August 28, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR
By: Mark Pomerleau
The Army's Rapid Capabilities Office is beginning to expand to new areas of interest.
Initially stood up in 2016, the RCO was designed to address the Army's biggest capability gaps by delivering solutions in one to five years. The original focus areas for the office included electronic warfare, position navigation and timing and cyber.
While in the past few years it has moved out a bit into areas such as countering unmanned aerial systems, officials presenting Aug. 22 at TechNet Augusta explained the organization is now officially looking into much broader areas.
The first is in future communications and narrowband communications. Rob Monto, Emerging Technologies Office lead at the RCO, explained these new areas of interest for the RCO could allow for fall-back or redundancy in denied environments.
They could also allow paths for certain specific messages, such as medevac, to be transmitted.
Monto then outlined an interest in robotics for employing logistics and maintenance for heavy platforms. Robots can help replace parts faster during war or even augment humans in the way Special Operations Command has conducted experiments with exoskeletons.
The next area is in conformal antennas, which Monto said were of interest in order to reduce the profile of vehicles.
Monto described a keen interest for the RCO in electric drives and drivetrains, noting that commercial industry and heavy machinery have started to take this route.
Lastly, Monto noted that the RCO is interested in high-energy lasers and directed energy technology.
Anything in these areas are starting to become a broader portfolio for the RCO, Monto said, adding they are looking to bring new technologies in that might not be specifically leveraged today.
March 11, 2022 | International, Aerospace
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December 24, 2018 | International, C4ISR
By: Mark Pomerleau The Army will be hosting members of industry in 2019 to discuss opportunities on signals intelligence and electronic warfare, according to a December 2018 notice. The Signals Intelligence/Electronic Warfare (SIGINT/EW) Future Opportunities and Terrestrial Layer System (TLS) Industry Day will be hosted Jan. 23 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. The Army has charted a path forward that includes integrating signals intelligence and electronic warfare systems into a single tool for greater synergy between the two disciplines. One of the first systems the Army is building on this front is the Terrestrial Layer System, an integrated EW and signals intelligence system that will provide a much-needed jamming capability to formations. The Army is taking a multitiered approach to TLS, leveraging assessments, exercises and even deployments of quick-reaction capabilities to inform how the service will move forward on prototyping and providing much-needed capabilities, such as this one, to units. Officials have noted that this approach differs from acquisition processes of the past. “We hope to go faster, but with the authorities granted by Congress ... we think this rapid prototyping using the buy, try, decide method is going to be great for this rapid acquisition process,” said Col. Jennifer McAfee, director of the Training and Doctrine Command's capabilities manager for terrestrial and identity at the Intelligence Center of Excellence. “Are we going to field this next week? Not necessarily, but we're talking fielding to the force in the next two to three years, not seven to 10 years.” Industry's role will be to help provide prototypes that will reduce the risk of flaws in the final solution. https://www.c4isrnet.com/electronic-warfare/2018/12/21/the-army-wants-new-tools-to-sense-disrupt-and-protect-signals