Lennox: ‘We can’t afford everything we want’
"We really don't know what kind of enemy we're going to fight," the Army's G-8 told attendees at the opening session of the Association of the United States Army's Fires Symposium and Exhibition, and that will require the Army to be innovative in its modernization efforts.
Speaking July 20 in Fort Worth, Texas, Lt. Gen. Robert Lennox said the Defense Department and the Army will be greatly affected by the national debt rising to 8 to 9 percent of gross domestic product. "Two percent we could sustain indefinitely."
Realizing the financial constraints, the modernization program needs to be versatile and affordable. Lennox said the recently concluded Capability Portfolio Review of Army programs questions were raised as to why special dirigibles – aerostats -- already in the inventory could not be used to make counter fires more effective or why Guided Multi-Launch Rocket Systems could not be modified to have much of the capability of the now-terminated Non-Line of Sight artillery system.
Lt. Gen Michael Vane, deputy commander of the Army Training and Doctrine Command, said the fires community should also look at precision munitions [“we’ve got too many more than what we need], buying more sensors and shifting the procurement balance to the THAAD anti-missile defense system over Patriot. “We don’t have a very good counter-UAV capability in the Army.”
"Networking is going to be the key to success," Lennox said. It also may be the way to hold down costs.
"We can't afford everything we want," and that means looking at programs in a portfolio such as fires by asking not only is something achievable but is it affordable. "We have to make sure we're doing things in balance." Adding, "More important: Is the program you're about to submit right?"
Using the more than 225,000 trucks in the Army as an example, he said to maintain the fleet at its current size over 20 years would require about $4 billion to $4.5 billion annually or the fleet size could be cut. “Where do you want to take the risks? Trucks or attack helicopters? By doing this, communities are helping senior leaders make decisions.”
Vane: ‘Innovation, change, adaptability have to be the norm’
The deputy commander general for futures at the Army Training and Doctrine Command said, “We have to change faster. It’s not just the operating force. It’s the generating force. It’s industry.” Lt. Gen. Michael Vane said, “Innovation, change, adaptability have to be the norm.”
Speaking July 20 in Fort Worth, Texas, he added, “When we are talking about acquisition reform, we are talking about acquisition transformation” that goes beyond materiel but into leader development, organization and force structure.
He said the changes affecting the Army in the future include demographic shifts in allies, the pace of technology – “social networking is here to stay,” the spread of weapons of mass destruction and climate change.
“We changed on a time basis,” once every five years or so to produce operations manual and “not on events,” such as “what should he have learned in the last five to seven years of war,” Vane told attendees at the Association of the United States Army’s Fires Symposium and Exposition. “We need to generate a concept [of operations] to win the war you are at” and “looking out to 2026.”
Maj. Gen. David Halverson, commanding general of the Army Fires Center of Excellence, cited the decentralized combat in Afghanistan as the Army learning from the past. “How do you see yourself?” and “How do you apply the complexities of fires?”
This requires certifying that fire support officers and leaders are certified and have the commander’s trust in their judgment in calling for precision fires, near precision fires and area fires. “Who is responsible for the certification?”
Picking up on how decentralized operations have evolved in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Michael Ferriter, commanding general of the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Ga., said, “Someone may have to go a day or two or three without contact” from a higher headquarters.
Col. Randy George, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was operating along 375 kilometers of the Afghan/Pakistan border and some of his outposts were 160 kilometers from his headquarters. His units were “very air centric” and also reliant on nine firebases with 18 guys to carry out operations and protect the outposts.
Ellis Golson, director of the Capability, Development and Integration Directorate at the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, said in Afghanistan physical factors play a significant role in these operations. “Black Hawks can only carry nine guys, so that means splitting the squad” because of the aircraft’s operational limitations. A second question arises because of the distances in Afghanistan: “What is deep?”
Adding, “We have to be integrated into the ground maneuver force and we have to enable that network” to reach “faraway people.”
Later, Halverson added, “In today’s environment, eyes on means something. How do you extend your eyes” to avoid killing innocent civilians and fellow soldiers?
Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., AUSA president, said, “Fires requires talent at the cutting edge.”
The two big capabilities the Army needs to be working on is “conducting combined arms and maneuver operations and conducting wide-area operations” that involve more than surveillance, Vane said.
“To be the best in the world, we are going to have to train out commanders for area security,” Ferriter added.
“What are the capabilities? What are the gaps? Where are the redundancies?” Those questions need to be answered now as the Army develops its long-range budget plans, Lt. Gen. Robert Lennox, the Army G-8, said.
Vane said that the Army has been developing a baseline over the past year to measure its operations and develop realistic cost/benefit analysis. He said it was important not to become hung up on the baseline when innovation can change what had existed before.
Other guidelines he offered included:
- “Learn, adapt, learn adapt” and converge experiments, exercises and tests.
- “Bring in soldiers earlier,” adding “get soldiers with experience in the R&D labs.”
- Establish constraints and “be willing to trade performance” to get into the field faster.
- “Buy fewer and more often,” he said.
Col. Scott Turner, project manager for combat ammunition systems, added there was a good reason to adapt that strategy. “The longer a program continues, the more likely the requirements in the field are going to change and the advocacies [for the program] will change.”
In answer to a question, Vane said that he is setting a 25-page limit on requirements’ documents, written in operational terms not in specification terms with the cost/benefit analysis done upfront.
He is also looking at dramatically reducing the time consumed to staff a document from almost a year to a few months.
Vane said, “Without a baseline, you can’t see yourself.”
Test equipment before it is fielded – certification is important
The program executive officer for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors told attendees at the Association of the United States Army Fires Symposium and Exposition that fielding equipment quickly was good, but “you really need some certification before you put [a new sensor] on the battlefield.”
Brig. Gen Thomas Cole, speaking July 21 in Fort Worth, Texas, said, “There is a place for testing” and departing soldiers teaching arriving soldiers how to use a piece of quick fielded equipment was not a good idea.
“Having fewer sensors we know how to use is a good thing.”
He added that the question needs to be asked about new sensors coming to Afghanistan: Does it work with the emerging Afghan Mission Network?
The network is one that will be shared with coalition forces.
Maj. Gen. David Halverson, commanding general of the Army’s Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill, Okla., said, “You have a moral responsibility to share with your coalition partners [intelligence] to help them win. They have not done a lot of combined arms operations.”
Brig. Gen. Ross Ridge, commandant of the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, said, “Access to joint fires is a big deal – across all services and with our coalition partners.” Joint fires include unmanned and manned aircraft, missiles, artillery and naval gunfire that can be used in offensive, defensive and stability operations.
This requires strong communications links. Col. Rodney McCants, assistant commandant of the Army Air Defense School at Fort Sill, said, “The network has be redundant and robust” and “be able to share data and evaluate risk.”
As to what a maneuver commander wants in fire support, Maj. Gen. Michael Ferriter, commanding general of the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Ga., said. “Both range and precision in an urban setting.”
Reliance on supplementals turns Army budgeting ‘upside down
For the last seven years, the Army has been fielding a great deal of new equipment through a speeded up procurement process that relied on wartime supplemental appropriations. But in the last two years, the Defense Department has told the Army to move a number of these programs into the base budget or terminate them.
“You get two different kinds of products,” Michael Van Rassen, director of the C-RAM program office, told attendees at the Association of the United States Army’s Fires Symposium and Exposition in Fort Worth, Texas. In the program of record process there is reliability, a long testing and evaluation process and a supply chain. Rapid fielding has more risk and no supply chain to speak of.
“What is the right blend?”
Col. Scott Turner, project manager for combat ammunition systems, said the reliance on supplementals has turned Army budgeting upside down. “We can’t see out five or six years. We do one.”
One way to save money and better project spending is “to leverage our current investment to take it to the next level,” Maj. Gen. Genaro Dellarocco, program executive officer for missiles and space, said. Because the supplemental are going away, “we’ll see more of that. We’re going to be at this craft for a while. It will cause people to think differently.”
It also means “crafting our requirements in bite-sized chunks,” Turner added.
Captain’s Career Course – ‘how to think, not what to think’
The programs of instruction in all the Army Training and Doctrine Command’s schools are being revised with a deadline of completing the work by the end of the year, the deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., told attendees at a special Association of the United States Army symposium.
Brig. Gen. Scott Thoele, speaking in Fort Worth, Texas, July 22, said the Captain’s Career Course review is considering a number of factors. “The learning style of young Army leaders has shifted,” so “it is essential that we remain forward looking, forward thinking.”
He said the emphasis in the revision is being put on “how to think, not what to think” and allow a soldier, noncommissioned officer, warrant officer and officer to see this as part of a lifelong learning experience.
Maj. Gen. David Halverson, commanding general of the Army Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill, Okla., said, “The Captain’s Career Course is being looked at for baselining at installations by distance learning and then to branch.”
“Distance learning is difficult,” Thoele said. He said the idea behind revisions in the captain’s course is to change the situation where many officers are moving into command positions without the educational grounding in their duties.
The operating environment now “requires more not less leader development,” Thoele said.
That as they progress their careers, the training they receive will add complexity and build upon their previous education and experience.
He said other agencies are recognizing the value of the Intermediate Level Education being offered at Leavenworth. “The last class graduating in June had 15 civilians from USAID, state, agriculture and justice.” In addition there were 67 international students in the graduating class.
Changes in that curriculum including partnering with nearby universities in a number of areas, and being able to require students to keep a blog, conduct a media engagement and develop a community outreach event as part of the graduation requirements.
Thoele said the Combined Arms Center has redesigned its Web page raising the number of visits from 24,000 annually to more than 500,000. It is also offering a blog site, Facebook and Twitter social media links. “Technology allows an individual to use information more easily,” and the “social media allow us to be more transparent and open.”
Brig. Gen. Ross Ridge, commandant of the Field Artillery School, added, “How do we leverage gaming technology” and simulation into the Army schoolhouse “to get our [students] to develop their critical thinking skills?”
Senior NCOs stress importance of training, continuing education
The senior noncommissioned officer of the Army Fires Center of Excellence said the investment the Army has made over the years “grew the NCO that is once again at war.”
Speaking July 22 at the Association of the United States Army’s Fires Symposium and Exposition, Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Smith said, “During my deployment [to Iraq], I did infantry-centric missions” with his soldiers.
His field artillery soldiers were not alone in doing non-traditional missions. “We’ve been trying to fill the gap, bringing back live fire” to the Advanced Leaders Course and also introducing “Danger Close” training for platoon leaders and sergeants.
Smith added it also meant teaching them in their responsibilities as noncommissioned officers when they are in garrison with their soldiers.
Command Sgt. Maj. Dan Willey of the Field Artillery School said, in closing the gap “we went to the commanding general of TRADOC to lengthen the classes” to eight weeks in the eight military occupational specialties in field artillery. It also meant adjusting first sergeants’ training.
“We want to build a continual learning process from AIT to the Sergeants Major Academy – both civilian and military education.” He added soldiers will have guides – career map – to measure where they are and what steps they need to take to advance their careers.
Willey said that he is sending mobile training teams to installations to meet the commander’s and soldier’s needs. “Let’s not teach soldiers what they’ve been doing for five or six years.”
Maj. Gen. David Halverson, commanding general of the Army Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill, Okla., said, “That investment with our NCOs has to continue,” adding “that’s deeds not words.”