Copyright 2000 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
March 9, 2000, Thursday
SECTION: PREPARED TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 4843 words
HEADLINE:
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE PAUL J. HOEPER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE
ARMY (ACQUISITION, LOGISTICS AND TECHNOLOGY)
BEFORE THE
HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE SUBCOMMITTEES ON MILITARY
PROCUREMENT AND MILITARY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
SUBJECT -
FISCAL YEAR 2001 ARMY PROGRAMS AND TRANSFORMATION
BODY:
Additional witnesses include:
LIEUTENANT GENERAL PAUL J. KERN
MILITARY DEPUTY TO THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY (ACQUISITION, LOGISTICS
AND TECHNOLOGY) AND DR. A. MICHAEL ANDREWS, II DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR
RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY TO THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY (ACQUISITION,
LOGISTICS AND TECHNOLOGY)
Introduction
Mr. Chairman and Members
of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss
Fiscal Year 2001 (FY01) Army Programs and Transformation. It is our privilege to
represent The Army leadership, the members of The Army acquisition workforce,
and America's soldiers who rely on us to provide them with the capabilities they
need to execute our National Military Strategy throughout the world.
We
thank the Members of this Committee for your important role in making today's
Army the world's preeminent land combat force. We also thank you for your help
with The Army's FYO0 budget, the FY00 Supplemental for Kosovo, and the
$100 million to assist in our initial transformation efforts.
Your continued advice and support are vital to our success. In a little more
than a decade, the Nation has come to rely most heavily on The Army to perform a
full spectrum of military operations. Since 1989, the frequency of Army
contingency deployments has increased remarkably from about one every four years
to one every 14 weeks. We expect our operational deployments to increase. We
believe the future will demand land forces in joint, multinational, and
interagency formations for missions ranging from humanitarian assistance and
disaster relief to peacekeeping and peacemaking to major theater -- wars that
may involve the use of weapons of mass destruction.
Transformation
To better meet these diverse and complex demands, The Army in October
1999 announced a bold and comprehensive new vision to transform itself into a
full spectrum force capable of dominating at every point on the spectrum of
operations. The Army Vision is "Soldiers on point for the Nation... Persuasive
in Peace, Invincible in War." Our goal is to ensure that The Army fulfills its
Title 10 responsibilities, continuously meeting the requirements of the National
Military Strategy.
Our continued success requires a bold and
comprehensive transformation. At present, our heavy forces are unequaled
anywhere on earth, but they are challenged to deploy rapidly. We have the
world's finest light forces but, in some scenarios, they lack adequate
lethality, survivability, and mobility.We must change. The Army's Transformation
Strategy will result in a force that is more responsive,.deployable, agile,
versatile, lethal, survivable, and sustainable than our present force. It is an
ambitious but achievable effort to transform the force for the 21st century.
-- This new force must be responsive to allow The Army to meet frequent
contingency requirements with any element of the force. Responsiveness requires
an ability to put forces on the ground wherever they are needed and to affect
directly the outcome of the situation or crisis at hand within hours of a
decision to deploy. These forces must be prepared to accomplish their mission
regardless of the environment, the nature or scope of the proposed operation, or
other commitments. They should also have the ability to employ force from low to
high intensity.
To achieve this responsiveness, the force must be more
deployable capable of rapid strategic movement to create opportunities to avert
conflict through deterrence and confront potential adversaries before they can
achieve their goals. The Army Vision calls for a capability to put a brigade on
the ground within 96 hours after liftoff, a division within 120 hours, and five
divisions in 30 days.
Our new force must be more mentally and physically
agile, to change missions and move forces from stability and support operations
to warfight and back again. Our organizational structures will be redesigned, so
that our force is more versatile - able to generate formations that can dominate
at any point on the spectrum of operations, with minimal adjustment and in
minimum time. Our force must be lethal - every element in the warfighting
formation will be capable of generating combat power and contributing decisively
to the fight. We will retain today's light force deployability while providing
the lethality and mobility for decisive outcomes that our heavy forces currently
enjoy. The force must be survivable, by employing technology that provides
maximum protection at the individual soldier level, whether that soldier is
dismounted or mounted.
Finally, the force must be more sustainable. We
are working to aggressively reduce our logistics footprint and replenishment
demand. This requires us to control the numbers of vehicles we deploy, leverage
reach back capabilities, invest in a systems approach to the weapons and
equipment we design, and revolutionize the manner in which we transport and
sustain our people and material. We must implement a highly efficient logistics
command and control system that operates seamlessly from the industrial base to
our deployed forces.
The Army transformation is focused on achieving
these characteristics as quickly as possible and is planned in three major
phases: the Initial phase, the Interim Capability phase, and the Objective Force
phase. During the first phase, as we begin to acquire off-the-shelf vehicles, we
will field two initial Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) at Fort Lewis, Washington,
using a combination of loaned, surrogate, and new equipment. We will use the BCT
to validate an operational and organizational model, as well as the Tactics,
Techniques, and Procedures for future tactical units. Through this process, we
will gain valuable insights for further transformation of the force and give The
Army an initial operational capability that can be employed to meet worldwide
requirements. Following the two initial teams, we will field five to eight
Interim BCT with the primary equipment being a family of Interim Armored
Vehicles (IAV). Last January, we conducted a vehicle demonstration at Fort Knox,
Kentucky, to assess the capabilities of potential Interim Force vehicles.
The Interim Force will seek the characteristics of the Objective Force
within the constraints of available technology. It will be equipped with a
family of IAV, lightweight artillery, and other available technology. It also
will be organized as a rapid-deployable, full- spectrum force that is highly
mobile at the strategic and tactical levels. An essential requirement for the
Interim Force is to be transportable by aircraft that does not require an
improved runway.
Modeling and simulation (M&S) have and will
continue to play a vital role in the transformation process. Our completed
analyses to date are exhaustive.
We have analyzed the Interim
Force in two operational environments - Major Theater War and Smaller-Scale
Contingency. Analyses of the former employed varying derivatives of the standard
Southwest Asia scenario. The latter was analyzed using scenarios set in the
Balkans. The analytic tools included panel reviews that exploited the
professional military judgment, conventional constructive M&S based
analysis, and a combination of these approaches in man-in-the-loop (MITL)
wargaming and after action reviews. The M&S used to support this analysis
included force-on-force models, as well as other more traditional analytical
tools to investigate several other issues including deployment and bandwidth
considerations. The force-on-force models included entity-based, MITL models
such as Janus, Modular Semi- Automated Forces and the Joint Conflict and
Tactical Simulation, and aggregate-level models such as Vector-in-Commander and
its MITL- derivative, the Computer-Assisted Map Exercise model. The major
strength of this entire effort was the inclusion of the - small group
instructors and senior leaders, who are the Army's core cadre for force
development and for teaching and developing warfighting concepts. This approach
enabled the analyses to be enhanced by the intuition, experience, and
perspectives of those soldiers and leaders who have experienced many of the
challenges represented by the scenarios under investigation. It ensured that the
military expertise of these soldiers and leaders was part of the calculus of
this analysis. The results have helped us define the organization, equipment,
and concept for the Interim Force.
Still, M&S is far from complete.
We will use models of IAV and the Future Combat System (FCS) in scenarios that
depict the threat(s) anticipated when these systems would be operational. We
will derive necessary capabilities from our analyses that will help us determine
requirements and help us tailor our future Science and Technology (S&T)
investments. As the systems mature, we will continue to assess the force
effectiveness in an iterative process using actual design models. In addition,
these same models will be used to train our soldiers on the new systems even
before the first hardware item is delivered. Finally, these models will form the
backbone for training simulators to be fielded as an integral part of the
system. We call this process SMART- Simulation and Modeling for Acquisition,
Requirements and Training.
Because The Army must maintain capabilities
required to fight and win the Nation's wars throughout our transformation,
implementing the profound changes called for in The Army Vision will require
careful planning, sustained support, and periodic reassessments and adjustments.
A Transformation Campaign Plan will enable The Army to complete its evolution
into the Objective Force while remaining trained and ready to meet National
Military Strategy requirements at all times. To do this, the strategy
synchronizes the transformation by establishing intermediate objectives and
conditions that must be met before implementing subsequent changes.
The
critical path of the transformation leads to the Objective Force. Today, the
S&T community is working hard to answer questions that we have raised. How
do we reduce armored volume and weight in combat vehicles while increasing
survivability? How do we increase deployability without sacrificing
survivability and lethality? How do we reduce in-theater support needs, and
thereby reduce strategic lift requirements? How do we incorporate unmanned
ground and air vehicles into our formations? These and other questions guide a
major research and development (R&D) effort to develop technologies that
will give the Objective Force its desired characteristics--responsiveness,
agility, versatility, deployability, lethality, survivability, and
sustainability. Accordingly, we will challenge our S&T community to develop
solutions for the Objective Force breakthrough advances in information,
materials, sensors, and weapon systems technologies, Our challenge to our
S&T community is to come back with a comprehensive set of technological
answers and R&D plans by 2003.
The Army is partnering with other
agencies and departments to develop S&T solutions for the Objective Force.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and The Army established through
memorandum of agreement a collaborative program for the evaluation and
competitive demonstration of FCS. The collaborative program will: (1) define and
validate FCS design/operational concepts using M&S and surrogate exercises,
(2) fabricate and test a FCS demonstrator with three or more of its desired
functionalities suitable for Engineering and Manufacturing Development and
production, and (3) develop selected enabling technologies for use in the
demonstrator. The Army is partnering with the Department of Energy, the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation and the
automobile industry to develop environmentally friendly, alternate fuel source
engines for our Objective Force trucks. Finally, in January, The Army and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration signed an agreement to jointly
develop M&S and virtual environments for training our Nation's astronauts
and soldiers for future missions that they will separately face in the harshness
of outer space and the battlespace.At a designated point in the future, we will
review the maturity of the technologies and determine if they are ready to
transition to production and field the Objective Force in unit sets.
Organizations will field complete suites of new equipment, thoroughly integrated
systems, with the whole designed to give us all of the capabilities outlined in
The Army and emerging Joint Vision.
Recapitalization and Modernization
Simultaneously, The Army must maintain today's land force dominance
capabilities. This will be accomplished through a combination of
recapitalization and the fielding of new, already programmed equipment. The
objectives of recapitalization are to extend service life, improve capability,
reliability, and safety, and reduce operation and support (O&S) costs.
Recapitalization of currently fielded systems is central to both readiness and
The Army's transformation.
The M113A3 Armored Personnel Carder upgrade
program is an excellent example of how we approach recapitalization. In this
program, the prime contractor, United Defense Limited Partnership, is partnered
with Anniston Army Depot in Alabama to rebuild and upgrade the M113, extending
its service life by 20 years. The end product gives the warfighter a rebuilt
combat system with the mobility, survivability, and reliability to keep pace on
the battlefield with the Abrams tank and Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
The
Abrams Integrated Management (AIM) XXI program is another excellent example of
how The Army will sustain its equipment in the future. This program partners
Anniston Depot with General Dynamics to rebuild the M1A1, and produces a 'like
new' tank with an extended service life, enhanced reliability, and proven
effectiveness in reducing O&S costs.
In concert with these programs,
we are continuing selective upgrade programs to include procurement of new
engines for the Abrams that are expected to reduce fuel consumption by roughly
30 percent while substantially increasing reliability. We are also modifying our
fleet of Bradley Fighting Vehicles to make them more lethal, reliable, and
survivable through digitization, enhanced night vision capabilities, and other
significant improvements.
In aviation, we continue to upgrade our Apache
attack helicopters to the Longbow variant while pursuing recapitalization
programs for the Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters. The Army
is currently examining ways to improve the reliability of the Apache to ensure
that it remains the most relevant attack helicopter in the world. We are looking
at recapitalizing critical components of the Apache and redesigning the rotor
and drive train system to maintain its combat overmatch capability. The
development of the Apache Forward Looking Infrared System upgrade will provide
both an increased pilotage and targeting capability as well as reduce its
support costs. The recapitalization of the UH-60 Black Hawk with upgrade to the
UH-60L+ variant will make The Army's utility helicopter more reliable and
capable by improving its rotor and engines, and adding a digital cockpit to
provide situational awareness and joint communications interconnectivity. This
will substantially lower O&S costs for the oldest Black Hawks, the UH-60A
models.
Other recapitalization efforts include the Heavy Expanded
Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) to give each truck an improved engine, anti-
lock brakes, and a ..... Icad handling system. Reinvesting in the Hercules
Improved Recovery Vehicle (IRV) will provide the force a recovery vehicle
capable of independently recovering an Abrams tank. Both the HEMTT and the IRV
provide important logistical capabilities to the force.
Continued
development of the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter and the Crusader howitzer are
critically important elements of The Army's strategy to maintain battlespace
dominance. We restructured the Crusader program to gain vital improvements in
indirect fire support capability and weight reduction through increased use of
titanium and changes to its suspension and powerplant. Vastly improved
capabilities are essential to compensate for the reduction - 1,138 to
approximately 480 - in the number of howitzers we will require. Under this
restructure, we will continue using both the Paladin and Lightweight 155mm
howitzer platforms.
The Comanche helicopter will provide The
Army with a new capability to conduct armed reconnaissance during day and night
and in adverse weather conditions. It will significantly expand The Army's
capability to conduct operations in a wide-range of scenarios. Fully digital,
Comanche will be able to receive joint tactical and national asset data and
imagery, as well as provide digital targeting data and imagery to other Army and
joint digital systems. The Comanche will provide a survivable, lethal, and
deployable armed reconnaissance aircraft to meet critical battlefield
deficiencies.
The Army continues to develop and modernize its Theater
Missile - Defense systems to protect our forces against theater ballistic
missiles. A robust - Air and Missile Defense capability is critical to the
success of the Interim and Objective Force by permitting flexibility to maneuver
freely on the battlefield without threat from the air. The recent successes of
the Theater High Altitude Area Defense System and Patdot Advanced Capability-3
flight-testing have conclusively proven the hit- to-kill concept. We will
continue to push the envelope in testing these systems under increasingly
stressful scenarios to ensure that they are capable of defeating projected
threat sets worldwide. The Medium Extended Air Defense System program is being
developed to meet The Army's transformation requirements and will provide a
highly responsive and versatile mid- and far-term Air and Missile Defense
capability for our forces. We are committed to fielding these critical force
protection systems as rapidly as possible to meet the growing ballistic missile
threat.
Modern armies coordinate their actions through a networked
architecture and leverage the power of the microprocessor. To achieve the
objectives of Joint Vision 2010, The Army must continue to digitize its
warfighting systems;modernize the information infrastructure on its posts,
camps, and stations; invest in commercial information technology that will
enable the use of best business practices, to include web-based systems; and
ensure end-to-end connectivity from the installation to the foxhole via the
Global Information Grid. While information technology is embedded in most Army
programs and systems, we must also have a robust, modernized Command, Control,
Communications, and Computers infrastructure to support The Army's Vision and
our transformation to a more agile, more deployable, more lethal force. We must
invest in the communications and information systems that can support force
projection, protection, sustainment, and employment across the full spectrum of
operations.
The Army Battle Command System (ABCS) is central to this
effort. It will integrate and deliver a common operational picture to the
maneuver commander, and serve as the integrator between higher level operational
and strategic command posts and tactical field units. In addition to providing a
common operational picture from subordinate and lateral units, the ABCS system
gives commanders automated tools to plan and execute all aspects of a military
operation and provides seamless connectivity to the supporting installation. As
a system of systems, ABCS supports all battlefield functional areas and
commanders at all echelons. It includes The Army Tactical Command and - Control
Systems, the Global Command and Control System-Army (GCCS-A), and the Force XXI
Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2). Coupled with the Tactical Internet,
FBCB2 brings situational awareness to the boots-on- the ground warfighter.
To support the warfighter effectively, extensive bandwidth must be
available on demand to move the information when and where it is needed on the
battlefield. To this end, The Army is working with the other Services on a
seamless, secure, dynamic network of computers, digital communications, and
embedded information technology. Key components of this network are satellite
transport systems such as the Defense Satellite Communications System and
MILSTAR, which interfaces with the Secure Mobile Anti-Jam Reliable Tactical
- Terminal, Super High Frequency Tri-Band Advanced Range Extension
Terminal, and Single Channel Anti-Jam Manportable Terminal. The Warfighter
Information Network provides wideband digital connectivity across the ground
forces. These networks will be managed by Integrated System Control and the
follow-on Joint Network Management System.
Terrestrial data transfer at
brigade and below will be handled by a Tactical Internet that provides
connectivity to soldiers in individual weapons platforms, tactical vehicles, and
Tactical Operations Centers. The Tactical Internet is the glue that holds FBCB2
systems together digitally. It is formed by the integration of tactical digital
radios, combat net radios, and commercial Internet technology. Primary
components are the SINCGARS radio used in a data mode, the Enhanced Position
Location Reporting System, and the Near Term Digital Radio. We will continue to
optimize the Tactical Internet while, at the same time, accelerate the
development of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) - a secure, multi-band,
multi-mode digital radio that will replace existing radios at the tactical level
and provide the last leg to the warfighter. JTRS will spawn a revolution in
interoperability. It will provide the waveform commonality and increase in
bandwidth necessary to implement Network Centric Warfare. These major
acquisition programs will deliver the requisite infrastructure to provide the
deployed warfighter with full situational awareness and a common operational
picture in order to achieve full spectrum dominance, as well as reach back
capabilities necessary to achieve a Revolution in Military Logistics.
We
remain committed to acquiring digital capabilities to support our soldiers, our
units, and our ability to communicate securely and effectively. The process of
applying information technologies to allow warfighters to share a constantly
updated, common view of the battlespace is an ongoing modernization priority
that relates directly to our transformation. Digitization involves
across-the-board software and hardware improvements to weapons and
communications systems to vastly improve the overall capabilities of our force.
Digitization has many advantages. First, it is a cost-effective force
multiplier. Second, it provides a significant increase in the ability of
commanders and leaders at all levels to quickly synchronize combat power. Third,
it provides timely and accurate information on friendly force locations, thus
reducing the potential for fratricide. Throughout history, the fog of war has
prevented soldiers from finding the answers to three critical questions: Where
am I? Where are my friends? Where is the enemy? Information technology now
offers soldiers a way to pierce the fog of war and answer these questions.
We expect shared situational awareness to greatly increase combat force
lethality and survivability. As we achieve our transformation objectives, we
will achieve total force capability overmatch through our integrated systems and
continuous situational awareness.
Concurrently, we are upgrading Army
Installations through the Installation Information Infrastructure Modernization
Program. This will ensure that the - warfighter's sustaining base has the
bandwidth required to support deployed forces, and achieve the economies
envisioned in the Defense Reform Initiatives. Soldiers will be able to
participate in training programs through The Army Distance Learning Program. The
sustaining base will link to the warfighter through GCCS and the Global Combat
Support System using Joint Computer Aided Acquisition and Logistics Support to
provide what the warfighters need when they need it in order to reduce the
logistics footprint.
The digital network that we create for our command
and control and weapons systems must be protected in a constantly changing cyber
warfare landscape. We must be continuously vigilant and must continually
modernize information assurance capabilities. To this end, we have an aggressive
Network Security Improvement Program in place, identifying vulnerabilities
through "red teaming" and taking appropriate actions. Information Assurance
Vulnerability Reports rapidly advise field units about identified problems and
solutions. Army networks are monitored around the clock, seven days a week for
network intrusion using state of the art intrusion detection tools.
Chemical DeMilitarization Program
The United States remains the
world's leader in safely destroying stockpiled chemical weapons covered by the
Chemical Weapons Convention. The Army manages the destruction of the U.S.
stockpile of lethal chemical agents and munitions and related non-stockpile
materiel. Destruction operations continue at Johnston Atoll in the Pacific
Ocean, and at Tooele, Utah. Construction is underway at Umatilla, Oregon;
Anniston, Alabama; and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Contracts have been awarded for the
construction of demilitarization facilities for the bulk container chemical
agent stockpiles stored at Newport, Indiana, and Edgewood, Maryland. To date,
nearly 90 percent of the U.S. chemical stockpile is under contract for
destruction. Operations at Johnston Atoll and Tooele combined, have destroyed
more than 18 percent (over 5,746 tons) of the original U.S. stockpile.
About this time next year, the U.S. will reach a significant
milestone with the complete destruction of our nation's chemical weapons
stockpile at Johnston Atoll and the commencement of closure operations.
Construction of demilitarization facilities will begin at Pueblo, Colorado, and
Blue Grass, Kentucky, when The Army and the Department of Defense conclude
examination of alternatives to baseline incineration for the destruction of
assembled chemical weapons at those sites. To date, the Assembled Chemical
Weapons Assessment program has completed the initial demonstration testing of
three alternative technologies for the destruction of assembled chemical weapons
and is currently testing three additional technologies.
Conclusion
We are revising our modernization strategy to support our transformation
-- to the Objective Force. Planned adjustments include accelerating a number of
programs to improve strategic responsiveness and increase the lethality of light
forces with anti-armor systems and indirect fire systems. Other adjustments
include making our redesigned mechanized divisions more deployable by reducing
their size while maintaining their lethality. We are also accelerating
logistical command and control systems and software to expedite the deployment
and support of Army units. We are making it easier to prepare and execute
movement plans, ensuring integration with joint logistical systems, and
providing the ability to track shipments in transit. Finally, we are partnering
with other departments and agencies, especially the Defense Advanced Research
Project Agency, to mature the technologies required for FCS and the Objective
Force.
It is clear that development and funding of an affordable, fully
integrated modernization program is essential to The Army's complete
transformation. In FY01, The Army Procurement and Research, Development, Test
& Evaluation (RDT&E) budget totals $14.7 billion -
$9.4 billion in Procurement and $5.3 billion
in RDT&E. This year's proposed budget is a critical first step. It carefully
balances near- term readiness and long-term modernization. This budget will
allow us to make an initial S&T investment in FCS as the weapons platform
for the Objective Force. It will allow for the continued integration of
information technologies into our weapon systems through digitization.
It will continue our investment in new platforms that are essential to
force modernization. And, it will allow us to recapitalize our legacy systems to
extend their service life while reducing maintenance requirements and
streamlining logistics support.
These modernization and sustainment
initiatives require a long-term commitment. We must maintain stability in our
budget. It is alarming to learn that even with adjustments for decreases in the
size of The Army, we will spend roughly $5,000 less per soldier
for modernization this year than we did a decade ago. We must reverse this
trend. As we continue to meet the needs of our nation, we ask for your support
so that The Army will continue to be persuasive in peace, invincible in war in
the 21st century.
END
LOAD-DATE: March
11, 2000 
