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[EXCERPTS] Statement of The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology Honorable Paul G. Kaminski Before the Acquisition and Technology Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Armed Services on DOD FY 1998 Acquisition and Technology Program March 11, 1997 ............... ADVANCED CONCEPT TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATIONS

You may have heard of the Department's studies of a "Revolution in Military Affairs" or RMA. The revolution derives not from a single innovation or idea but from a fundamental change in the way America fights and employment of new war fighting concepts. In many cases, the technology associated with a new system or concept is mature and the technical risk is low, but the operational risk of the new warfighting concept is high. In order to gain acceptance in the field, the advanced technology must be married with a suitable employment doctrine. This is one thing that I think has not been given adequate emphasis in the past. We have traditionally underestimated the importance of developing the appropriate doctrine, the tactics for employment, the training, and the people who use technologically advanced systems.

Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTDs) are designed to rapidly transfer technology from the developers to the users by focusing on concept--not technology-risk reduction. ACTDs provide a framework by which we seek out emerging technologies to respond to our more critical military needs and incorporate those technologies into fieldable prototypes. These prototypes are then placed in the hands of our war fighters for evaluation. The fundamental question posed to the war fighter during the ACTD is "does this capability respond adequately to the need?" Where the answer is yes, we can field that capability years earlier than would otherwise be possible. ...........................................

General Joulwan, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), as the operational sponsor, clearly articulated the purpose of the Counter Proliferation ACTD as being "to develop, integrate, demonstrate and transition to the war fighters a military ready capability to destroy WMD-related facilities." Initiated in Fiscal Year 1996, this ACTD is still in progress but has already demonstrated some significant results. In December 1996, a full "end to end" demonstration of the capability to accurately characterize, target and destroy a storage facility for weapons of mass destruction was successfully accomplished.

The Air Base/Port Biological Detection ACTD was also initiated in Fiscal Year 1996. Its objective is to provide significant enhancements in biological detection capabilities to military installations and responds directly to requests from several CINCs. This capability has already been fielded and site surveys are presently underway for expanded operational deployment later this year. The Commander of the Marine Corps Systems Command has requested procurement of additional systems to support the Marine Corps Chemical/Biological Incident Response Force.