US Army Modernization – Preparing for Future Success

Interview with LTG Robert Lennox, Deputy Chief of Staff, US Army G-8


As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan approach their end, each at its individual pace and with very different requirements, the constant efforts of shaping the US Army are subject to new operational, political, and economic impacts. The decade of the war on terror has had an influence on the entire Armed Forces that is unparalleled in modern military history – at the same time, this era has seen a revolutionary increase of technological possibilities, which most prominently became manifest in the upsurge of unmanned systems and networked solutions. The Army is now at a crossroads at which it must determine the challenges and, in consequence, the requirements of the upcoming years, while managing the ongoing transition in operations abroad.

This complex defence-political environment will also influence this year’s AUSA Annual Meeting, which starts today, October 10, 2011, in Washington, D.C. On this occasion, defpro.com asked Lieutenant General Robert Lennox,[1] Deputy Chief of Staff, Army G-8,[2] to outline the Army’s current modernisation efforts in light of the challenges that lie ahead.


NvK: Let us try and provide some background to enable our readers to better understand what will follow. How would you assess the current posture of the US Army, in terms of equipment?

LTG Robert Lennox: The Army has made great strides to bring the Army into “materiel balance.” As a result of continued Congressional support, the Army projects an Equipment On Hand (EOH) aggregate level of fill of 92 percent by the end of October 2012 (Active Component – 93 percent; Army National Guard – 92 percent; US Army Reserve – 90 percent). The challenge with Army equipping is that we over-equip units in combat (Theater Sustainment Stocks) and we ensure units going to accomplish non-standard missions (Field Artillery performing as Infantry) have all the appropriate equipment. This creates imbalance.

Today, less than half of all Army units report critical Equipment On Hand (EOH) shortages and we expect Army EOH to continue to improve. To help mitigate equipping challenges and synchronize the delivery of equipment, the Army implemented the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) process, which focused intensive equipment management to provide units with the equipment needed for training and deployment as they progress through the ARFORGEN process.

Key lessons learned from the current fight include:
• Constant improvement has been needed in protection, both to vehicles and body armor. The vehicles include High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) to Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs). Over nine improvements have been made to body armor.
• The power of the Network has been important to successful operations with our Coalition partners. Pushing the network down to the soldier level for biometrics and situational awareness has empowered our soldiers.
• The Army learned the value of unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters.
• Soldier equipping is critical to lighten the load, increase lethality, and provide better optics.

NvK: What were the main lesson learned, and the resulting changes, since the end of the Cold War and the conflicts of the past decade? Is today’s US Army properly equipped to face the likely challenges of the years ahead or are there some shortcomings?

Lennox: The strategic international and domestic environments of the first half of the 21st century will differ markedly from the last seventy years. Major differences include a lack of certainty of where and against whom we would be required to fight and the availability of resources required to ensure our success.

Until the end of the Cold War, the United States defense establishment had certainty in the strategic and operational environments – we knew our enemy and where we would fight. This certainty provided a degree of predictability in resource availability and force structure. The Army was able to design a force to defend against a large, specific threat – the threat of national destruction fueled relatively large commitments of resources.

Today, we are in an era characterized by persistent conflict highlighted by the lack of a clearly identifiable threat, uncertain operational environments, increased cost of labor and capital and decreased access to resources to pay for them. To confront these new realities and remain the most decisive land force in the world, the Army must achieve a balance between prevailing in current operations and preparing for success in the future, while simultaneously hedging against unexpected contingencies and sustaining the high quality of the all-volunteer Army.

Our strategy to equip the Army takes a balanced approach and features:
• Integrated portfolios that align the modernization community to ensure integration across requirements, acquisition, resourcing and sustainment
• Incremental modernization to deliver improved capabilities as technology matures, resources are available or necessity dictates
• ARFORGEN equipping to improve or maintain core capabilities and provide mission-specific capabilities in support of operational availability cycles

Our strategy to equip the force follows four lines of effort: 1) Modernize to improve and upgrade existing equipment; 2) Sustain our equipment to extend its useful life; 3) Mitigate mission shortfalls by procuring unique equipment for immediate capability needs; and 4) Distribute equipment so that it is in the right place and in the right amounts to enable training, preparation and execution for mission success.

NvK: In broader terms, what are the main goals of the ongoing transformation process? How will the future US Army differ from todays? And, what are the most urgent transformation steps?

Lennox: The goal of Army Equipment Modernization is to develop and field a versatile and affordable mix of equipment to allow soldiers and units to succeed in full-spectrum operations today and tomorrow and maintain our decisive advantage over any enemy we face.

Versatile means equipment that is
• adaptable in response to real or anticipated environments change;
• expansible over time as technology and anticipated environments change;
• networked to share information in the quantities, quality, timeliness and security level required for operations.

Affordable means that we will make fiscally informed decisions to get the greatest capability value within projected resources and with acceptable risk.

NvK: The ill-fated FCS programme used to be the cornerstone of the US Army transformation. Could you please elaborate on how the Army has “harvested” technologies from the programme?

Lennox: There are several areas where Future Combat System (FCS) technologies have been harvested, most notably in the development of the network and the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV). The lessons learned from the efforts of the FCS have been applied to help streamline development efforts. An example of such is the hybrid drives developed for the FCS manned ground vehicles and being considered for the GCV.

Active protection systems from the FCS are likely to be found on the Ground Combat Vehicle and other combat vehicles in the future. Another example is the Network Integration Kit, which has been used at Fort Bliss, Texas, in the Network Integration Evaluation and has some positive feedback.

NvK: The network is arguably the single most important development programme as currently underway for the US Army. Could you please provide an overview of the goals of the programme and its current status?

Lennox: The Army’s network investment reflects a fundamental change in how the Army will field new capabilities to the warfighter. Specifically, the Army will converge parallel network efforts into one coherent network for soldiers, platforms, and command posts linked by an integrated suite of command and control applications and services connected via a common network and fielded to as many formations as possible. The Army’s main effort is to develop and deploy network ‘capability sets’ aligned against ARFORGEN requirements to provide an integrated, seamless network capability – from the Tactical Operation Center to the Commander on the Move, to the dismounted soldier.

A comprehensive review of all network solutions prior to deployment is a critical component of developing ‘capability sets.’ In June 2011, the Army conducted the initial Network Integration exercise (NIE) at Fort Bliss by the Army’s Brigade Modernization Command. The NIE will now serve as the network’s primary venue to evaluate Army network programs, new technologies and network capabilities.

NvK: Beyond the Network, how would you list the next most important programmes?

Lennox: The Army Modernization Plan 2012 strategy-based priorities for modernized equipment are to (1) network the force, (2) deter and defeat hybrid threats, and (3) protect and empower soldiers. Program priorities provide the critical capabilities which give our soldiers and units the decisive edge in full spectrum operations.

Our prioritization efforts strike a balance between current and future needs; provide the basis for an affordable equipping strategy over time; reflect Army and Congressional interests, guidance and priorities and nest with Army Campaign Plan directed capabilities.

The Army has seven systems in its Fiscal Year 2012 request categorized as CRITICAL:
• Distributed Common Ground System – Army (DCGS-A): Provides integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data to airborne and ground sensor platforms.
• OH-58 Kiowa Warrior Model Upgrade: Enhances and upgrades cockpit sensors.
• Ground Combat Vehicle: The Army’s replacement for the Infantry fighting vehicles in Heavy Brigade Combat Teams.
• Paladin Integrated Management (PIM): Enhances the responsiveness, survivability, and operational readiness of the self-propelled howitzer fleet.
• Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS): Provides advanced joint tactical end to end networking data and voice communications to our soldiers and units.
• Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increments 1, 2 and 3: Provides the warfighter with advanced communications between widely dispersed units with voice, data and video.
• Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P): Enables a widely dispersed command and control capability across all formations and entire spectrum of joint military operations.

NvK: One way or another, it appears highly likely that future defence budgets will decline, and contain less money for RDA. Are you confident the US Army will nonetheless be able to maintain its technological ascendency?

Lennox: During the past five years, the Army has invested over $100 billion dollars in new equipment. Those investments provide our soldiers with the world’s most advanced weaponry, most capable sensors, and most survivable transportation systems. Along with those improvements, we have built a network that provides a common operational view of the battlefield down to troop level. Although other nations have made investments in their ground forces, none have done so to the extent we have because our systems have been delivered across both our active and reserve components. Every Army unit is equipped to be the best in the world. We have also made extensive investments in infrastructure especially training ranges, depots and unit maintenance facilities and have provided our troops with the funding they need to continue training at a high tempo.

Our continuous investment in research, development, test and evaluation, amounting to over $50 billion dollars during the past five years, ensures the Army will retain its technological edge and continue the fielding of advanced technologies.

Currently, we are ramping down from ten years of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This period offered us a vast depth of experience on what technology is effective and what is not. We have made huge gains in recognizing and closing capability gaps in our force. The lessons we have learned from this type of warfare has advanced and refocused our research and development efforts to new levels.

The Army’s strategy is to develop and field a versatile and affordable mix of equipment to allow soldiers and units to succeed in full-spectrum operations today and tomorrow and to maintain our decisive advantage over any enemy we face.

This strategy takes a balanced and affordable approach by using ARFORGEN equipping to improve or maintain core capabilities, incremental modernization to deliver new and improved capabilities and integrated portfolios to align our equipment modernization communities.

The Army is focused on being a good steward of resources and has implemented numerous process changes to accomplish that goal. These changes include:
• Integrated affordability reviews in the requirements development process to ensure requirements are both feasible and affordable;
• Cost Benefit Analysis to ensure a value-added review of requirements before funding is applied;
• Capability Portfolio Review process where Army senior leadership reviews requirements, acquisition and relative priorities to ensure we are developing the right capabilities to meet emerging threats.

NvK: Thank you very much, General Lennox.

(This entry is an interview I originally made for the defence news site defpro.com in October 2011. For a list of all interviews I made, please click here.)


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Notes:
[1] Lieutenant General Robert P. Lennox was appointed the US Army’s fourth Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, on November 2, 2009. He is responsible for integration and programming across the Army to meet the current and future force requirements. LTG Lennox graduated in 1977 from West Point, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering. He also holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Stanford University, and a Masters Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the National Defense University. LTG Lennox’s military education includes the Air Defense Artillery Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Combined Arms Services Staff School, the Army Command and General Staff College, and the National War College. LTG Lennox’s last assignment was as the Director, Army Quadrennial Defense Review.
[2] The Army G-8 is responsible for integrating Army funding, fielding, and equipping actions with OSD, Joint, and ARSTAF organizations and processes for the purpose of meeting current and future force requirements of the Joint Force. G-8 is the principal military advisor to ASA(FM&C) and advises VCSA on JROC issues as well. G-8 also serves as a member of JCB, AR2B, AROC, AMCB.