Rapid Capabilities Office to empower commanders, says SecArmy

[The Patriot]

Commanders now have "a direct pipeline" to top Army leadership via the new Rapid Capabilities Office, said Secretary of the Army Eric K. Fanning Aug. 31 as he announced establishment of the office.

More...

[Boats]

Secretary of the Army Eric K. Fanning is interviewed at the Bloomberg Government building in Washington, D.C. by Tony Capaccio, a defense reporter with Bloomberg News, Aug. 31, 2016.


WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- Commanders now have "a direct pipeline" to top Army leadership via the new Rapid Capabilities Office, said Secretary of the Army Eric K. Fanning Aug. 31 as he announced establishment of the office.

Fanning was interviewed in front of an overflow crowd at Bloomberg Government by Tony Capaccio, a defense reporter with Bloomberg News.

To meet urgent threats, the Rapid Capabilities Office will work closely with the private sector for solutions using existing or emerging technologies, and that new capability, if feasible, will be fielded within one to five years, he said.

Movement from concept to proto-typing to fielding will be more agile because the Rapid Capabilities Office strips layers of bureaucracy from the process in order to meet urgent needs, Secretary Fanning said.

Programs of record will benefit from the Rapid Capabilities Office because they will be informed by how Soldiers use these new technologies, which will improve how longer-term acquisitions are developed, all while a current capability gap is met.

The focus of the effort is not solely modernization, although the process the Rapid Capabilities Office drives forward will certainly contribute to it, Fanning emphasized. The Rapid Capabilities Office is also about getting the right stuff at the right time to the Soldier in the fight so he or she can make it back home safely. So it's definitely "a family issue" as well.

The speed of commercial innovation in products, particularly cyber, that militaries or non-state actors can now developed has advanced tremendously world-wide, he added, underscoring the need for a more rapid process to fill capability gaps and advance the U.S. Army's overmatch.

NOT REF

Fanning clarified that the Rapid Capabilities Office is not the same as the Rapid Equipping Force. REF was created in 2002 to quickly address equipping challenges encountered by units in Iraq and later in Afghanistan.

REF has a 180-day turnaround time and delivers a specific piece of equipment to meet the urgent operational needs of a specific forward-deployed unit, he added.

The Rapid Capabilities Office is specifically dedicated to expediting acquisition of select capabilities to meet emerging operational needs and achieve future strategic objectives, he said, at an affordable cost to the taxpayer.

A prime Rapid Capabilities Office target would be developing "disruptive technology" that provides a cutting-edge advancement on the battlefield, Fanning said.

"We're not creating new systems or new platforms," he said. "We're not focused on building a new helicopter, for instance. We're going to use this office because some technology on a helicopter isn't giving us the edge over an adversary that it should. But it might mean that some capabilities being developed for a future helicopter need to be developed faster."

GENESIS

While the U.S. Army was engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, it "became clear that our adversaries studied our capabilities," Fanning said. "They looked for vulnerabilities. They embarked on an ambitious modernization effort to narrow the technological gaps between our forces."

These vulnerabilities included electronic warfare and cyber, areas Fanning said he expects the Rapid Capabilities Office to address. Position, navigation and timing is another area where the office would likely focus.

The way the Russians used those capabilities in Ukraine and Syria indicate that the U.S. doesn't have the advantage it once had, he noted.

"The type of robust anti-access and area denial capabilities that we've seen," being used by the Russians, for example, "include advanced air defense and mobile gun-missile systems that range several hundred kilometers," he pointed out.

HOW IT WORKS

The Rapid Capabilities Office efforts will be determined by a board of directors, led by the secretary of the Army; the chief of staff of the Army; and the assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. From time to time, Frank Kendall, under secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, will serve on the board when efforts cut across the services, Fanning added.

Maj. Gen. Walter Piatt, who has "decades of operational experience," will serve as deputy director of Operations for the new office, Fanning said. Piatt will function as a "conduit for ideas and solutions from our commanders." He will also work to integrate new capabilities across the Army, from doctrine to organization, from training to material, to leadership and education, as well as facilities and personnel management.

The Rapid Capabilities Office will engage directly and continuously with the commercial sector, from longtime partners in the defense industry to smaller companies, who so often are on the leading edge of cyber and other technologies, Fanning said.

This outreach will be conducted by a dedicated cell within the organization called the Emerging Technologies Office. This unit will serve as ombudsmen, collaborating with industry to direct efforts toward specific areas of need, he said.

A NONPARTISAN EFFORT

Fanning said he's been pushing to get the Rapid Capabilities Office established even prior to his confirmation hearing earlier this year.

The stars aligned, he said, when the Rapid Capabilities Office received bipartisan support from both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. Besides that, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is also supportive.

Cost savings, efficiency and getting what the warfighter needs are in everyone's best interest, so there was a lot of interest in getting this done, he noted.

Editor's note: to sign up for ARNEWS email subscription, visit:
https://public.govdelivery.com/accou...subscriber/new