Leo C2s, Afghanistan
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It would seem that the Canadian Forces are taking some of the lessons re-learned during Operation Medusa in Afghanistan to heart. Canada’s DND:

“The heavily protected direct fire capability of a main battle tank is an invaluable tool in the arsenal of any military. The intensity of recent conflicts in Central Asia and the Middle East has shown western militaries that tanks provide protection that cannot be matched by more lightly armoured wheeled vehicles…. [Canada’s existing Leopard C2/1A5] tanks have also provided the Canadian Forces (CF) with the capability to travel to locations that would otherwise be inaccessible to wheeled light armoured vehicles, including Taliban defensive positions.”

In October 2003, Canada was set to buy the Styker/LAV-III 105mm Mobile Gun System to replace its Leopard C2 tanks. In the end, however, the lessons of war have taken Canada down a very different path – one that now has them renewing the very tank fleet they were once intent on scrapping with one of the world’s best tanks, and backing away from the wheeled vehicles that were once the cornerstone of the Canadian Army’s transformation plan. This updated article includes a full chronology for Canada’s new Leopard 2 tanks, and adds information concerning DND’s exact plans and breakdowns for their new tank fleet…

• Why New Tanks Now?
• Choices, Choices: Leopard 2s For Canada [updated]
• Next Steps and Updates [new]
• Additional Readings
  
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Raytheon: C4ISR Future?
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As video communications is integrated into robots, soldiers, and UAVs, and network-centric warfare becomes the organizing principle of American warfighting, front-line demands for bandwidth are rising sharply. The Transformation Communications Satellite (TSAT) System is part of a larger effort by the US military to address this need.

The final price tag on the entire TSAT program has been quoted at anywhere from $14-25 billion through 2016, which includes the satellites, the ground operations system, the satellite operations center and the cost of operations and maintenance. By mid-2007, the U.S. Air Force was scheduled to make a key decision: build the TSAT system on its current schedule and launch in 2013-2016, or postpone TSAT, take stopgap measures and add Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites 4 & 5 to the three slated for launch from 2009-2012.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have won a total of $514 million each in risk reduction contracts for the TSAT SS satellite system, in hopes of making that Plan B unnecessary. The bids are in, and both teams await a decision. TSAT’s $2 billion TMOS ground-based network operations contract is already underway.

The TSAT constellation of satellites, receivers, and infrastructure has seen a recent resurgence of news coverage, and its central role in next-generation US military infrastructure makes it worthy of in-depth treatment. Yet its survival is not assured by any means. Outside events and incremental competitors could spell its end just as they spelled the end of Motorola’s infamous Iridium service. This updated DID Special Report looks at the TSAT program, its challenges, and the potential future(s) of U.S. military communications – with new additions highlighted in green for your convenience. The latest item is a $336 million TMOS contract….

• Key Background – Why TSAT Is Thought to be Necessary (i.e. continue reading…)
• Key Background – The Big Picture: TSAT and the Transformational Communications Architecture
• Briefing – What Is TSAT?
• Briefing – TMOS: TSAT’s Ground Component
• Briefing – The AEHF Alternative, and Lessons Learned for TSAT
• Analysis – TSAT Program: Issues & Decisions
• Analysis – TSAT’s Competitors – and Its Fate
• News – TSAT: Timeline and Ongoing Developments [updated]
• Appendix A – Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Dr. Gansler
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On Sept 4/07, “$5B in CENTCOM Contracting Under Scrutiny” discussed ongoing investigations related to the wartime staple of contracting fraud. In mid-September 2007, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren appointed the “Special Commission on Army Acquisition and Program Management in Expeditionary Operations” to review contracting linked to the war effort. The 6-member commission was led by former Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Dr. Jacques Gansler, and now the report is in. Its blunt assessment? Many people have gone above and beyond the call of duty – but in the end a spiral of not enough people, too little training, and an antiquated system, equals serious problems managing contracting and fraud in Iraq. [Full report – PDF | Army article w. link to briefing video | Release: Army accepts report’s conclusions]

Secretary of the Army Geren pointed to post-Cold War cuts to the Army acquisition budget as one of the principal reasons behind the shortage of trained people, since it takes a number of years to restore that; at present, only 36% of those with contract oversight in Iraq and Kuwait are certified. Dr. Gansler, however, noted that the Army had 5 generals on the contracting force, and now has none. He recommended establishing an Army Contracting Agency and adding 5 generals to the Army contracting force, adding another 400 Soldiers and 1,000 Civilians, plus another 583 Army personnel to fill positions in the Defense Contract Management Agency.

Gansler acknowledged that “expeditionary contracting” is more demanding, because the needs of the operational commander are often immediate. This has been true since Wellington sent a reply to London from Spain, asking if they wanted him to oversee accounting or fight Napoleon. The question is how to implement valid shortcuts, while remaining within the law. In addition, products must often be purchased quickly from host-nation countries – indeed, involving host-nation businesses, who may have very different cultural standards and training, can be vital to military success. Making all of this work poses new challenges to military contracting, and success may require specific Congressional relief from statutory provisions such as Buy American, the Berry Amendment and Specialty Metals, and some civil service provisions. Not least of which is the proviso that contracting officers who volunteer to go to a war zone may lose their life insurance and medical benefits.

Overall, there is little question that the standard DoD contracting system is inadequate for dealing with the needs of expeditionary contracting in the modern world: too slow, too bureaucracy-laden, too nativist. The question is whether existing approaches to resolving that problem can be considered adequate either, and what should be done. The Gansler report is a first step toward offering answers.

Land Warrior
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In the Pentagon’s April 2007 Selected Acquisition Report, the US Army’s $4 billion “Infantry-21” program – Land Warrior – lists as terminated. Which is true, and Federal Computing Weekly has more. Noah Shachtman at WIRED’s Danger Room says the soldiers weren’t that crazy about it, anyway:

“But as Alpha kicks in doors, rounds up terror suspects and peals off automatic fire in deafening six-shot bursts, not one of the soldiers bothers to check his radio or look into the eyepiece to find his buddies on the electronic maps. “It’s just a bunch of stuff we don’t use, taking the place of useful stuff like guns,” says Sgt. James Young, who leads a team of four M-240 machine-gunners perched on a balcony during this training exercise at Fort Lewis, Wash. “It makes you a slower, heavier target.”

See also Noah’s Popular Mechanics article

UPDATES:

• A subsequent DefenseTech article by Christian Lowe claims that claims Land Warrior’s usefulness is becoming more apparent in Iraq – or at least, a slimmed-down version of it is.

• Could Land Warrior be ressurrected by the US Senate anyway? Danger Room wonders, but reading the FCW coverage, it seems more likely that these funds will be used to support the The 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment’s deployment in Iraq from in April 2007 onward. Any technologies that prove successful in combat may end up in in Future Combat Systems’ “Future Force Warrior” program at some point.

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Case studies sponsored by the U.S. Defense Department’s Office of Force Transformation (OFT) are working to present hard evidence that networked forces are far more effective in high-intensity conflict missions, and also point out how even less-than-perfect networks can be valuable. In all, more than 15 case studies examine the behavior of networked military organizations during exercises, combat operations and/or peacekeeping operations.

Need ‘em… read why

While some of them specifically explore U.S.-only military troops, others include coalition forces. The goal is to explore how network centricity affects warfighting while providing insights into what technologies warfighters need and, in some cases, do not need.

The case studies can be found online at the OFT, while a summary of the effort can be found in AFCEA’s Nov 2005 issue of Signal Magazine. DID has covered the Office of Force Transformation and its evolving influence in defense policy circles, and detailed some of the tactical/decision-related benefits ourselves in our coverage of the M1126 Stryker ICV in Iraq. Issues like net-centric warfare and transformation efforts in a number of countries have also been a focus, though readers should be cautioned that as powerful as these efforts and systems are, they have limitations.

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RAND Corp. in Santa Monica, CA received a $210.6 million cost-reimbursement plus fee-for-need contract to provide for RAND Project Air Force, Research of Air and Space Power. Originally known as Project RAND (an acronym for research and development), PAF was established in 1946 by General H. H. “Hap” Arnold as a way of retaining for the United States Air Force (USAF) the considerable benefits of civilian scientific thinking that had been demonstrated during World War II. Since its founding, PAF has focused entirely on studies and analyses rather than systems engineering or scientific laboratories. Publications include the F/A-18 E/F and F/A-22 program lessons learned report that DID covered earlier today.

This is a five-year option period, which extends the contract to a ten-year period. Solicitations began August 2005 and one proposal was received; work will now be complete in September 2015. The Air Force District Washington in Rosslyn, VA issued the contract (FA7014-06-C-0001). For more information, contact the 11th WG/PA at 202-767-7561.

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Since the late 1980s, the U.S. Air Force has pursued the F/A-22 Raptor supersonic stealth fighter that incorporated numerous breakthrough technologies, while the US Navy developed the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet based on the existing F/A-18. Unsurprisingly, the F/A-22 program has experienced significant cost growth and schedule delays and is still in the testing stage. In contrast, the Super Hornet completed its development on cost and without significant delays and has already been used in combat.

RAND’s Project Air Force looked at both programs with the intent of understanding how each project’s history turned out the way it did, what underlying factors might be at work, and what lessons might be learned.

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The Interceptor OTV body armor vests DID has been covering lately have proven very effective at reducing injuries; indeed, we’ve heard several reports of soldiers who only realized they’d been hit when they got back to base and noticed the bullets their armor had stopped. One side effect has been a big increase in the proportion of arm injuries, however, often damaged beyond repair due to burns and shrapnel penetration from roadside bombs et. al.

Now Gizmag reports that a new arm-armour known as the Sandia Gauntlet has now been tested in Iraq, and may offer some help. Of course, as an earlier DID article noted, the simple installation of proper gunshields per the USAF’s M1116 HMMWV, plus a transparent frontal gun shield, would also go a long way toward reducing these injuries. At any rate…

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Recording knowledge learned through battle-tested situations is more important than ever. To improve Marines combat effectiveness the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned (MCCLL) has created an online Lessons Management System to ensure this information will be readily available. This web-based system contains documented experiences from before Operation Desert Storm, including some from Vietnam.

“One of the things we are finding new with the current MCCLL is we are relearning lessons again and again,” said Maj. Kevin Mooney, liaison officer, II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD) and reservist from Hercules, CA “If we go back to World War II and look at an after action report, you can see the repetition over the years. We’re doing the same things wrong now that we were doing back then. We are also doing the same things right that we were doing back then, but the lessons learned usually come hard.”

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Colonel Jeffrey A. Powers, CEO of Homeland Security Technology in San Diego, CA, recently announced that HST has signed a marketing/ reselling agreement with GPS World Supply of West Chicago, IL, to offer an exclusive line of rugged, custom packaged GPS devices designed for use in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The units come pre-loaded with maps and databases for those specific locations. These units have the ability to display Military Grid Reference System (MGRS), in addition to latitude & longitude coordinates.

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