Army Future Combat Systems (FCS)

ARTICLE: Army Defends Progress On Modernization Program
(Reuters.com)…Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters

A senior U.S. Army official on Tuesday defended progress on a mammoth modernization program known as the Future Combat Systems (FCS), saying it was on cost and on schedule despite some technological challenges.

Lt. Col. Scott Turner, the Army’s deputy director for FCS integration, said he was confident that the overall program and its 44 critical technologies were “on track” to allow the fielding of the four systems in 2011 and the overall roll-out of the first FCS brigade combat team in 2015.

He said Gates was questioning the system because of its overall cost, but he remained convinced that the additional capabilities it would give the Army were well worth the investment.

Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) used in helping to assess the program risks associated with developing the new technologies required by FCS. Good news for the Taxpayers in that it provides a more objective indicator of progress. Also useful in determining priorities — a good thing for the warfighters.

The war we must win

SPEECH: Remarks to the Heritage Foundation (Colorado Springs, CO) As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The risk of overextending the Army is real. But I believe the risk is far greater – to that institution, as well as to our country – if we were to fail in Iraq. That is the war we are in. That is the war we must win.

Speech by the SECDEF inspired a few headlines:

Gates Says New Arms Must Play Role Now (New York Times)…Thom Shanker

Defense Secretary Urges Military To Mold Itself To Fight Iraq-Style Wars, (Washington Post)…Josh White

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Urges Military To Focus On Needs In Iraq, Afghanistan, (Los Angeles Times)…Julian E. Barnes

Gates: Focus On Today’s Military, (Philadelphia Inquirer)…Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press

Gates Questions Military’s Focus, (Colorado Springs Gazette)…Tom Roeder

U.S. Must Focus On Iraq, Less On Future Wars: Gates(Reuters.com)…Andrew Gray,

Alternative to the Long War

ARTICLE: The ‘Long War’ Fallacy
(Los Angeles Times)…Andrew J. Bacevich, May 13, 2008
Pg. 17

Donald Rumsfeld is today a discredited and widely reviled figure. Robert Gates, Rumsfeld’s successor as Defense secretary, is generally admired for manifesting qualities that Rumsfeld lacked — a willingness to listen not least among them. Yet on one crucial point, the two see eye to eye: Both believe that the United States has no alternative but to wage a global war likely to last decades.

Challenges the mindset about waging “a global war likely to last decades.” What kind of change will lead to better outcomes?

Arms race in space

ARTICLE: Preventing An Arms Race In Outer Space, (Boston Globe)…James Carroll, May 12, 2008

…The world-historic decision about carrying warfare across the last threshold into outer space is being left to defense contractors, military commanders, and their wholly owned subsidiary on Capitol Hill.

Humans who did not think to ban weapons from the air a century ago know better when it comes to outer space. Yet what are we doing? And if the deadly current is still hidden, what is that low rumble that can be heard, rolling toward us from down the river?

Agree with the ideal but when has an arms race ever been prevented?

Managing the Financial Cost of War

ARTICLE: For Defense, Crunching The Numbers Is Half The Battle
(Washington Post)…Stephen Barr, May 12, 2008 , Pg. D1

…From her Pentagon office, Jonas is responsible for the department’s financial management policies, the computer systems that track $3.4 trillion in assets and liabilities, an annual budget of more than $600 billion and efforts to modernize business practices.

Jonas also has moved to cut operating overhead. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, which once had 22,000 employees, is down to 13,000 and will shrink to 7,000. With the reductions and improvements in technology, the department has saved $500 million in operating costs.

Such savings “in the back office,” Jonas said, make millions of dollars available for the armed forces. “It matters to the soldiers, it matters to the Marines, it matters to the airmen, it matters to the sailors, and all their families and all our defense workers whether or not we are efficient.

“So at least we are trying to change the culture, and we think we’ve made some good progress.”

DARPA Budget – A Record

ARTICLE: How Defense Research Is Making Troops More Effective In Wartime (Washington Post)…Walter Pincus, May 12, 2008

…DARPA’s proposed $3.3 billion budget for fiscal 2009, now before Congress, is the largest in its history. Almost all DARPA projects are long-range efforts, and those that come to fruition often are not used by the military until years later.

Long Shot

ARTICLE: Air Combat By Remote Control,
(Wall Street Journal)…Brian M. Carney, May 12, 2008
Pg. 13

…The 432nd officially “stood up,” in the jargon of the Air Force, on May 1, 2007. One year later, two dozen of its drones patrol the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan every hour of every day. And almost all of them are flown by two-man crews sitting in the air-conditioned comfort of a “ground control station” (GCS) in the Nevada desert.

Indian Springs, Nev.–The sniper never knew what hit him. The Marines patrolling the street below were taking fire, but did not have a clear shot at the third-story window that the sniper was shooting from. They were pinned down and called for reinforcements.

Help came from a Predator drone circling the skies 20 miles away. As the unmanned plane closed in, the infrared camera underneath its nose picked up the muzzle flashes from the window. The sniper was still firing when the Predator’s 100-pound Hellfire missile came through the window and eliminated the threat.

The airman who fired that missile was 8,000 miles away …

Presidential Elections – Red, States, Blue States, Nation States ..

ARTICLE: Our Enemies And The Election, Wall Street Journal, Gabriel Schoenfeld, May 10, 2008, Pg. 11

…Ever since October 1972, when Henry Kissinger, then Richard Nixon’s national security adviser, announced that “peace is at hand” in Vietnam, an October surprise – or the impending possibility of one – has been a perennial feature of American political life. Will a dramatic foreign-policy development tip the electoral balance this year? Several factors have converged to make this more probable than in any recent election.

In addition to red states and blue states, nation states and terrorist groups (altered states) sharing opinions on the presidential candidates to include: Hamas, Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, Iranians ….

May not be anything new but direct action to influence outcomes would be the “surprise.”

Call to Service … Again

ARTICLE: Return To Sender – Iraq Veteran Gets The Call Again
(San Francisco Chronicle)…Colby Buzzell, May 8, 2008
Pg. B7

…But of course this is ridiculous: No one in their right mind would enlist now, whereas I’ve already signed the papers. I’m now going back to Iraq for a second time because people like me – existing service members – are the only people at the Army’s disposal.

Individual story of a Soldier that joined the military which entails a total commitment of active and inactive service of 8 years. Served a tour, was honorably discharged, returned to school and got called back for a second tour.

Mission Accomplished ?

COMMNENTARY: Regarding the much derided “Mission Accomplished” banner.

On May 1, 2003, on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, President Bush made a speech announcing the end of major combat operations. Visible in the background was a banner stating “Mission Accomplished.”

Military experts have estimated that it would take 25 years to assess most of the positive as well as the negative aspects of the War. Leadership at the strategic level is responsible for taking the long-view and the associated risks when considering the appropriate level of action.

Regime change in Iraq has transformed the dynamics in the Middle East – this particular mission represented a strategic level change that was accomplished quickly and decisively.

Regarding action, leaders have three general options. Maintain/sustain the status quo, incremental improvement or radical (transformational) level improvement. One could argue regarding peace in the Middle East, that initiatives related to sustaining the status quo and incremental change have had limited success – depending on the definition of success.

The ideal challenge for what I define as “Quality Leadership,” is to win the war and achieve expected outcomes without firing a shot. The Chinese military philosopher, Sun Tzu in the Art of War, reinforced this philosophy in his statement: “The acme of skill is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”