Armor procurement on schedule
By Eric Cramer
December 30, 2004
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Dec. 30, 2004) -- The Army will meet its requirement of 8,105 up-armored Humvees by March 2005, has equipped all deployed Soldiers and DoD civilians with Interceptor Body Armor, and has also developed a more flexible system for meeting field commander's equipment needs.
In a roundtable discussion with members of the media Dec. 30, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, deputy for Acquisition and Systems Management, and other members of the Army staff discussed the procurement of material and armor for both vehicles and people in theater.
Sorenson said the issue of providing armor for vehicles has evolved as the conflict in Iraq has changed mission requirements.
"On the march to Baghdad, we had mostly armored-type vehicles, tanks, Bradleys or whatever" Sorenson said. "After that, the Army wanted to be less obtrusive and made a conscious decision to lower that to one-third of the force and go to motorized vehicles."
He said the threat that developed from improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs, drove the need for additional up-armored vehicles.
More than 6,000 factory-produced up-armored Humvees are already in the CENTCOM area of operations, Sorenson said. Of the other Humvees there, roughly 80 percent -- or about 10,500 -- now have been equipped with armor, either at the factory or via field installation.
"It's not just armoring of vehicles," Sorenson said. "We've added body armor for our personnel, methods to prevent improvised explosive devices from working. It's been a holistic effort."
He said the Army has also improved force protection by creating an IED Task Force that analyzes every incident to help determine new ways to counter the threat of insurgency.
Col. Ed Donnelly, chief of the Dominant Maneuver Division, G8, said protecting Soldiers in the field is also the mission of the Army's Interceptor Body Armor.
"The IBA consists of an outer tactical vest or OTV and small arms protective inserts or SAPI," Donnelly said. "It's been augmented this year with the Deltoid Axillary Protector, which is an ambidextrous add-on to protect the shoulder and arm."
He said the Army is currently producing 25,000 sets of IBA per month, and will continue to do so until reaching the goal of having more than 800,000 sets sometime in the second quarter of fiscal year 2006. Currently, the Army can equip all of its personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and the Horn of Africa with the protective gear. Soon it will be part of every Soldier's field equipment, in both forward and training environments, he said.
Dr. Forrest Crain, director of Capabilities Integration, Privatization and Analysis, G-3, said the Army has improved its methods for acquiring new equipment to meet the need of commanders in the field.
"Commanders can create an Operational Needs Statement," Crain said.
He said the ONS system allows commanders to evaluate a need, create a statement that goes through the chain of command, and allows the Department of the Army to meet the requirement if it cannot be met at lower levels.
"Before Sept. 11, we received less than 12 of these a year. Since October, 2002, we received 2,600. In 2004, we received 1,400 ONS statements," Crain said.
He said meeting an ONS request is much more rapid than is traditional in Army acquisitions.
"If you think about the normal process, where the military is buying something like the F-22 fighter or the M-1 Abrams tank for the first time, that's a multi-year process," Crain said. "In the ONS system, if a commander needs, say, sniper rifles, he puts together an ONS. It isn't a complicated or bureaucratic process, but it runs through the chain of command because commanders may not be aware of all the resources available."
He said the ONS requests are handled by officers who have specific areas of expertise.
"Requirement staff officers look to see if it's just a matter of redistributing something. They look at new ways to meet the requirement. For example, we've had an increased need for .50-caliber machineguns," Crain said. He said the Army was able to meet the need for the weapons from storage sites, without seeking to purchase more.
Crain said a council of colonels meets to validate and prioritize the ONS and how they are met.
"When it comes to reaching the priorities, it's a common-sense approach," Crain said. "The first needs that are met are those that are in theater, in combat. Next are units that are getting ready to deploy."
Crain said a unit's component isn't a factor.
"It doesn't matter if it is a Reserve or active component, what matters is whether it is in combat or next to deploy," he said.
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