Some defense experts believe that through teamwork, innovation and a winning strategy, Future Combat Systems (FCS), perceived as one of the U.S. Army’s largest and more complex transformational initiatives ever undertaken, will shape the future of warfare and bring a revolutionary capability to soldiers in battle.

FCS comprises the soldiers and the 18 individual networked systems that they control. It is the basis for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) visionary plan to transform the Army into a highly agile force with unprecedented capability to go anywhere with enough power to overcome any adversary. The program presents government and industry with a unique set of business, political and technical challenges, but it will ultimately bring lifesaving technologies to soldiers in battle, said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing vice president and FCS program manager.

“The goal of the DoD and the Army is to make the world’s best fighting force even better. FCS will enable the world’s preeminent land force to prepare for tomorrow’s largely unknown threats,” Muilenburg said.

The Boeing-Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) leadership team has developed a multi-tiered integrated program plan to meet the Army’s operational, schedule and budget requirements. The plan provides a roadmap to ensure FCS transitions seamlessly into the eight-year systems development and demonstration (SDD) phase. “Execution is our number one priority,” Muilenburg said.

The single most important undertaking, according to John Gully, SAIC senior vice president and FCS deputy program manager, is the development of a system-of-systems architecture, based on the Army’s requirements, that defines the systems to be developed and integrated to give soldiers the capability they need. “Heavy emphasis is also placed on maintaining a strong partnership with the Army customer and industry team members, as well as on creating an integrated team environment,” Gully said. “The close collaboration between the Army and the LSI on the FCS program is unprecedented.”

Another key strategic element in the LSI approach involves implementing program management best practices and synchronizing plans, processes and communications so that everyone on the program focuses on a common goal, Muilenburg said. The best practices span a broad range of initiatives that guide day-to-day business operations, including earned value management, integrated schedules, risk management, supplier management and baseline control. During the next 18 months the LSI team will also focus on systems engineering, defining requirements, architectures and the product, culminating in a system-of-systems preliminary design review.

“If the success of a team is measured by how it responds to the challenges it faces, then the FCS LSI team will have ample opportunity in the coming months to prove its merit as an agile and adaptable entity,” Muilenburg said. “In addition to synchronization and systems engineering, key challenges include the build-up of the FCS industry team, the integration of skills and processes, coordination across more than 100 complementary programs that must interface with FCS, and the simultaneous work and staffing ramp-up expected to occur program-wide.”

To date, the LSI comprises a geographically dispersed team of more than 1,100 Boeing and SAIC employees at 11 operational sites nationwide, as well as a comprehensive network of industry suppliers. The LSI recently completed the formation of the core team of industry partners as part of a process to bring the “best of industry” to FCS. Twenty-one partners representing 13 different companies have been selected to provide major systems. These new partners have in turn identified more than 100 additional firms that will contribute to the success of FCS [see next story].

In parallel with staffing and team ramp-up activities, the team is preparing for several major program milestones spanning the next 18 months, including an Integrated Baseline Review and a System-of-Systems (SoS) Requirements Review in 2003, SoS Functional Review in the spring of 2004 and a SoS Preliminary Design Review in early 2005, where they will define the preliminary FCS design.

“Substantial work is required over the next several years to take FCS from concept to reality, but the LSI team, working with the Army, has done a considerable amount of preparation prior to the start of SDD and is ready to execute,” Muilenburg said. “Working together, we will deliver a system-of-systems capability that will ultimately give our nation and allies a technological advantage that will change warfare in the 21st century and beyond.