continuing evolutionary improvements to existing systems, notably the M-1 tank, will provide the time needed to evaluate alternatives.
|
From page 223... ...
Lethal Systems Among the successes of Desert Storm were Army weapons capable of acquiring targets and destroying them, under battle conditions, before they were targeted themselves. Our systems were more accurate and more lethal at greater range.
|
From page 224... ...
In the opinion of the STAR Committee supported by the experience of Desert Shield and Desert Storm- potential enemies can be expected to pursue advanced mining technology relentlessly. This area is potentially so effective yet relatively inexpensive for an opponent that it is bound to receive attention.
|
From page 225... ...
· Medical information technology. Maintain a technology watch for new medical developments and new technologies with particular relevance to the Army's medical needs; promote the use of computers for medical data management, medical modeling, displaying information, and medical research.
|
From page 226... ...
The Committee also commends the Army's technical management for its efforts to lead the services and the OSD toward a more effective focus for overall DOD research and advanced technology development. Related to this broader view of the technology base is the point that the joint nature of contingency operations implies joint development, particularly for C3I and information distribution activities that have no obvious initiating agency.
|
From page 227... ...
· Where possible, use rapid austere prototyping and related techniques in the design and development of both platforms and subsystems. · Maintain a worldwide technology watch for advances in areas of science and technology with implications for Army capabilities and for potential enemy capabilities that will have to be countered.
|
From page 228... ...
Before the initiation of the present Army 21 reorganization of advanced technology activities, the STAR Science and Technology Subcommittee reviewed the then-current Army organization. Suggestions for a reorganization similar in leadership structure to the Navy's Office of Naval Research were prepared for inclusion in the STAR Technology Forecast Assessment for Basic Sciences.
|
From page 229... ...
From a wider perspective, the STAR Committee believes it is also necessary to modify the Army's current requirements process, in part so that all the Army's research managers will have clear direction on areas where the future military needs will be greatest. This and other issues related to the requirements process are discussed later in this chapter.
|
From page 230... ...
Still, the Committee hopes that the Army will persevere toward full implementation of Project Reliance, because preservation of a deep and well-equipped technology base will require substantial further focus of resources within the government community. In addition, the Committee believes that more attention should be given to achieving the best long-term use of the limited discretionary resources of the defense industry.
|
From page 231... ...
These centers have clearly retained reputations for producing relevant military technology of the highest quality. Rapid Austere Prototyping Rapid prototyping is the development, on a compressed time scale, of preliminary versions of the new components in an advanced system design.
|
From page 232... ...
The Army's Technology Base Master Plan already incorporates significant opportunities for rapid prototyping methodology in its specific technology demonstrations and the Advanced Technology Transition Demonstrations (ATTDs)
|
From page 233... ...
TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AND THE ARMY'S REQUIREMENTS PROCESS Late in August 1990, a special panel composed of members from the larger STAR panel met to consider the Army's requirements process as it applies to advanced technology utilization and force modernization. Despite the diversity of the participants' experience, they were able to achieve considerable consensus.
|
From page 234... ...
contingency operations than were previously required by mid-European scenarios. The STAR Committee concludes that these new circumstances would probably stress the present Army requirements process in three ways discussed below.
|
From page 235... ...
As budget pressures extend the time between fielding of model changes, more frequent opportunities will arise to explore by experimental, prototype demonstrations the real operational advantages of capabilities that previously were only imputed by simulation or computation. The STAR Committee foresees a greater opportunity in the future requirements process for feasibility demonstrations oriented toward
|
From page 236... ...
The "concept" input to the requirements process should be opened up to technology exploration and to concepts built on advanced systems concepts and likely threat scenarios. The input to the process should also allow for broadly defined capability issues, such as force projection, force employment, and sustaining deployed force.
|
From page 237... ...
Organizational Realignments The STAR Committee suggests three areas in which the Army organization will need realignments, if the process changes recommended above are to revitalize the CBRS. · Reassign control over requirements.
|
From page 238... ...
The STAR Committee could not, however, assess the effects of the new organizational structure on technology development. The Requirements Process and Technology Management Strategies To conclude its assessment of the requirements process, the STAR Committee offers a few final reflections on the relation it sees between strategic thinking about technology management and the preceding recommendations for the requirements process.
|
From page 239... ...
The particular focal interests or implementation elements suggested by the STAR Committee are certainly not the only plausible content for a strategic vision and an implementation strategy. Some may prove worthy of adoption by the Army; others may not.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.