Back to news

August 27, 2019 | International, Land

Army Hopes Microsoft App Will Help Reduce Heavy Soldier Loads

By Matthew Cox

The Army is finalizing a new, web-based modeling app -- developed by Microsoft -- that will allow soldier equipment officials to see how hanging new pieces of kit on close-combat troops could affect a squad's performance.

"For a long, long, long time, we have struggled with the ability to be able to show in a quantitative manner how a new component or an upgraded component will affect the effectiveness of a soldier and squad," John Howell, current lead for the Army's new Adaptative Squad Architecture effort, told an audience Tuesday.

He spoke at the first industry day for what Army officials hope will lead to a new framework developing future capability sets for dismounted soldiers that are far lighter and more streamlined than today's assortment of tactical gear.

While still in its early stages, the Architectural Assessment Tool is designed to be a collaborative tool for project managers and requirements officials to view digital models of soldiers kitted-out in current-issue gear to form a baseline.

In a quick demo, Howell made a copy of the squad leader configuration baseline and then replaced his M4A1 with an M249 squad automatic weapon and the accessories needed for it.

"This is where you start to get into a little bit of the quantitative assessment piece," he said, showing how the app immediately calculates the weight added from the change. "What you notice immediately is that this special squad leader now weighs 30 pounds more."

It's a simple example, "but just to get to this point is quite a big step," Howell said. "In order to treat the soldier as an integrated weapons platform, this is the kind of thing you need to be able to do."

Adaptive Squad Architecture is the latest attempt by the Army to treat the soldier as a complete system, breaking away from the long practice of developing individual pieces of equipment and fielding them.

"We build the soldier out like a Christmas tree and our products are like ornaments, and we just continue to hang products off our soldiers until the soldier gets so heavy, they can't move," said Brig. Gen. Anthony Potts, head of Program Executive Office Soldier.

Potts told the mix of small and large defense companies in attendance that the Army needs a new approach to developing capability sets of equipment that are much lighter than the roughly 120-pound loads dismounted infantrymen carry today.

"If I can give you an architecture ... you can look at this and say, 'You know what? I've got an idea that I can combine three of those capabilities into one,'" Potts said. "Those three capabilities might weigh 4.5 today and you go, 'You know, I can bring it to one and I can bring it to you for 2.75 pounds.'

"Let me tell you something, if you do that, you have my interest."

In addition to the web-based assessment tool, the Army is also conducting evaluations that involve running infantry squads through tactical lanes at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to build a database of performance data, Potts said.

"We are doing a correlation of data on squad performance, how the individual data on that soldier relates to the individual performance and how it relates to the entire squad's performance," he said, adding that he is sending a five-member team to Afghanistan in October to embed with the 75th Ranger Regiment to do more data collection.

"We want to be able to make data-driven decisions on some of the places we are going for in materiel development in the future," Potts said.

Under the soldier lethality priority in the Army's new modernization strategy, the service is developing advanced new kit such as the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, a Microsoft technology that will let soldiers view their weapon's sight reticle and other tactical information through a pair of tactical glasses.

The Army is also developing the Next Generation Squad Weapon, a replacement for the M4A1 and M249 that promises to offer significant weight savings on the weapon as well as the ammunition, Army officials have said.

But Potts realizes that it's still up to commanders to decide how much weight their soldiers carry into battle.

"A commander may believe that if we gave him 20% lighter ammunition or 30% lighter ammunition and he feels like the fight he's going into ... means he can take 20 or 30% [more ammo], that's a commander's call," he said.

On the other hand, Potts said a commander may decide "I'm going up a hill at 90 degrees; I'm going to take that 30% weight savings because that's what I think is the most important thing to me."

"I think what we are going to do is give commanders more options on what they can do with their formations that they have never had before, because the basic load that we will provide through the architecture will be lighter. ... As we draw down the weight of our body armor, draw down the weight of our ammunition, draw down the weight of our automatic weapons, you are going to free up space in there that's going to make it lighter," Potts said.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/08/22/army-hopes-microsoft-app-will-help-reduce-heavy-soldier-loads.html

On the same subject

  • Nammo signs strategic partnership agreement with the Finnish Defense Forces

    December 11, 2020 | International, Land

    Nammo signs strategic partnership agreement with the Finnish Defense Forces

    By Endre Lunde, December, 9 2020 Nammo and the Finnish Defense Forces (FDF) signed a new long-term strategic partnership agreement today during a brief ceremony at the Finnish Defense Command in Helsinki. The agreement is a continuation of a previous security of supply agreement between the two parties signed in 2014, and comes after the Finnish Minister of Defense approved the new agreement on 20 November “This agreement confirms the close relationship between Nammo and the Finnish government, which has existed since the formation of Nammo in 1998, and before that since our current Finnish factories were founded in the 1920s. We are as committed to Finnish safety and security as we have ever been, and this new agreement will allow us to take on an even greater role and build an even closer partnership with the Finnish Defense Forces,” said Morten Brandtzæg, President and CEO of the Nammo Group. Raimo Helasmäki, Managing Director of Nammo Lapua Oy, Nammo's Finnish subsidiary, is very satisfied with the agreement being signed. “This Strategic Partnership Agreement strengthens and supports Nammo Lapua Oy's position as a major player in domestic security of supply,” Helasmäki said. The Strategic Partnership is a multi-year agreement, and will remain be in force until further notice. The total value is expected to be about EUR 20 million per year. Nammo's history in Finland dates back to the years immediately following its independence, when what is today Nammo Lapua, Nammo Vihtavuori and Nammo Sastamala were founded to produce much-needed munitions for its armed forces. The new agreement continues this long-standing history, and covers every aspect of ammunition, explosives and propellants manufacturing in Finland, thereby ensuring a continued domestic security of supply for the Finnish Armed Forces. Finnish Defense Forces Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics and Armaments, Lieutenant General Timo Kakkola believes the agreement will strengthen the approach and ways of working that has been developed over the past six years by Nammo and the FDF. At the same time, it represents an important step further where Nammo becomes a true strategic partner for the FDF, helping to manage the full supply chain for ammunition, an essential part of Finnish national readiness. “Our domestic ammunition and propellants industry still has a significant part to play in our security of supply, and this agreement allows us to continue its development through a long-term partnership with Nammo,” said General Kakkola. ABOUT THE AUTHOR ENDRE LUNDE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS EMAIL endre.lunde@nammo.com TEL +4790853270 View source version on NAMMO: https://www.nammo.com/story/nammo-signs-strategic-partnership-agreement-with-the-finnish-defense-forces/

  • Special Operations Command wants to upgrade its data analytics platform

    June 9, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security

    Special Operations Command wants to upgrade its data analytics platform

    Andrew Eversden U.S. Special Operations Command wants ideas from industry to improve the organization's large data analytics platform, an initiative that could lead to as much as $600 million in contracts in the next decade. A request for information released June 5 outlines two lines of effort for changes to the Global Analytics Platform: development and system upgrades, and maintenance and sustainment. SOCOM is exploring both a single-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite delivery contract for each lines of effort or a multi-award ID/IQ for each one. SOCOM, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., expects the contract to be worth as much $600 million for 10 years of work. Analysts use the platform to search, discover and analyze large quantities of data. The platform contains applications that are “interfacing with robust data ingest, enrichment, transport, and dissemination across intelligence and operations portfolios.” It is also deploy into the Intelligence Community's Commercial Cloud Services (C2) environment, the solicitation reads. Under the first line of effort, the combatant command wants to upgrade the platform to apply more data science and machine learning/artificial intelligence capabilities to “to improve analyst workflow and free trapped technical capacity.” Agile software will be added “to implement iterative methodologies for the development of applications” to add to the current system architecture. The contractor will also provide technical experts to build and deploy tools to “aggregate and analyze intelligence data for real time exploitation in support of USSOCOM missions.” The request states that the expected places of performance are Arlington, Va., Fort Bragg, N.C., the National Geospatial Agency at Fort Belvoir, Va., and locations outside the continental United States. The performance period is Nov. 1, 2021 to Oct. 31, 2031. It also said the platform provides “intelligence targeting support to the find, fix, finish, exploit, and analyze cycle and direct intelligence support to ongoing operations.” SOCOM is investing heavily to improve its data environment. In a separate effort, USSOCOM wants to place all the data commanders need into a single pane of glass, SOCOM Acquisition Executive James Smith said at a May conference. Responses are due July 31. https://www.c4isrnet.com/newsletters/daily-brief/2020/06/08/special-operations-command-wants-to-upgrade-is-data-analytics-platform/

  • Cybersecurity for critical infrastructure approved in $840 billion defense bill

    July 19, 2022 | International, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

    Cybersecurity for critical infrastructure approved in $840 billion defense bill

    '€œIn the nearly 22 years that I've served in Congress, we have come a long way in cyberspace,'€ said Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I.

All news