Army Decides Where Soldiers Will Test Future Combat Equipment
January 6, 2006
The Army continues to move forward in its Future Combat Systems (FCS) program by selecting Fort Bliss, Texas, as the location for the Evaluation Brigade Combat Team, where Soldiers will test and evaluate future combat equipment. The objective for the Evaluation Brigade Combat Team Soldiers is to help create a more agile and lethal force to fight and win decisively across the full spectrum of operations.
“FCS is the centerpiece of the Army’s modernization program. We remain totally committed to fully fielding this essential component of the future force,” said Dr. Francis J. Harvey, the Secretary of the Army. “The Evaluation Brigade Combat Team is a key milestone in the FCS program and will enable the Army to evaluate technologies and develop tactics, techniques and procedures that will maximize the program’s value to the force.”
The FCS program consists of a family of 18 manned and unmanned systems, connected by a vast and secure network focused around the Soldier. Through this network Soldiers and leaders will be linked to leading-edge technologies and capabilities that are critical to risk reduction in combat, will allow them to maneuver quickly and, conduct a variety of missions in complex environments.
In September 2005, the Army held its first public demonstration of several FCS technologies at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, bringing to reality concepts that were developed a decade ago. The announcement of the EBCT location is further proof that the FCS program is no longer a “drawing board concept,” but continues to move forward.
As FCS technologies become available, they will be delivered to the Evaluation Brigade Combat Team Soldiers at Fort Bliss for evaluation and testing. There will be four such deliveries in total, implemented in two-year cycles. These cycles improve the current force by getting new technology to Soldiers in the field sooner, providing them with enhanced protection and capabilities, while also laying the groundwork for the force of the future.
The Evaluation Brigade Combat Team will begin its mission to support FCS evaluation and training in June 2007. The core element of the Evaluation Brigade Combat Team will start being filled with personnel and equipment in March 2007 to support the first series of FCS evaluations, tests and experiments with fielding of FCS technology to the fighting force in 2010. The first unit equipped is expected to be in 2014.
The Evaluation Brigade Combat Team’s mission will be to evaluate operational concepts, conduct user-testing and training of FCS equipment in challenging and real-life environments while providing continuous operational feedback. Through this feedback the Army will be able to determine what, if any, adjustments and/or improvements are needed in order to continuously develop the best equipment for our Soldiers.
Seventeen of the FCS critical technologies are currently at technology readiness level 6 or higher – meaning a model or prototype has been field tested in a relevant environment. The Army remains totally committed to fully fielding this essential component of Army modernization.
Fort Bliss, Texas, was selected because of its access to White Sands Missile Range, which provides the requisite land, airspace, and facilities for Evaluation Brigade Combat Team Soldiers to fully train, test and evaluate FCS capabilities. With approximately 1.2 million acres of land in Texas and New Mexico, Fort Bliss is the Army’s second largest post. The installation includes a complex of facilities, training areas, unrestricted airspace and ranges in Texas and New Mexico that can support training and testing activities of the Army’s FCS technologies by EBCT Soldiers.
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Media may contact Lt. Col. Carl S. Ey, Office of the Chief Army Public Affairs, via email at carl.ey@hqda.army.mil or 703-614-2487.
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