Editorial Notes
31 Oct 2007
The Honourable Claude Bolton is the US Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) and our interview with him in this issue should be required reading for all those engaged in acquisition on both sides of the Atlantic. Acquisition, in Europe at least, has failed to match the change in the defence environment remaining slow, cumbersome and unable to deliver equipment when it is needed, with the obvious exception of meeting urgent operational requirements (UOR). Yet how many of these UORs are generated by the slow speed of, and delays in, normal procurement? The Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) and the interim armoured vehicle purchases is perhaps a case in point.
Bolton says: ‘If I had to use the normal system, I couldn’t respond as a responsible warfighter’. Whether the changes he describes are completely replacing the normal US system is neither here nor there – they are clearly a basis for the way forward for normal procurement, not just for UORs. In UK (and in Europe too) we need to take these ideas, together with many of the processes and procedures of UOR and special projects procurement, into our ‘normal’ procurement process if we are ever going to achieve the agility we need to deliver equipment – properly tested, supported and trained on – to the troops in the field.
As I said, the interview with Claude Bolton should be required reading for everyone.
Reinforcing his arguments, John Dowdy of McKinsey’s and Scott Gebicke, a US project manager, compare the performance of the ‘normal’ procurement performance of both US and UK and find both wanting. Clearly more evidence for the need for radical changes.
But radical change is never as popular as retaining the comfortable status quo. If ‘normal’ procurement is to remain much as it is in the UK, albeit with the successful introduction of many of the improvements enshrined in the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), then other problems need to be tackled, not least the ‘conspiracy of optimism’ between MoD and industry, and this is explored by the RUSI Acquisition Focus. Other acquisition issues explored include command and control integration, through-life support, strategic partnering, skills and behaviours, defence logistics and industrial globalisation.
The ‘contention’ section this time looks at various aspects of the interrelation between acquisition and technology. Graham Jordan and John Dowdy examine the use of immature technology and the part it plays in project delays, while other authors consider technology issues in unmanned ground vehicles, armoured vehicles, CIS integration and dismounted infantry equipment.
We started our Viewpoint feature in our last issue, and our second luminary to provide his views id Ross Bradley, Chief Executive Officer of the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium. He discusses the impact the DIS has had on industry, identifies what has really changed and recommends what now needs to be done.
Our second interview is with General Sir Mike Jackson who talks about many of the equipment and acquisition issues that frustrated him during his time as Chief of the General Staff, including delays, the lack of power of the Chiefs of Staff, air transport and the current level of operations.
Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan pose many problems and in this issue we cover three of them. While unmanned air vehicles have been deployed on operations for many years, particularly by the US and Israel, unmanned ground vehicles (apart from EOD robots) are still very much in their operational infancy, yet UGVs are now suddenly in great demand. With articles from the US, Sweden, Germany and the UK, we look at the challenges of deploying cost-effective UGVs on the battlefield.
Stabilisation and reconstruction operations are at the heart of international efforts to defeat terrorism in these countries. These are not activities purely for defence forces to undertake and we look at the issues not only through the eyes of the UK Army and industry but also through those of the UK’s Post-Conflict Reconstruction Unit (owned jointly by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development and the Ministry of Defence).
Helicopters are crucial to successful operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. A possible solution to the problem of ‘brown-out’ and other visibility issues is discussed by QinetiQ, while Gordon Leishman questions the US Marines’ pursuit of tiltrotors as a cost-effective way forward. In a review of Leishman’s book on helicopters, Tim Cansdale makes the point that US progress on rotorcraft performance lags that of Europe, but Patrick Donnelly puts the other side of the argument with discussion of current and future developments at Boeing, not least in the areas of heavy lift and UAVs.
This issue has a land bias, but we also look at one of the major questions facing international navies – what the future surface combatant will look like. What is the answer to the capability versus numbers balance? Is modularity of combat systems fit the way forward? Can stealth provide the necessary protection for less capable ships? We print views from the US, Sweden and the UK.
Finally, the Czech Armed Forces are still making strides in their integration with NATO and European forces and meeting the challenges of transforming from a land-locked force deployable by road and rail to one able to take on expeditionary operations. Inevitably the question of air transport looms largest.
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