By Ann Roosevelt
The Army awaits formal notification from the Defense Department acquisition chief of changes to its major modernization program, Future Combat Systems (FCS), before any changes are made.
“We have not yet received an acquisition decision memorandum formally changing the program,” Paul Mehney, Army FCS spokesman, told Defense Daily yesterday. “The program expects an ADM (acquisition decision memorandum) within the coming weeks and that will signal the beginning of the transition of FCS to the Army’s Brigade Combat Team Modernization effort.”
Until that memorandum arrives, the program continues to execute under the Fiscal Year 2009 budget. Additionally, the Technical Field Test is now under way at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., which is conducting the technical performance and capability of equipment prior to a summer Limited User Test of the equipment. Results of the tests feed into the Milestone C production decision for the early fielding of mature FCS equipment.
In April, Defense Secretary Robert Gates signaled major changes to the Boeing [BA]-SAIC [SAI] managed program, saying he was recommending the president cancel the manned ground vehicle portion of the program, which the formal FY 2010 budget submission ended (Defense Daily, April 7, 8, May 8).
The FY ’10 budget would, however, continue development of “three unmanned ground vehicles, two unmanned aerial vehicles, the non-line of sight launch system, unattended ground sensors and an information network,” DoD officials said while releasing the budget.
Additionally, those early-maturing FCS capabilities initially slated as spin-outs for the Infantry Brigade Combat Teams will now be accelerated to all 73 brigade combat teams, also proposed by Gates.
“Those early capabilities will be fielded as a group, as a family, and will be networked,” Mehney said.
What is done with the remaining FCS capabilities in development is being examined, but how that plays out depends on analysis now under way at the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command and at the G-8, he said.
The Army has held various meetings on differing aspects of the FCS program, and Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey recently told a congressional hearing some analysis would be complete around Labor Day toward the “way ahead” for the manned ground vehicle portion of the program (Defense Daily, May 13).
General Dynamics [GD] and BAE Systems have managed the manned ground vehicle effort for FCS.