News From USJFCOM: Command looks at future capabilities with DoD leadership

Command looks at future capabilities with DoD leadership

U.S. Joint Forces Command's operational managers who oversee programs that rapidly and efficiently deliver urgently needed technology to commanders in the field met with the Department of Defense leader who oversees the efforts for the whole U.S. military.

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By MC2 (AW) Nikki Carter
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(SUFFOLK, Va. - May 19, 2008) -- U.S. Joint Forces Command presented the latest status of the command's Joint Capability Technology Demonstrations (JCTD) and Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) to the Department of Defense's JCTD program managers during a recent visit and received a preview of possible future products.

JCTD Program Director Dr. John Wilcox discussed the various programs' status with operational managers of each of the JCTDs during his visit here last week

The annual review looks at the status of the USJFCOM's ACTDs and JCTDs and the remaining activities required to transition the capabilities to the joint warfighter.

Navy Rear Adm. Dan Davenport, Joint Concept Development and Experimentation (JCDE) director, said the USJFCOM's JCTD program looks across geographic and functional boundaries.

According to the admiral. the solutions that come out of this work are making a difference in the coalition and interagency environment of current operations.

"The work being done in ACTDs and JCTDs across DoD lines up well with the key focus areas in USJFCOM," Davenport said. "This program is bringing together like-minded people who are making a difference for those on the battlefield. Warfighters' needs are driving our work. The people at this conference are delivering capabilities to current operations."

Wilcox said the customers of the program are the combatant commanders (COCOMS) which presents a unique challenge as the services are normally the agencies bringing capability to the battlefield.

"We try to help develop some of the capabilities that don't exist today and we try to do them fast inside of the budgeting process within one to three years and fast track them," Wilcox said. "Transition is one of the big values to the COCOMs because it gives them a chance to influence the acquisitions in a very short term."

The change from the ACTD construct to the new JCTD model has started to yield faster results according to the director.

For both models, the number one metric or measure of success is transition said Wilcox. He said the old goal was to transition at least 70 percent of ACTDs to a program of record or some sort of transition capability; now with JCTDs, that number is over 80 percent

Wilcox also cited the JCTD model of getting things done in one to two years rather than the six ACTDs as a major factor in the increased efficiency, which includes "rolling starts" that speed the process even further.

"One of [the rolling starts] is the Infantry Immersive Trainer we want to get started," Wilcox said. "We also have the adaptive planning pilot. Those are two that are USJFCOM's leading JCTD candidates for a rolling start."

Wilcox stated some of the benefits USJFCOM was providing to the program. He said USJFCOM warfighting challenges are an important part of an integrated priority list.

"What are those joint warfighting challenges that we can partner with USJFCOM to solve and to bring solutions," Wilcox said. "The facilities here at JFCOM provide some of the best opportunity for doing those military utility assessments where people can come and bring their prototypes, software prototypes or application and put it in with the whole mix of systems out there and see how it interoperates. Does it bring value to the battlefield?"

Wilcox praised the USJFCOM operational managers.

"The operational managers are some of the best of the best we have on the JCTDs," He said. "They actually take the capability and forge it into some kind of fashion that can be used on the battlefield and solve a problem.

"Ultimately when we go after these solutions, we want a COCOM out there to say, 'Hey, I can strike that off my list during that JCTD.' That's what is important about JCTDs -- they provide a quick solution in a short-term. They get 70 to 80 percent of the solution now instead of 100 percent of the solution five years from now."