U.S. Army’s REF Boss Goes Beyond Gear
Aims To Solve Problems Without Purchases
May. 12, 2012
聽到美國陸軍的採購主管說，新科技與新武器裝備並不一定能解決問題，實在令人有點驚訝，因為這些主管的責任，應該是為陸軍尋找新科技與新裝備，來解決陸軍所面臨的問題，但是，他們現在卻認為，新科技沒有辦法解決問題。
為了使在海外執行任務的部隊，能迅速獲得所需的武器裝備，美國陸軍在十年前，特別成立一個單一窗口的軍品採購單位，這個單位稱為"快速武獲辦公室 REF"。這個單位目前的主管尼威上校告訴我們，前一陣子，他奉命協助開設在阿富汗的反恐作戰基地，找出節約燃油的方法，以降低油料運補的成本。他於是編組了一個研究調查小組，對位於阿富汗的數個作戰前哨與基地進行調查與研究，結果發現，科技並沒有辦法解決這個問題，而解決這個問題的最好辦法，是改善各式發電機的接線方式，這需要加強相關人員的訓練。
尼威上校也發現，位於阿富汗的第一線作戰基地與前哨，若想更有效地防護塔利班恐怖份子的迫砲或火箭攻擊，不是採購更新的預警系統，或是類似以色列目前已部署的"金鐘罩反火箭 Iron Dome"系統，而是將現有的反迫砲火箭系統，善加保養與調校，並且重新檢討修訂運用這套系統的"戰術、技術與程序 TTP"。
現在，"快速武獲辦公室 REF"除了要替部署海外的部隊，尋找最佳的武器裝備與科技來解決問題外，更要負責尋找除了採購以外的問題解決方案，該辦公室的責任益發重大。自美國宣布要完全從阿富汗撤兵以來，美國國防預算也逐年縮減，在愈來愈捉襟見肘的預算下，各軍種都不斷尋求繼續有效維持部隊運作與備戰能力的方法，"快速武獲辦公室"在未來的任務與定位，也將重新檢討；但是無論如何，陸軍領導階層都認為，在阿富汗反恐戰爭中所建立的這個辦公室與快速武獲的相關作業程序與經驗，應該予以保留，同時，這種同步檢討非採購手段，解決部隊問題的作法與程序，更應在美國陸軍建軍備戰的制度中，予以正規化，使能流存久遠。
It may be surprising to hear the U.S. Army’s point man for sending innovative technology to the battlefield say that new gear isn’t always the answer.
But sitting behind his desk, flanked on one side by a desktop computer and a large flat-screen monitor angled like a drafting table at his other, that’s just what Col. Pete Newell of the Rapid Equipping Force (REF) will tell you.
One of the REF’s initiatives in recent years has been to find ways to save fuel at forward operating bases and combat outposts in Afghanistan. Newell gathered engineers and sent them to several small outposts to assess the problem. They found that technology wasn’t necessarily the solution, but rather better training and planning when it came to connecting generators.
Much the same thing happened when Newell sent a team to find out what it would take to better protect small combat outposts from rocket and mortar fire. While visiting the six outposts considered most at risk for indirect fire, the team “got shot at every day,” Newell said, but they also stripped apart the counter-rocket-and-mortar systems to look at the maintenance and calibration, as well as the tactics, techniques and procedures for their use.
The team came back in one piece and handed Newell a list of eight recommendations, “and the first four had nothing to do with buying new equipment,” he said. “It was all about maintenance and training, and how to get more out of the system.”
From energy management to counter rocket and mortar solutions to improvised explosive device detection and defeat, the REF — by design — has its hands in just about every aspect of soldier equipping. And while the organization will turn 10 years old in November, the REF is constantly adapting, much like battlefield tactics themselves.
The latest and perhaps most challenging adaptation comes as combat in Iraq ends, troops leave Afghanistan and the budget noose begins to tighten across the Pentagon. In a postwar Army, does the REF have a place?
“We’re doing a lot of work to help the Army define that,” Newell said. “The good news is that the senior leadership of the Army acknowledges that what REF does has to be institutionalized in the Army.”
And combat troops aren’t the only ones with equipment needs. The REF has also provided U.S. Army Europe equipment for use in Turkey, and has worked with U.S. Army Africa. U.S. military observers in the Sinai and at Patriot sites around Central Command have also received equipment no longer being used in Afghanistan.
The REF is primarily a facilitator, an organization that receives requests for material solutions from its staff in Afghanistan, and then brings together industry, Pentagon program managers, academia and the national laboratories to hash out solutions that can be rapidly acquired and fielded.
At the moment, Newell said he has six primary areas of interest: dismounted IEDs, which have been his No. 1 priority since 2010; equipment weight and sustainment; providing kits to operate at isolated posts; ISR in inhospitable environments; small-base force protection sustainment; and traumatic brain injury.
On dismounted IEDs, the good news is that “I’m not seeing a lot of new requirements, and a lot of the technologies they’ve developed over the past two years are now flowing into theater.” On the brain injury front, thousands of helmet and vehicle sensors are being shipped to theater.
Preparing itself for the uncertain budgetary future while working to stay relevant, the organization also plays a role in the Army’s Network Integration Exercises, facilitating the movement of emerging technology into the twice-yearly program.
“Because we’re an independent, cross-domain organization we’re not wedded to the problems or to any of the solutions,” that usually obsess program managers for particular programs, Newell said. “It gives us an opportunity to look across the spectrum of potential partners and solutions.”
But since the REF does have an investment capital and requirements validation role to play in the systems it fields, Newell is responsible for a good part of the funding and sustainment of equipment sent downrange. The REF also tracks equipment and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks. In April alone, the organization harvested 284 pieces of equipment and saved the Army $1.7 million simply by reusing them somewhere else.
But the fight in Afghanistan, while on the downward trajectory, continues. “As we draw down, the guys who are left behind are spreading out, ... so we’re trying very hard to give them the appropriate level of big FOB-like force protection things, in packages that they can handle,” Newell said.
His goal is to provide “more than a guy standing in a guard tower, which is quite honestly how we’ve protected guys for 2,000 years. We can do better than that.”
聽到美國陸軍的採購主管說，新科技與新武器裝備並不一定能解決問題，實在令人有點驚訝，因為這些主管的責任，應該是為陸軍尋找新科技與新裝備，來解決陸軍所面臨的問題，但是，他們現在卻認為，新科技沒有辦法解決問題。
為了使在海外執行任務的部隊，能迅速獲得所需的武器裝備，美國陸軍在十年前，特別成立一個單一窗口的軍品採購單位，這個單位稱為"快速武獲辦公室 REF"。這個單位目前的主管尼威上校告訴我們，前一陣子，他奉命協助開設在阿富汗的反恐作戰基地，找出節約燃油的方法，以降低油料運補的成本。他於是編組了一個研究調查小組，對位於阿富汗的數個作戰前哨與基地進行調查與研究，結果發現，科技並沒有辦法解決這個問題，而解決這個問題的最好辦法，是改善各式發電機的接線方式，這需要加強相關人員的訓練。
尼威上校也發現，位於阿富汗的第一線作戰基地與前哨，若想更有效地防護塔利班恐怖份子的迫砲或火箭攻擊，不是採購更新的預警系統，或是類似以色列目前已部署的"金鐘罩反火箭 Iron Dome"系統，而是將現有的反迫砲火箭系統，善加保養與調校，並且重新檢討修訂運用這套系統的"戰術、技術與程序 TTP"。
現在，"快速武獲辦公室 REF"除了要替部署海外的部隊，尋找最佳的武器裝備與科技來解決問題外，更要負責尋找除了採購以外的問題解決方案，該辦公室的責任益發重大。自美國宣布要完全從阿富汗撤兵以來，美國國防預算也逐年縮減，在愈來愈捉襟見肘的預算下，各軍種都不斷尋求繼續有效維持部隊運作與備戰能力的方法，"快速武獲辦公室"在未來的任務與定位，也將重新檢討；但是無論如何，陸軍領導階層都認為，在阿富汗反恐戰爭中所建立的這個辦公室與快速武獲的相關作業程序與經驗，應該予以保留，同時，這種同步檢討非採購手段，解決部隊問題的作法與程序，更應在美國陸軍建軍備戰的制度中，予以正規化，使能流存久遠。
It may be surprising to hear the U.S. Army’s point man for sending innovative technology to the battlefield say that new gear isn’t always the answer.
But sitting behind his desk, flanked on one side by a desktop computer and a large flat-screen monitor angled like a drafting table at his other, that’s just what Col. Pete Newell of the Rapid Equipping Force (REF) will tell you.
One of the REF’s initiatives in recent years has been to find ways to save fuel at forward operating bases and combat outposts in Afghanistan. Newell gathered engineers and sent them to several small outposts to assess the problem. They found that technology wasn’t necessarily the solution, but rather better training and planning when it came to connecting generators.
Much the same thing happened when Newell sent a team to find out what it would take to better protect small combat outposts from rocket and mortar fire. While visiting the six outposts considered most at risk for indirect fire, the team “got shot at every day,” Newell said, but they also stripped apart the counter-rocket-and-mortar systems to look at the maintenance and calibration, as well as the tactics, techniques and procedures for their use.
The team came back in one piece and handed Newell a list of eight recommendations, “and the first four had nothing to do with buying new equipment,” he said. “It was all about maintenance and training, and how to get more out of the system.”
From energy management to counter rocket and mortar solutions to improvised explosive device detection and defeat, the REF — by design — has its hands in just about every aspect of soldier equipping. And while the organization will turn 10 years old in November, the REF is constantly adapting, much like battlefield tactics themselves.
The latest and perhaps most challenging adaptation comes as combat in Iraq ends, troops leave Afghanistan and the budget noose begins to tighten across the Pentagon. In a postwar Army, does the REF have a place?
“We’re doing a lot of work to help the Army define that,” Newell said. “The good news is that the senior leadership of the Army acknowledges that what REF does has to be institutionalized in the Army.”
And combat troops aren’t the only ones with equipment needs. The REF has also provided U.S. Army Europe equipment for use in Turkey, and has worked with U.S. Army Africa. U.S. military observers in the Sinai and at Patriot sites around Central Command have also received equipment no longer being used in Afghanistan.
The REF is primarily a facilitator, an organization that receives requests for material solutions from its staff in Afghanistan, and then brings together industry, Pentagon program managers, academia and the national laboratories to hash out solutions that can be rapidly acquired and fielded.
At the moment, Newell said he has six primary areas of interest: dismounted IEDs, which have been his No. 1 priority since 2010; equipment weight and sustainment; providing kits to operate at isolated posts; ISR in inhospitable environments; small-base force protection sustainment; and traumatic brain injury.
On dismounted IEDs, the good news is that “I’m not seeing a lot of new requirements, and a lot of the technologies they’ve developed over the past two years are now flowing into theater.” On the brain injury front, thousands of helmet and vehicle sensors are being shipped to theater.
Preparing itself for the uncertain budgetary future while working to stay relevant, the organization also plays a role in the Army’s Network Integration Exercises, facilitating the movement of emerging technology into the twice-yearly program.
“Because we’re an independent, cross-domain organization we’re not wedded to the problems or to any of the solutions,” that usually obsess program managers for particular programs, Newell said. “It gives us an opportunity to look across the spectrum of potential partners and solutions.”
But since the REF does have an investment capital and requirements validation role to play in the systems it fields, Newell is responsible for a good part of the funding and sustainment of equipment sent downrange. The REF also tracks equipment and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks. In April alone, the organization harvested 284 pieces of equipment and saved the Army $1.7 million simply by reusing them somewhere else.
But the fight in Afghanistan, while on the downward trajectory, continues. “As we draw down, the guys who are left behind are spreading out, ... so we’re trying very hard to give them the appropriate level of big FOB-like force protection things, in packages that they can handle,” Newell said.
His goal is to provide “more than a guy standing in a guard tower, which is quite honestly how we’ve protected guys for 2,000 years. We can do better than that.”
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