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WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 27, 2008) - The Army is accelerating the
delivery of key Future Combat Systems technologies to the field,
officials announced yesterday.
Infantry brigade combat teams will receive the technologies,
called "spinouts," sooner than previously planned, officials
said.
The spinouts include tactical and urban unattended ground
sensors; the non-line-of-sight launch system, the Class I, Block 0
unmanned air vehicle; the small, unmanned ground vehicle; and
network kits for Humvees.
Lt. Gen. Michael A. Vane, director of the Army Capabilities
Integration Center, discussed the accelerated fielding of
cutting-edge equipment in a teleconference with bloggers and online
journalists.
"This decision reflects the need to move more aggressively to
support current operations across both our active and
reserve-component capabilities with the Future Combat Systems
capabilities," he said.
Commanders and soldiers in the field, as well as members of
Congress and Defense Department and Army leaders have been asking
for future combat technologies to be used for the current fight in
Iraq and Afghanistan, Vane said.
Operational needs statements from infantry brigade commanders in
2007 and 2008 were double the number from heavy brigades, and
accelerating the fielding of FCS spinouts addresses many of those
capability gaps, Army officials said.
Vane pointed out that FCS is not being developed to provide
"perfect information."
"We recognize that soldiers will always fight for information,"
he said. "But the soldier on the battlefield and the commander is
the best decision maker, the best sensor, the best shooter, the
best communicator, the best negotiator with both allies and
potential enemies.
"What we want to do is we want technology to enable that soldier
and that commander to better understand the battlefield," he
continued. "And sometimes people think we're building something
that's a fantasy or that technology is the answer to everything,
and we absolutely are not. What we are doing is trying to leverage
that technological advantage that American industry and Americans'
allies help us bring to the battlefield."
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