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Army introduces new rapid tech office
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The Army is launching a new Rapid Capabilities Office to address what it says is a decreasing military superior- ity over potential enemies.
“We have a higher threshold being the world’s sole superpower,” Secre- tary of the Army Eric Fanning said at an August event hosted by Bloomberg. “Other countries just need to jam us or to deny us, and so they are finding creative ways to degrade these capa- bilities or even shut them down for us. And...we’ve got to figure out how to counter that or fight without that or around it.”
The RCO’s goal is to get capabilities to the warfighter as quickly as pos- sible and make the acquisition process more agile and efficient.
The existing Rapid Equipping Force is tasked with getting hardware and systems into the field as quickly as possible — generally within 180 days — but the RCO will focus on provid- ing capabilities in a one- to five-year time frame.
Concerns about Russia’s operations in Ukraine and Syria contributed to the RCO’s creation. In those battle zones, Russia has deployed a combi- nation of unmanned aerial systems, offensive cyber and advanced elec-
tronic warfare capabilities.
Fanning said the U.S. military is not
able to develop needed technology as quickly as it once did. “There are a lot of companies on the West Coast that just don’t want to work with us because we make it too difficult,” he added.
The RCO will lean heavily on indus- try to provide solutions and capabili- ties, which could mean better using existing technologies as well as devel- oping new ones.
ly responding to changing technology and demands in the field.
Cyber will be one of the RCO’s pri- mary areas of focus. “Cyber has a low barrier for entry for our adversaries,” Fanning said. “We built it into all of our platforms across the \\\[Defense Department\\\] not necessarily think- ing about how that might be turned against us.”
Fanning said the office will serve as a bridge between the Rapid Equip- ping Force and other programs that
“Cyber has a low barrier for entry for
our adversaries. We built it into all of our platforms...not necessarily thinking about how that might be turned against us.”
Fanning, who will serve as chair- man of the board of directors, said the office will have a short chain of com- mand and will seek to streamline the acquisition process to be more wel- coming to the most advanced tech- nology firms.
It will use a mix of traditional con- tracting mechanisms and more flex- ible approaches with the goal of quick-
— ERIC FANNING, ARMY
are focused on long-term platforms. “We’re not aiming for the perfect solution that will field the entire army 15 or 20 years down the line,” he said. “This office is focused on closing capa- bility gaps where we know there are technologies out there today that can make a difference — inside the Army
or without.”
— Sean Carberry
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US ARMY / MONICA KING