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Technology worldwide is advancing at a rapid pace. Similar to
upgrades on modern devices, such as smartphones or tablets, the Army
must provide Soldiers upgrades to their tactical equipment -- and do
it faster than the adversary.
To be adequately postured for
the future, Fort Bliss hosted the Army Warfighting Assessment, or
AWA, 17.1, the first in a series of Soldier-led assessments on
emerging technologies. Introducing Soldiers to capabilities and
concepts early on during the developmental process is what makes the
AWA different from the Network Integration Evaluation, or NIE. The
AWA is derived from the NIE construct, minus the formal testing
environment, allowing for materiel developers to explore new ideas.
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October 14, 2016 - A Soldier at Fort Bliss, Texas, prepares the
andros FX for mission before the Army Warfighting Assessment, or AWA
17.1. The AWA exercise develops interim solutions to the Army
warfighting challenges and focuses on exploring new ideas; not just
for technology, but tactics and concepts as well. (U.S. Army photo
byStaff Sgt. Cashmere Jefferson)
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Concepts and capabilities assessed at the AWA included
robotics, electronic warfare, defensive cyberspace
operations, expeditionary mission command, counter-unmanned
aerial systems, and autonomous vehicle operations. Soldiers
executed decisive action training scenarios against an
opposing force that attacked in multiple domains, using live
cyber, electronic warfare and unmanned aerial systems.
As the AWA was prepping Soldiers for the future force,
Maj. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, director of operations for the
Army Rapid Capabilities Office, visited to gain insight into
the annual event. The Secretary of the Army established the
Rapid Capabilities Office this past summer to expedite the
fielding of critical technologies in a one to five year time
frame, in order to meet urgent and emerging threats.
"What we are using today [and] four years from now is going
to be completely different, but our acquisition process
takes a little longer than that, so the Rapid Capabilities
Office is leveraging existing technologies and emerging
technologies," Piatt said. "It's going to take exercises
like this Warfighter Assessment to inform us that we are on
the right path and that we are going to put the right
capabilities in the hands of the Soldiers at the right
time."
Piatt said taking lessons learned from the
AWA will help inform the Army Rapid Capabilities Office on
training and the current state of modernization. He also
stressed the urgency to accelerate technologies for the
military, since commercial technology can be developed
within 30 days or even overnight. Early and prominent
Soldier involvement helps the Army move faster at a time
when it faces budget constraints, he said.
"We don't
have the luxury of time or money, so we have to use our
brain power and we have to use our best assets, and that's
our Soldiers," Piatt said. "Our Soldiers can think smarter,
they are adaptable, and we've got to focus on what we want
to do based on the real threats of the environment."
Overall, the AWA included more than 5,000 personnel from the
Army, Joint Force and Multinational partners coming together
in an effort to develop solutions. The Army's future force
development priorities emphasize Joint and Multinational
interoperability and integration. To prepare for
interoperability, the AWA provides large scale live,
virtual, and constructive Joint training for Army units.
In addition to an emphasis on interoperability, industry
partners were heavily involved in the AWA in order to gain
an understanding of the Army's warfighting challenges and
receive Soldier feedback to collaborate on solutions.
"We don't know what the future is going to hold," Piatt
said. "We have to fight an enemy, we may not even know who
that is yet, with methods that have not even been developed,
with means that are not even invented. So how do you get
after that in an efficient way? You create a very tough
environment. You think, 'This is what our adversaries are
capable of doing or will be capable of doing' and we have to
create an overmatch and an offset to all those
capabilities."
By U.S. Army Vanessa Flores
ASA(ALT) System of Systems Integration Directorate Public Affairs
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
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