Conference Showcases Innovative Technology for Service Members

By Spc. Andrew Oeffinger

The National Guard Association of Texas convened for the 53rd time to discuss the present and future state of the Texas National Guard as well as browse innovative new products and services on display at the Austin Contention Center, March 23 to 25.

Government contractors and private sector development firms rolled out their latest offerings in the hopes of sparking the interest of military commanders responsible for implementing policy and doctrine within the Texas Guard.

In light of proposed defense budget cuts, many presenters focused on budget conscious, adaptable, and enduring products that could be fielded by the Texas Military Forces. According to Rob Casias, the director of marketing and meetings for NGAT, “Only one tenth of one percent of the defense budget goes to the Guard.”

Mobility and efficiency were common themes on the convention floor. More than 100 vendors filled the convention center floor showcasing their latest innovation or service. “We try to select vendors with products that our Guard will be interested in,” Casias said.

Houston-based company Laser Shot had their digital marksmanship training and close quarters combat simulator available and invited attendees to their booth for a hands-on demonstration. Drawing inspiration from their roots in coin operated arcade shooters, the founders of Laser Shot developed a weapons training platform that they describe as “ultra portable and designed for training on the go.”

Brint Wood, a Laser Shot representative explained, “No matter what the skill set of the shooter we can challenge them.” Using accurately simulated weapons that a service member will carry in a deployed environment, video projectors and invisible lasers, the company created a budget-friendly system that fits inside a suitcase. Similar to arcade games, all the system needs to function is electricity, a surface to project an image on and minimal amounts of setup or training to run realistic training scenarios in a classroom environment.

“We save commanders time and money,” Wood said with a smile. Last month an M4 rifle simulator was returned to Laser Shot after firing 1.2 million rounds of laser ammunition. Wood said, “Multiply that by the cost of a 5.56 round and the system has already paid for itself.”

The Oshkosh Corporation also had their newest products and prototypes on display. Their new ProPulse Hybrid Electric Drive system, “meets or exceeds current or proposed emissions standards,” they said, utilizing a diesel-electric drive train. Oshkosh claims this setup will reduce emissions and improve fuel economy by 40 percent allowing for greater operational range without the logistical challenges associated with transporting large amounts of fuel allowing for more rations and equipment to be carried.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said in a Department of Defense news release, “Smart use of energy can be a strategic advantage for the U.S. military against our adversaries. I want the department to harness the best energy innovations at all levels, from the individual warfighter to the largest installation, to enhance our operational effectiveness and deliver more bang for the buck.” Oshkosh is taking note of this philosophy and adapting its business for the future.

NGAT offers benefits year-round to its members, not just during the annual conference. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits available to you, becoming a member or to see what’s in store for the future, further information can be found on the NGAT website: NGAT.org.

Strategic Guidance Drives DOD Science Enterprise, Officials Say

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

The Defense Department’s new strategic guidance drove science and technology budget requests that include funding for projects ranging from hypersonics to electronic warfare, DOD officials told a congressional panel today.

Zachary Lemnios, assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, and Kaigham J. Gabriel, deputy director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, explained to the House Armed Services Committee how science and technology factor into military planning.

The president’s $11.9 billion request for DOD science and technology, Lemnios said, provides the resources needed to maintain a decisive technological edge for today’s challenges and the foundation to surpass the most lethal and disruptive future threats.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, released the Defense strategic guidance in January, and Lemnios said he began reviewing DOD science and technology priorities about a year earlier.

As a result of the review, DOD officials realigned several projects in the president’s budget request, he said, pushing hypersonics, an advanced Air Force engine, target-acquisition imagers for the Army, elements of electronic warfare and DARPA funding for manufacturing.

“We shaped this budget based on a close look at the projects we had,” he said, “in concert with the department’s strategy.”

Lemnios said cyber is one of the department’s seven science and technology priorities.

After long conversations with operators, uniformed service members and system users that began about 18 months ago, Lemnios said, “we built a set of architectures, and we’re now working the capability sets to develop that tech base.”

The focus of DOD efforts over the past year, he said, “has been in building a common operating picture so that we understand those networks and we start building the measurements and the test campaign to understand, in fact, how we can use our [science and technology] efforts and transition them.”

Going forward, Lemnios said, “I suspect that you will see in the coming years ways to integrate a larger number of efforts across our networks, and that’s going on right now in the services and certainly at DARPA, in terms of new concepts that are being developed.”

DARPA’s deputy director told the panel, “I could discuss some of the agency’s accomplishments over the last year … but instead what I’d like to talk to you about today is what keeps us up at night.”

Such concerns include advanced computing, imaging and communication capabilities that now are readily available to hundreds of millions of people worldwide, and the availability to any consumer as commercial off-the-shelf, or COTS, components, of more than 90 percent of the electronics in an electronic warfare system.

“These insights led us to new investments that leverage COTS technology where we can, and develop technologies where COTS can’t or won’t go,” Gabriel said.

An example is DARPA’s intra-chip enhanced cooling program. Cooling a COTS chip allows the agency “to run the chip 10 times faster than it was designed to run, creating differentiating capabilities for ourselves,” he added.

In cybersecurity, the deputy director said, “there has been much focus on increasing our defensive capabilities. But we require capabilities in both defense and offense across the full spectrum of the conflict.”

Modern warfare demands the effective use of cyber and kinetic means, he said, “and that requires DOD cyber capabilities matched to our kinetic options.”

DARPA has launched several programs designed to create cyber capabilities with the diversity, dynamic range and tempo of DOD operations. One of these is Cyber Fast Track, which taps a pool of nontraditional experts and innovators, many of them members of the ‘white hat’ hacker community.

‘Hacker’ is a positive term that describes a person of exceptional capability and creativity, Gabriel explained, “someone who sees a novel use for an existing capability or technology.”

Over the past seven months, DARPA has received more than 100 proposals and made 32 awards for cyber projects, the deputy director said, 84 percent of them to small companies and performers who have never before done business with the government.

“Cyber Fast Track is expanding the number and diversity of talent contributing to the nation’s cybersecurity,” he added.

In DARPA’s world, cybersecurity is not just about bits and networks, it’s about the security of physical and embedded systems.

From its unique perch, Gabriel said, DARPA can bring together experts from across the spectrum to examine systems not only from the perspective of computer sciences and cybersecurity, but from electronic warfare, embedded systems and computer architecture.

This allows the agency, he added, “to knock down the walls between those stovepipes so we can get an integrated look at the opportunities and threats,” creating new capabilities and solutions that are impossible to get from any one domain.

Small Businesses Important to DOD Energy Plans, Official Says

By Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2012 – Small businesses are an important part of the Defense Department’s plans for better managing how it uses energy, the assistant secretary of defense for operational energy plans and programs said.

Sharon E. Burke spoke to about 450 audience members at the Operational Energy Capabilities Improvement Fund’s Small Business Conference in Crystal City, Va., March 2.

“The fact is, small businesses and entrepreneurs matter to DOD,” Burke said. “Small businesses are a hub of ideas and innovation.”

Throughout government, Burke said, the Defense Department has taken the lead on releasing funds for small businesses to compete on energy-related contracts. “We often find a powerful combination when small businesses team with large companies” on defense programs, she said.

Officials last year released the department’s first operational energy strategy, which factors energy use into battlefield plans. About 75 percent of the department’s energy use comes from operations, rather than fixed installations. The military’s increasing energy reliance has increased security risks and budgets, Burke said.

Under the new strategy, military equipment, as well as military members, will use less energy and more alternative forms of energy, such as solar power and biological fuels, rather than fossil fuels, Burke said.

Solid operational energy policy and plans can help the military meet its commitments, ranging from fighting current conflicts and defending the homeland to countering cyber threats and responding to humanitarian needs, Burke said.

“Put simply, our armed forces will have to be as adaptable and agile as they are lethal and robust,” she said.

Energy conservation becomes increasingly important as defense budgets shrink, Burke said. “Even while more demands are put on the department, more money will not be available for defense spending,” she said. “We will have to learn how to do more with less.

“I see energy as a key part of this solution,” she continued. “By operating more efficiently and incorporating energy into our plans and operations, we can realize multiplier effects by gaining capability without increased costs.”

Burke said she anticipates that Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta soon will release the implementation plan for the operational energy strategy, which she said will:

-- Measure energy consumption in operations;

-- Improve energy performance and efficiency;
-- Promote operational energy innovation;
-- Improve operational energy security at installations;
-- Promote the development of alternative fuels;
-- Incorporate energy security considerations into requirements and acquisitions; and
-- Adapt policy, doctrine, military education and combatant command activities.

This year’s defense budget created the Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund to invest in science and technology to improve energy performance, Burke said. The fund is intended to provide seed money to develop long-term capabilities for the services to operate more efficiently in combat theaters, she said.

Burke outlined several programs under way to reduce operational energy costs, particularly with heating and air conditioning and tent efficiency in forward deployed areas.

“The work each of these programs is doing -- and each of you as businesses who can contribute your considerable expertise and insights to the department -- is incredibly important,” she said. “You are helping take risk for our troops and missions out of the equation.”

Air Force Launches Culture and Language Website

The Air Force Culture and Language Center, part of Air University’s Spaatz Center here, recently launched a new public website to provide information on the Air Force’s efforts to increase cross-cultural competence — a critical warfighting skill cited by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in an August memorandum to all Defense Department personnel.

“Both military and civilian personnel should have cross-cultural training to successfully work in DOD’s richly diverse organization and to better understand the global environment in which we operate,” the secretary wrote.

The site, www.culture.af.mil, highlights all AFCLC departments and programs, including free courses that provide Community College of the Air Force credit for Airmen and other cross-cultural competence media resources. Additional training and educational resources are offered to DOD members through the AFCLC’s private site, at https://wwwmil.maxwell.af.mil/afclc/, which requires users to have a Common Access Card and be on a .mil or .gov server.

“The site is an incredible resource to help our military and civilian personnel become more cross-culturally competent,” said Ms. Barbara Barger, the Air Force Senior Language Authority and director of the Air Force Language, Region and Culture Program Office. “Through the training and education offered by the AFCLC, we can ensure our people are able to negotiate culturally-complex environments and accomplish their mission, any time, any place.”

AFCLC’s public site is a one-stop shop, which also provides links to external culture, language and negotiation learning sites. Some examples include the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, the Marine Corps’ Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning, the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command Culture Center, and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute.

For more information, contact the AFCLC at 334-653-7729 or via email to afclc.pa@maxwell.af.mil.

(As published on the official Air Force website)