*Source: Defense News
(NSI News Source Info) May 22, 2009: Future Combat Systems spinout gear could be delayed by the program's restructuring, U.S. Army leaders told lawmakers at a May 21 Air and Land Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee hearing on acquisition and modernization. 
One of the items in the spinout gear package is a small sensor-carrying robot dubbed SUG-V. (U.S. ARMY)
The gear is slated to begin deploying in 2011.
"It will be difficult to keep to the schedule of the spinouts because of the massive amount of work it will take to restructure this contract," Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, military deputy to the assistant Army secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology, told lawmakers.
Under changes proposed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in April and codified in the 2010 budget request recently sent to Capitol Hill, the 27-ton Manned Ground Vehicle effort is being cancelled, while the FCS network and spinout-gear efforts are being swept into a new program called the Army Brigade Combat Team Modernization. The lead systems integrator contract with FCS prime Boeing-SAIC also is being renegotiated.
The spinout gear, which was initially intended to be deployed with new, full-up FCS brigades, includes a small sensor-carrying robot dubbed SUG-V, the sensor-equipped Micro Air Vehicle UAV, the Unattended Ground Sensors and FCS battlefield network gear.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, the subcommittee chair, called for even more changes to the FCS program. He called for the complete elimination of the lead systems integrator role filled by Boeing-SAIC. Currently, the team is to continue managing the network and spinout efforts.
Abercrombie also called for changing the Army's deal with Boeing-SAIC. In his prepared remarks, which were distributed at the hearing, he called for "new contracts with reasonable fee structures to replace the current fee arrangement that featured hundreds of millions a year in fees with very few tools for Army program managers to hold contractors to account."
He also said the program should be broken into separate elements for vehicles, communications networks and spinouts, not merely swept into the new ABCTM effort.
Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., asked whether technologies developed under the MGV program, particularly those concerning the NLOS-Cannon, would be used in the new effort, dubbed Ground Combat Vehicles.
"In your estimation, how much has already been done and is salvageable and what will the new technologies require for the new Ground Combat Vehicles?" Fallin asked.
Thompson said that technological advances would be incorporated as far as possible.
"I can't imagine not including a new howitzer because there is a need for precision fire, all-weather line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight capability. We wish to make sure that the $15 billion we have spent on FCS to date is fully leveraged going forward," Thompson said.
Other Issues
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., asked Thompson about technologies that allow helicopter pilots to see through sand and snow.
"The UH-60M Black Hawk advanced handling system will give us the ability for automatic take-off and landing to protect against brownouts and whiteouts," Thompson said.
Lawmakers also questioned Army leaders about the need for safer doors on the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, which would let soldiers can exit more easily when attacked.
"Every MRAP variant has a [hydraulic] cylinder to assist on each door," said Thompson.
At a demonstration just a few days earlier on Capitol Hill, Oshkosh Defense showed the hydraulic cylinders on its MRAP All Terrain Vehicle. The cylinders are driven by an electric motor powered by batteries that are recharged when the vehicle is running, said Ken Juergens, M-ATV program director, Oshkosh Defense. The batteries must be replaced after 50 to 70 openings, Juergens said.
One of the items in the spinout gear package is a small sensor-carrying robot dubbed SUG-V. (U.S. ARMY)
The gear is slated to begin deploying in 2011.
"It will be difficult to keep to the schedule of the spinouts because of the massive amount of work it will take to restructure this contract," Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, military deputy to the assistant Army secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology, told lawmakers.
Under changes proposed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in April and codified in the 2010 budget request recently sent to Capitol Hill, the 27-ton Manned Ground Vehicle effort is being cancelled, while the FCS network and spinout-gear efforts are being swept into a new program called the Army Brigade Combat Team Modernization. The lead systems integrator contract with FCS prime Boeing-SAIC also is being renegotiated.
The spinout gear, which was initially intended to be deployed with new, full-up FCS brigades, includes a small sensor-carrying robot dubbed SUG-V, the sensor-equipped Micro Air Vehicle UAV, the Unattended Ground Sensors and FCS battlefield network gear.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, the subcommittee chair, called for even more changes to the FCS program. He called for the complete elimination of the lead systems integrator role filled by Boeing-SAIC. Currently, the team is to continue managing the network and spinout efforts.
Abercrombie also called for changing the Army's deal with Boeing-SAIC. In his prepared remarks, which were distributed at the hearing, he called for "new contracts with reasonable fee structures to replace the current fee arrangement that featured hundreds of millions a year in fees with very few tools for Army program managers to hold contractors to account."
He also said the program should be broken into separate elements for vehicles, communications networks and spinouts, not merely swept into the new ABCTM effort.
Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., asked whether technologies developed under the MGV program, particularly those concerning the NLOS-Cannon, would be used in the new effort, dubbed Ground Combat Vehicles.
"In your estimation, how much has already been done and is salvageable and what will the new technologies require for the new Ground Combat Vehicles?" Fallin asked.
Thompson said that technological advances would be incorporated as far as possible.
"I can't imagine not including a new howitzer because there is a need for precision fire, all-weather line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight capability. We wish to make sure that the $15 billion we have spent on FCS to date is fully leveraged going forward," Thompson said.
Other Issues
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., asked Thompson about technologies that allow helicopter pilots to see through sand and snow.
"The UH-60M Black Hawk advanced handling system will give us the ability for automatic take-off and landing to protect against brownouts and whiteouts," Thompson said.
Lawmakers also questioned Army leaders about the need for safer doors on the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, which would let soldiers can exit more easily when attacked.
"Every MRAP variant has a [hydraulic] cylinder to assist on each door," said Thompson.
At a demonstration just a few days earlier on Capitol Hill, Oshkosh Defense showed the hydraulic cylinders on its MRAP All Terrain Vehicle. The cylinders are driven by an electric motor powered by batteries that are recharged when the vehicle is running, said Ken Juergens, M-ATV program director, Oshkosh Defense. The batteries must be replaced after 50 to 70 openings, Juergens said.Please feel free to distribute this DTN News Report to friends or repost to your Web site linking to http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/
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