Army Cancels Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System

May 13, 2010 - The Department of Defense announced today that it authorized the Army to cancel the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System and transition management responsibilities for system development and acquisition from the old Future Combat System (FCS) program - currently aligned under Program Executive Office Integration (PEO I) - to the PEOs that already manage similar systems. Both decisions are a result of the Capability Portfolio Reviews, a new process the Army implemented in February.

The Army's vision is to have an effective, affordable and modernized Army. In pursuit of this goal, the Army's senior leaders recognize the need to be diligent in their efforts to be responsible stewards of the resources provided and to carefully manage existing programs and budgets. With this obligation in mind, the Secretary of the Army directed the Under Secretary of the Army and the Vice Chief of Staff, Army, to implement a Capability Portfolio Review (CPR) process for a one-year period, effective February 22, 2010.

The intent of this review process is to conduct an Army-wide, all-components revalidation of requirements for all Army Acquisition programs. The Army holistically examines all existing requirements and makes recommendations to terminate ones that are redundant and outdated. Reviews will focus on eight portfolios: Tactical Wheeled Vehicles, Precision Fires, Air and Missile Defense, Radios and Network, Aviation, Engineer Mobility, Combat Vehicle Modernization and Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). The intent of this revalidation is to eliminate redundancies and to ensure that funds are properly programmed, budgeted, and executed against the programs that yield the most value to the Army.

The review process revalidates the requirement in each portfolio using a wide-range of criteria, including: combatant commander requests; wartime lessons learned; the ability to support the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) model; the potential for leveraging emerging technologies and affordability.

The analysis that has resulted from the Capability Portfolio Reviews conducted to date has clearly highlighted the utility of this new process in building an effective and affordable modernization strategy. The resulting recommendations will continue to assist the Secretary of the Army in establishing future priorities for investment, research, development and acquisition, and life cycle sustainment.

The Capability Portfolio Reviews have yielded two key results to date, including:

1). The Precision Fires portfolio review examined the balance of high-end precision munitions and lower-end near-precision munitions. A detailed analysis of alternatives determined that the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) does not provide a cost-effective precision fire capability. The Army intends to pursue other capabilities to engage a moving target in all-weather conditions in order to fulfill the operational requirement defined for the NLOS-LS. As a result, the Army concluded NLOS-LS is no longer required; the Secretary of the Army recommended cancellation and the undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics approved and authorized the request. Additionally, analysis from the portfolio review concluded a reduction in the number of Excalibur and Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative rounds was also warranted; the Secretary of the Army also recommended approval of these proposed reductions, which the Department approved as well.

2). In conjunction with the Capability Portfolio Reviews, the Army Acquisition Executive is planning to transition management responsibilities for system development and acquisition from the old FCS program currently aligned under Program Executive Office Integration (PEO I) to the PEOs that already manage similar systems. This realignment will allow the systems to more comprehensively be evaluated as part of the Capability Portfolio Review process. Overall, System of Systems Engineering, Integration and Test will remain the responsibility of PEO I. The remainder of PEO I's current portfolio will be transitioned as follows:

- Network Integration Kit (NIK) to PEO Command, Control and Communications Tactical (PEO C3T)

- Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), currently managed separately, to PEO Aviation

- Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV); Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV); Multi-mission UGV to Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems (PEO GCS)

- Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) to Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors (PEO IEWS)

The Army remains committed to integrated development of brigade capabilities. While individual systems will remain under various PEOs, PEO I will be given the expanded mission for integration across those PEOs and their associated portfolios. For example, rather than just integrating the Class 1 UAS into the network, PEO I will ensure that all UAS (e.g. ERMP, Shadow, and Hunter) are fully integrated.

The directed framework of the Capability Portfolio Review process serves as a roadmap to achieving an integrated analysis of all portfolios. Additional portfolio areas may be identified and added in the future. The Secretary of the Army will continue to rely on this process to help him make informed decisions on behalf of the Army.