“Maneuver units also require organic horizontal and vertical construction capabilities and enhanced breaching, route clearance, and gap crossing capabilities to improve force protection, enhance mobility in complex and urban terrain, and enable capacity building efforts,” it notes. “Additionally, they require greater ability to develop intelligence from the bottom up and collect, process, exploit, and disseminate critical but perishable information.”
In terms of materiel, the Capstone Concept contains few specifics, noting instead the service benefits from several “rapid acquisition processes” implemented over the past decade and the need to sustain these benefits by adapting service acquisition approaches “to expand the characteristics of rapid acquisition in the institution.”
The Army of 2030: Something Old/Something New
But rapid acquisition is only part of the materiel answer, with the budgetary realities of the next 17 years likely translating to Army fleets consisting of both old and new elements.
Soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 35th Armored Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas, occupy operational environment at McGregor Range, N.M., April 25, 2012, in support of the Army Network Integration Evaluation semiannual field training exercise. While the NIEs develop new technologies, the Abrams is being modernized to remain in service through 2045.
In terms of armored vehicles, for example, the emphasis on new capabilities for the combat fleet of 2030 is being focused on the Ground Combat Vehicle program, the next generation of Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV) slated to replace IFV configurations of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The end of 2012 saw that program more than halfway through its technology development phase, with more milestone decisions expected late in 2013.
Meanwhile, on June 8, 2011, an Army Systems Acquisition Review Council (ASARC) approved Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) packages for both the Bradley and the Abrams main battle tank.
Given that U.S. Army budget documents reflect that the Abrams platform is expected to be in service through 2045, service planners have looked at the challenges of continuing the improvement and modification process to maintain platform viability. The resulting ECPs are seen as ways to re-establish space, weight, power, and cooling (SWAP-C) margins and to facilitate integration of technologies being developed under existing “programs of record.”
Speaking at the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in late October 2012, fleet planners stressed that the proposed ECPs are meant only to restore lost capability to the platforms, not to exceed operational envelopes outlined in current requirement documents.
The mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) fleet presents another uncertainty in projecting the U.S. Army materiel makeup of 2030. Reflective of a dynamic industry response to urgent service needs, the existence of today’s MRAP fleet of more than 20,000 vehicles was not envisioned by any fleet planners in the closing days of the 20th century. As of this writing, the Army has just completed a study of where the MRAPs will fit into post-war fleet structures, with the results of that study expected to feed a range of capability portfolio review decisions projected for early 2013.
An Army and U.S. Marine Corps’ Joint Light Tactical Vehicle team conducts a helicopter sling load transportability test during the technology development phase of the program. U.S. Army photo
Another wheeled platform program, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), has garnered broad service leadership support and is certainly expected to play a significant role in the Army’s tactical wheeled fleet of 2030. The program entered engineering and manufacturing development in August 2012, with production projections for the eventual acquisition of 50,000 JLTVs by the Army and another 5,000 by the Marine Corps.
One 2030 uncertainly involves the future modification or enhancement to the remaining HMMWVs that will not be replaced by JLTV. Addressing the legacy HMMWV (Humvee) issue at the October 2012 AUSA gathering, Deputy Program Executive Officer for Combat Support and Combat Service Support Col. David Bassett observed that the HMMWVs likely to be “enduring” are still at a relatively young fleet age, resulting in the luxury of time before some of the fleet decisions have to be made. [Bassett was nominated for appointment to the rank of brigadier general in December 2012. – Ed.]