Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1992

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Research, Development, and Acquisition

During FY 1992, Army research, development, and acquisition (RDA) agencies confronted shrinking acquisition budgets, reorganization, and the challenges of "continuous modernization:" Although the Army's budget for research and development remained relatively stable, funds for procurement continued their recent decline. The Army reorganized its RDA establishment to improve RDA and ease the impact of declining procurement funds on defense industries. Through "continuous modernization," the Army sought to combine new advanced technology programs and improvement of existing systems with state of the art technology to maintain the superiority of the United States in weapons systems. The goal of the Army's RDA strategy was to supply American soldiers with top-quality equipment in sufficient quantity and in the shortest possible time.

Budget

The Army's research, development, test, and evaluation (RDTE) budget had remained fairly stable during the past two budget years, but procurement funding dropped from more than $14 billion to less than $7 billion in FY 1992. The RDA budget request for FY 1993 was $12.2 billion, with $6.8 billion for procurement of hardware systems and $5.4 billion for RDTE. Army planners pointed out that during the peak of defense spending in 1985 the Army spent close to three dollars in procurement for each dollar in research and development, whereas in 1992 the ratio dropped to 1.25 to 1. The Army leadership believed that this reduction would have an adverse effect on the Army's ability to introduce new technology into the field.

After increasing from $4.7 billion to $6.5 billion from FY 1988 to FY 1992, the Army's proposed RDTE budget of $5.4 billion for FY 1993 reflected the overall reduction in available resources as well as the use of modernization funds to pay for force structure. Table 3 breaks down the total RDTE budget by activity. Increases in funding included those activities directly affected by changes in FM 100-5 and the leadership's vision of the future Army. Although development of technology received more

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dollars in the FY 1993 budget request after a decline during the previous year, strategic programs saw a drastic drop in support during both years.

TABLE 3—RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST, AND EVALUATION, ARMY TOTALS BY BUDGET ACTIVITY
($ IN MILLIONS)

The Army also broke down the RDTE budget by research, development, and testing. As Table 4 shows, all categories except operational systems development received increased funding for FY 1992 and decreased monies in the FY 1993 request to Congress. Operational systems development continued a steady decline in funding.

TABLE 4—RDTE PROGRAM CATEGORIES
($ IN MILLIONS)

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While RDTE funding increased through FY 1992 before declining in the FY 1993 budget request, procurement funding declined by more than 50 percent, from $14.9 billion for fiscal year 1988 to $6.8 billion for FY 1993 (Table 5). Funds in the categories of missiles, ammunition, and weapons and tracked combat vehicles particularly showed a precipitous fall. The Army attributed part of this decline to a surplus of durable items that could be expected to last through the near future. Also, in many cases Congress either stretched out procurement over a longer period of time or drastically cut the appropriation. Finally, the Army often used ostensible procurement funds to maintain the existing force structure, in effect trading materiel for organization.

TABLE 5—PROCUREMENT
($ IN MILLIONS)

Science and Technology

The Army Science and Technology Master Plan and Objectives

During FY 1992, the Army program for science and technology received its overall direction and focus from two executive-level groups. The Army Science and Technology Advisory Group, co-chaired by the Army Acquisition Executive and the Vice Chief of Staff, provided top-level supervision of the program. The Army Science and Technology Working Group recommended to this body revisions to the Army's strategy and priorities for science and technology. It also reviewed the Army Science and Technology Master Plan, Advanced Technology Demonstrations, and Science and Technology Objectives. The annual Army Science and Technology Master Plan provided guidance to the Army science and technology community consistent with the National Military Strategy, Defense Planning Guidance, and the Army's force modernization plans. Advanced Technology Demonstrations tested emerging technology, allowing the Army to explore other technical alternatives and

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to eliminate unpromising technologies in a program's early stages. The master plan contained Science and Technology Objectives, significant goals requiring one or more specific technical objective(s) to be finished by a certain fiscal year.

A working group meeting on 11 September 1992 to review the Army's Science and Technology Objectives marked the first time that the development community and TRADOC evaluated the Army's technological objectives in light of user needs and priorities. The group undertook a thorough examination of the objectives in the FY 1993 Army Science and Technology Master Plan prior to presenting its proposals on organization and the master plan to the top-level advisory group on 22 September. The advisory group approved the Army Science and Technology Master Plan and forwarded it to the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff for signature and publication.

Almost simultaneously with the advisory group's approval of the master plan, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology laid out the model for future advanced systems concepts offices. The Army hopes to revitalize the concepts office in each Research, Development, and Engineering Center of the Army Materiel Command. Through these steps, the Army seeks to meet the challenge of more upgrades, fewer resources, introduction of new technology, virtual prototyping, and active coordination with TRADOC's Battle Labs.

The Army Science Board

During the fiscal year, the Army Science Board (ASB), the senior scientific advisory body of the Department of the Army, advised and made recommendations to the Army on scientific, technological, and acquisition subjects. Under the direction of the Secretary of the Army, the Army Science Board used summer study groups, issue groups, and ad hoc study groups to carry out independent, interdisciplinary studies crucial to Army missions. Normally, the board held two summer study groups per year. Issue groups provided ongoing support for such general Army functions as analysis, test, and evaluation; command, control, communications, and intelligence (C3I); infrastructure and environment; logistics and sustainability; research; and soldier systems. Ad hoc studies addressed specific problems of limited scope and duration. At the close of the fiscal year, the ASB had seventy-seven members, eighteen of whom had joined the board during the year. During FY 1992, the ASB formed new committees for membership and the critique of studies, completely revised its standard operating procedures, and began automating its operations to better support its members.

The ASB presented the results of two summer studies to the Secretary of the Army on 5 August 1992. "Land Warfare Combat Identification"

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examined technologies with the potential to reduce fratricide. This study evaluated these technologies with regard to covert operation, security, reliability, noninterference with the operation of the overall system, and capacity for identification. The study group made several recommendations regarding design and requirements, situational awareness, target recognition, question and answer technology, models, analysis, training, and implementation. A second summer study, "Command and Control on the Move," looked at command and control problems that arose in recent combat operations. It stressed the need for a commander to exercise effective command and control at all times during operations on the extended battlefield, including intervals when he was away from his command post.

One of the more important ad hoc studies was "Initiatives to Improve the Participation of Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions in Army Research, Development, and Acquisition Activities to Strengthen Their Infrastructure." This study recommended that the Army establish a centralized, consistently funded program to take advantage of the valuable resources at black and other minority colleges and improve the infrastructure at carefully selected schools. The Army, the study contended, should establish several research centers with each center based upon a major emerging technology coupled to an academic discipline. It suggested that Army programs to support the development of these schools should focus on research and institutional, educational, and human development. By the close of the fiscal year, the Army had started the implementation of the study's recommendations.

During the fiscal year, the ASB found new ways to contribute to training effectiveness. Following guidance from the ASB and the Defense Science Board, the Army Research Institute conducted a major research study in this area. The study revealed which units were more likely to be successful in exercises at the National Training Center. These units trained at their home stations and to standards; made maximum use of Training Aids, Devices, Simulators, and Simulation (TADSS); received sufficient operating time with their equipment; and followed doctrinal prescriptions concerning training management. The Army Research Institute planned to conduct additional research to examine the effects on unit performance of selected changes designed to maximize unit effectiveness and combat readiness.

Board on Army Science and Technology (BAST)

The National Research Council, through its Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, established the Board on Army Science and Technology (BAST) on 15 February 1982. Then-Under Secretary of the Army James R. Ambrose wanted an independent body of specialists to provide expertise in the fields of engineering, science,

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research, and technology. In coordination with the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research, Development, and Acquisition (ASA [RDA]), BAST committees have conducted scientific and technological research and development studies to support Army operations. The Army and BAST have held periodic meetings to determine study areas, to discuss progress, and, as appropriate, to visit major Army installations. In short, BAST has provided a repository of scientific and engineering knowledge and a forum for the exchange of information. In addition to a chairman and vice chairman, BAST has consisted of sixteen to twenty members serving staggered three-year terms. The Army selected members for their background, experience, and familiarity with policy issues.

In March 1988, the ASA (RDA) requested that BAST conduct a Strategic Technologies for the Army (STAR) study of the most significant advanced technologies for the next century and their impact on ground warfare. In response, BAST organized three subcommittees devoted to science and technology, integration, and technology management and development planning. All three reported directly to the general study chairman, who received his policy guidance from an executive committee that served as the link with the senior Army leadership. Through nine subgroups, the science and technology subcommittee prepared assessments on the likely course of technological development over the next ten to twenty years. The integration subcommittee and its eight system panels reported on systems capabilities that were likely to be important to the Army in twenty to thirty years, based upon projections by the subcommittee for technology management and development planning. Volume 1 of the main report appeared in May 1992, with a second volume scheduled for December 1992. A team of STAR committee members started outreach briefings to selected audiences in March 1992.

While studying future technologies, BAST also became involved in the destruction of chemical agents and munitions. Following a congressional directive and the request of the Under Secretary of the Army, BAST established the Committee on Review and Evaluation of the Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program in October 1987 to review the disposal program and conduct workshops on technical issues. During FY 1992, the "Stockpile Committee" inspected active and prospective facilities for the destruction of chemical weapons, discussed various monitoring programs, and reported on the incineration of the stockpile and the disposal system's process for handling pollution. At the instigation of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Logistics, and Environment) (ASA [IL&E]) and BAST, the Stockpile Committee formed a Panel on Current Status of the Cryofracture Process to evaluate the technical merits of the cryofracture process on the basis of any new data published in the past several years. After reviewing the current test program,

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the panel concluded, in a report it sent to the Army on 18 November 1991, that reforms of the process in light of the latest developments could require a major redesign and a degree of complexity beyond what the panel deemed necessary. Responding to the ASA (IL&E), BAST also formed a Committee on Alternative Chemical Demilitarization Technologies (Alternatives Committee) in January 1992 to study alternatives to the baseline technology for chemical munitions demilitarization. The Alternatives Committee held its first meeting in March 1992 and tentatively plans to publish its report in May 1993.

Army Technology Base Master Plan

The Persian Gulf War dramatically illustrated the potential for regional conflicts around the globe. The Army believed that the conventional weaponry employed in these wars would be highly sophisticated and lethal. Army planners also recognized that many regional powers would possess chemical and biological weapons. To counter these potential threats, the Army had to maintain its technological edge through a base program that could exploit the global technological revolution.

The Army Technology Base Master Plan (ATBMP), published annually by the Department of the Army, laid out the Army's strategy to maintain technological superiority in a period of reduced resources. It gave direction to the Army's laboratories, centers, and researchers and assisted industry and academia with long-range planning. The Army technology base strategy stressed critical technologies, development of new systems, prototyping, technology demonstrations, system improvements, and technological upgrades. It called for balancing resources across four domains: technology for future systems and upgrades, key emerging technologies, systemic issues, and supporting capabilities.

The section on technology for future systems and upgrades laid out nine Army modernization plans that focused on requirements for the force structure and training development. The Army tied each modernization plan to the existing force structure and programmed resources, but it required each plan to have the capacity to adjust to changing threats, technological breakthroughs or delays, and alterations in funding levels and personnel assets. Each plan attempted to cover developments in its field twenty years into the future.

The Army Aviation Modernization Plan covered improvements in Army aircraft. It called for upgrades in existing and soon to be available systems, such as the AH-64 Longbow Apache helicopter. It also set as a goal the acquisition of the light helicopter and development of technologies for future aircraft systems and upgrades of those systems. These included the Future Attack Air Vehicle, the Advanced Cargo Aircraft, the Apache Improvement, and the Light Helicopter Pre-Planned Product Improvements.

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The Air Defense Modernization Plan discussed forward area air defense, high- and medium-altitude air defense, tactical missile defense, and antisatellite systems. The plan provided for an increased antitactical missile capability to meet the increasing missile threat to contingency forces. It focused on technologies that would improve identification and target acquisition, weapons survivability and mobility, and battlefield command, control, and intelligence.

The Fire Support Modernization Plan concentrated on enhanced efficiency for artillery in close support, counterfire, and deep fire roles. The plan sought to increase accuracy, range, mobility, survivability, and lethality while decreasing logistical and training support. Researchers worked on improved gun propulsion techniques, better target acquisition, automated decision aids, "smart" munitions, and advanced fuses.

The Armor/Antiarmor Modernization Plan laid out requirements for the armored force. To improve versatility, killing power, survivability, reliable performance, and mobility, the plan turned to integrated mission equipment, advanced guns with new propulsion methods, hybrid composite structures and components, more fuel-efficient vehicle propulsion, and advanced modular armor. For the future, the plan envisioned robotic and semi-autonomous systems for hazardous environments.

The Engineering and Mine Warfare Modernization Plan covered the varied developments in the fields of engineering, mine warfare, and camouflage. Planners explored ways to extend effective ranges, incorporate advanced sensors, improve methods of identifying targets, and protect friendly forces. Proposals for countermine technology emphasized remote detection and neutralization. The proposals for bridging technology concentrated on assault and support bridges, investigating the use of lighter, stronger, and more durable composite materials as well as innovative designs. Researchers also worked on camouflage systems to reduce or eliminate visual, ultraviolet, thermal infrared, and radar waveband signatures that could be detected by highly sensitive sensors.

The Army Command, Control, and Communications (C3) Modernization Plan updated C3 systems at the corps level and below. It sought to resolve doctrinal, training, organizational, and materiel deficiencies to provide an Advanced Tactical Command and Control System (ATCCS). When fully deployed, ATCCS would furnish the Army with a survivable, secure, and vigorous system capable of supporting the commander through the rapid acquisition and integration of information. The system would feature wide-band fiber optic cable and millimeter wave-interconnected local area networks, adaptable and programmable modulations for threat avoidance, and compatibility with systems employed by allied forces.

Unlike the other modernization plans, the Light Forces Modernization Plan looked at light forces requirements in all other modernization plans

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and mission areas. The plan extracted applicable portions and examined them from the perspective of the roles and missions of the light forces. It then ensured that adequate resources were provided to meet the objectives of the light forces.

The Intelligence and Electronic Warfare (IEW) Modernization Plan laid out a strategy for the development of systems that exploited modular technology to create a variety of sensors and jammers. These airborne, ground-based, expendable, and emplaced systems would provide the future commander with the capability to detect, locate, classify, and keep track of moving and stationary targets. He could also use these systems to direct fire support, deny information to enemy weapon and information-gathering systems, and deceive the enemy as to the battlefield situation.

The Soldier Modernization Plan, by viewing the soldier as a system, sought to improve his combat effectiveness. The plan pursued the development of weapons for personal defense and individual combat and work on such C3 systems as the soldier's radio, computer, and digital helmet display. It also investigated protective systems that combined light, full-body, ballistic protection with nuclear, biological, chemical, flame, and microwave protection. The plan also called for various advances in sustainment, such as improvements in the quality of A-rations, an enhanced capacity to eat on the move, and techniques for increasing physical and mental performance. The airdrop of personnel, supplies, and equipment from extremely high to very low altitudes at airspeeds up to 400 knots and the development of improved medical care systems to protect the soldier and expedite his return to battle also received attention in this plan.

As part of its efforts to focus resources on those areas that would ensure the long-term, qualitative superiority of American weapon systems, the Army identified thirteen especially critical emerging technologies. These included microelectronics, photonics, and acoustics; advanced signal processing and computing; advanced materials and materials processing; directed energy; artificial intelligence; robotics; power generation, conditioning, and storage; advanced propulsion technology; space technology; protection/lethality; low observable technology; biotechnology; and neuroscience. Although very different in detail, these technologies shared several attributes. All held great promise for solving important deficiencies or significantly increasing U.S. capabilities on the modern battlefield. Although they were immature technologies, demanding considerable further research, an Army-wide consensus acknowledged their importance. The related technologies of microelectronics, photonics, and acoustics in particular formed the basis for intelligence gathering, communication, computation, fire control, fiber optic

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flight controls, and electronic warfare systems. In the future, the Army planned to devote 25 percent of its technology base resources to the thirteen emerging technologies.

Civil Works Research and Development

The Corps of Engineers (COE) pursued an aggressive research and development program in civil works. Four research centers handled the bulk of the COE research and development in the field: the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory at Hanover, New Hampshire; the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory at Champaign, Illinois; the Waterways Experiment Station at Vicksburg, Mississippi; and the Engineer Topographic Laboratories at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The COE conducted approximately 65 percent of its research in-house, accomplishing most of the remainder through contracts with universities or private firms.

The major part of the COE program for civil works research and development concentrated on water resources development and management, including flood control, waterborne transportation, hydropower systems, erosion control and shore protection, and water-oriented recreation. But, more than ever, environmental and social considerations, energy conservation, mounting concern with urban problems, and declining appropriations compelled the corps to consider new approaches. The FY 1992 program called for $21.7 million of general investigations funds, which would meet only the highest priority requirements. To do more with less, the Corps of Engineers examined new ideas and techniques, including many developed by industry and universities, and incorporated its findings into engineer manuals, technical letters, guide specifications, circulars, and laboratory technical reports.

For management purposes, the COE divided its research and development program into seven research areas: materials, coastal engineering, flood control and navigation, environmental quality, water resources planning studies, surveying and remote sensing, and construction operation and maintenance. In the field of materials research, corps researchers studied soil compaction and concrete and their use in constructing retaining walls, dams, embankments, and locks. During FY 1992, they developed several new computer models and programs to predict the behavior of soil and to design procedures for reinforced concrete and concrete hydraulic structures. Other studies produced greatly improved compaction control of earth-rock mixtures for embankments and developed new designs for retaining walls and sheetpile walls.

In coastal engineering, COE research projects enjoyed a productive year. They developed techniques, equipment, and procedures for determining or predicting waves, currents, water levels, and sediment flow

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along shorelines. Researchers also developed procedures, methods, and guidance for the effective design, construction, and maintenance of coastal structures. Engineers completed testing of advanced electronic sensors for measuring sediment flow and established a high-resolution wave array measurement system for the Pacific coast.

Research on flood control and navigation attempted to achieve maximum efficiency at least cost in the design and construction of structures and devices for flood control, navigation, cost-shared analysis of erosion, ice engineering, and water quality. Some major projects included the development of improved guidance for the design of grade-control structures in flood control channels, the production of evaluation methods for preventing or reducing the problem of salt water in stratified navigation projects, and the provision of interim guidance on shallow-draft coastal port design. In addition, the COE completed the final guidance, software, and instructions for area-wide analysis of the total area of erosion behind levees.

Research on environmental quality studied the construction, operation, and maintenance of COE water resources projects and their impact on the environment. Many recent regulations have tightened the environmental quality standards on water resources projects. To meet these standards economically and effectively, the program attempted to develop techniques and procedures for assessing and controlling the environmental impact of corps activities. Researchers completed the final sections of the Wildlife Management Manual and finished and published guidelines for procedures to preserve archeological sites. The corps also completed guidelines for cost-effective erosion control and shoreline stabilization using vegetation and simple structures. In addition, researchers issued guidelines for conducting selective channel clearing with minimal impact on the habitat.

Water resources planning studies ranged from an analysis of ways to facilitate public involvement in water resources planning to the development of mathematical models for estimating the effect of future urbanization on potential flood hazards. Researchers finished guidelines for analysis and design criteria for relocation of reservoirs. In addition, the Corps of Engineers continued its four-year project to reduce the impact and cost of zebra mussel infestations in and around public water facilities without harm to the environment, in the process providing guidance to federal, state, and local agencies and industries. The COE also launched a series of conceptual studies on the hydrologic consequences of global warming, examining the social, economic, and environmental effects of a rise in sea level and developing strategies for protecting the shoreline. The Corps of Engineers planned to examine the impact on different geographical areas from large river basins to smaller tributary watersheds. Planners completed guidelines

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for the evaluation of the risks, reliability, and costs involved in major rehabilitation projects; finished a model to assess the costs and economic impact of maintenance dredging; and developed risk-based procedures for flood damage mitigation projects. Throughout, the corps kept an eye on the impact of these projects on the environment, producing analyses that evaluated the risks of certain projects for the environment.

Surveying and remote sensing research included the investigation of uses for new technology in surveying, mapping, and satellite remote sensing. The Corps of Engineers explored taking advantage of the precise measurement and positioning capabilities provided by Army and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellites for its dam safety program, erosion surveys, and dredge positioning. The corps also improved computer-aided drafting and design software for the use of corps surveyors. Researchers continued to evaluate the use of satellite and aircraft data for measuring snowpacks in order to predict spring runoff with more timeliness and accuracy.

The construction, operations, and maintenance research area was covered by five information analysis centers—soil mechanics, concrete technology, coastal engineering, hydraulic engineering, and cold regions engineering—at the Waterways Experiment Station and the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. These centers acquired, evaluated, and disseminated newly published scientific and technical information from the United States and abroad; answered several thousand technical inquiries; and prepared numerous technical evaluations, bibliographies, and reports. Federal and state agencies generated approximately 80 percent of the inquiries, with the remainder coming from private industry and foreign governments.

One issue that concerned those working in the construction, operations, and maintenance area was the lack of investment by society as a whole in construction research and development. Studies by the National Research Council, Office of Technology Assessment, and others showed that the United States construction industry spent less than 0.5 percent of income from sales for research and development, resulting in falling productivity, higher construction costs, and a loss of competitiveness. Analysts believed that improving productivity and the resulting reduction in federal construction costs would make feasible projects which are now economically impractical.

Responding to the dearth of construction research and development, Congress authorized the Construction Productivity Advancement Research Program to develop and apply state of the art and advanced technology in construction projects. This research program, in which the Corps of Engineers participated, studied improved materials and procedures to extend pavement life and reduce maintenance costs. In addition,

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one of the corps' industry partners will market a prefabricated building system that will increase savings in a wide variety of facilities. Researchers also improved the design and materials for soil liners used in landfills and hazardous materials disposal sites in cold regions, thereby not only reducing materials costs but permitting site construction in adverse weather.

Among the projects in the construction, operations, and maintenance area with implications for civilian use was the magnetic levitation (maglev) transportation pilot program. Maglev transportation uses magnetism to "levitate," propel, and steer passenger or cargo vehicles along a guideway. Maglev technology showed the potential to expand transportation capacity, reduce congestion in high density transportation corridors, save energy, provide clean transportation with a minimal environmental impact, and create a new U.S. technology export market. During the fiscal year, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act established a national magnetic levitation prototype program operated jointly by the Department of the Army and the Department of Transportation.

As an emerging technology, maglev raised several economic, engineering, technological, and public policy issues that demanded further investigation. Representatives of the Corps of Engineers, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had formed an interagency team, the National Maglev Initiative, to study these issues. This initiative would develop American maglev expertise, examine the creation of a national maglev industry, define the roles of the government and private sectors, and lay out and manage the government's role. After submitting feasibility reports to Congress in 1990, the team during 1991 established a program office and oversight committee, completed draft strategic and decision plans, awarded twenty-seven technology assessment and four system concept definition contracts, and initiated research on superconducting magnets, cryostats, control, propulsion, and market, traffic, and travel demand.

The activities of the Corps of Engineers directly affect wetlands. Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, Executive Order 11990, and the President's stand on "no net loss" of wetlands recognized the need to minimize the destruction or degradation of wetlands that would ultimately affect the nation's water supply. Therefore, the Wetlands Research Program combined environmental and engineering approaches to find the best technical and most cost-effective techniques to meet both COE and national needs. During the fiscal year, the program assessed wetland capabilities to enhance water quality, developed guidelines for the most significant wetlands, published technical guidance for restoring and establishing wetlands, and finished an interim report evaluating techniques needed to manage corps wetlands.

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During FY 1992, the Corps of Engineers continued the Repair, Evaluation, Maintenance, and Rehabilitation (REMR) Research Program. Through new technology, the original REMR had produced more than $40 million in savings in FY 1989, its final year. This figure did not include an estimated $200 million in savings through FY 1994 in such areas as improved safety and reliability, reduced manpower requirements, and better operational capabilities. Based upon the success of the program, the COE initiated the REMR-II Program in FY 1991. The corps expected the program to extend through FY 1997, with a total cost of $35 million. For the corps this meant in particular a focus on its 600 hydraulic structures, of which 54 percent would be forty years old or older by 2000, and on its thousands of miles of roads, breakwaters, jetties, dikes, levees, and floodwalls.

The REMR-II program covered seven areas of research. In the concrete and steel area, the program compiled existing data on the use of precast concrete for the repair and rehabilitation of concrete structures and the use of roller-compacted concrete for the repair of dams. Researchers in the geotechnical area drew up better guidelines on biofouling and chemically cleaning wells and initiated a workshop on levee rehabilitation and studies on levee stability, requirements for seismic steadiness of foundations, and the reduction of rock erosion in spillway channels. In the field of hydraulics, engineers improved the STREMER numerical model, reviewed existing flow modeling technology, and initiated studies on icing of machinery at COE structures. Researchers in the coastal area completed the construction of a 3-D fixed-bed physical model to study the underlying stability of coastal structures, and they calibrated the model for regular wave tests. Electrical and mechanical researchers initiated studies on the removal of lead pigmented paint, a universal volatile organic compounds-compliant coating system, a failure diagnostic guide, cavitation repair materials, and testing procedures for cathodic protection systems. Experts in operations management completed condition index systems for tainter and roller dam gates and for steel, timber, and hybrid breakwaters and jetties. The REMR-II program also published four REMR information bulletins, issued a technical supplement to the REMR Notebook, and incorporated REMR technology into civil works engineer manuals.

Medical Research and Development

During FY 1992, Army scientists demonstrated the feasibility of a new approach to protecting soldiers against nerve agents. Before this breakthrough, a combination of four different drugs, which a soldier took before and after exposure, had proved effective against the lethal effects of many anticholinergic agents. However, side effects—including tremors, convulsions, apnea, and general malaise—often caused diminished per-

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formance, general incapacitation, or hospitalization. To eliminate or significantly reduce the side effects while simplifying the purification process, researchers experimented with large doses of purified acetylcholinesterase (AChE), the target enzyme of organophosphate nerve agents. These doses seemed to act as "scavengers," binding to organophosphate molecules in the bloodstream before they reached their target. Such treatment completely protected monkeys against ordinarily lethal doses of the nerve agent soman. The monkeys not only appeared normal to the casual observer, but their performance on sophisticated behavioral tests also remained unaffected. If AChE proves safe for humans, future soldiers can rely on simpler, less toxic, and more effective protection against nerve agents.

Through NASA's space shuttle, Army researchers were also conducting important work on cell growth and tissue loss in space. In March 1992, the space shuttle carried the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command's (USAMRDC) Space Tissue Loss Module on its initial flight. This mission revealed that in space the primitive muscle cells that normally repair damaged muscle failed to change into mature muscle cells. These results, as well as similar findings in the cases of the immune system and bone cells, caused researchers to speculate on the possibilities of growing cells in a primitive state in space and then bringing them back to earth to treat certain human diseases, trauma, and infection. A second shuttle flight, scheduled for November 1992, will extend these experiments to human bone marrow stem cells and another cell that produces antibodies against malaria.

As part of society's war against AIDS, Army medical researchers conducted tests for the safety and effectiveness of a variety of potential vaccines. Using DNA biotechnology to produce several pieces of the harmless "envelope" that ordinarily surrounds the virus' RNA replicating mechanism, they vaccinated with gp160 HIV-positive volunteers in the very early stages of infection. In one study of this vaccine, test subjects showed an increase in the HIV-specific immune function, no adverse systemic reactions, and only mild local reactions at the site of injection. A surprising and potentially significant additional finding was that the prospective vaccine appeared to slow the progression of the disease, as measured by the number of circulating immune system CD4 cells. Should larger Phase II studies under way at the end of FY 1992 confirm this discovery, it would represent one of the first demonstrations of the successful use of a normally preventive vaccine as a therapy for patients already infected.

Along with their work on nerve agent antidotes, tissue loss, and AIDS, Army medical scientists conducted other research with potentially far-reaching effects. At the end of the fiscal year, the USAMRDC turned to

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40,000 Thai children to conduct the world's first test of a vaccine against waterborne hepatitis A. The Army and a commercial collaborator had jointly developed the vaccine, using the results of basic research conducted at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research over the last decade. Army medical researchers also worked with the Army Ranger School to minimize the effects of the grueling nine-week course on student health without lowering its standards for leadership training. Research showed that the course's combination of stress, sleep deprivation, and caloric restriction not only produced a significant loss of lean body mass and muscle strength but also impaired the body's immune functions as early as four weeks into the course. At the end of FY 1992, the Army was conducting more studies to assess the effectiveness of increased rations and other changes in reducing medical attrition.

Space Research

The Army expects many of its future advanced technologies to emerge from its space programs. For forty years, the Army has played a major role in the national space program by producing the first American satellite in orbit, the first American ballistic missile, and the only antiballistic missile system deployed by the United States. The Army uses its space assets for a number of purposes, including communications, weather and environmental monitoring, reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, mapping and charting, digital terrain analysis, navigation, and missile warning. During FY 1992, the U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command's research and development effort supported research on strategic and tactical missile defense systems and other space-related technologies in accordance with the Missile Defense Act of 1991. Given the Army leadership's vision of space as a normal and integral part of future Army operations, the Army needed to explore new and improved capabilities and so influence the design of satellites and ground components to ensure that its requirements were met.

Weapon Systems

Army planners expected the battlefields of the future to be contested by fast-moving forces using weapons of unprecedented lethality. On the new battlefields, Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) systems would provide commanders with the timely information needed to synchronize the employment of their forces. Commanders would then employ highly lethal weapons against enemy forces at ranges beyond visibility, and land maneuver forces, operating at a much faster tempo than in the past, would overwhelm and destroy the enemy in all

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kinds of weather. The Army leadership during FY 1992 believed that the Army was capable of decisive victory because of its high quality soldiers, realistic training, and sound doctrine. To minimize friendly casualties, however, the Army needed to modernize its technology, enabling it to apply overwhelming and decisive combat power. The Army intended to achieve its modernization objectives through both cost-effective modifications and introduction of new technology to improve current and future combat capabilities. In line with the Department of Defense's emphasis on improvements in existing systems rather than development of new ones, the Army planned to acquire new equipment only when it showed the potential for a major payoff or fixed a specific shortcoming. The size of the Army would be a critical variable in this process since, as the Army shrank in size, it must become even more modern and technologically superior.

After rigorously analyzing the changing world political and military situation and reviewing the lessons learned from recent combat operations, the Army produced a modernization strategy that focused on long-term technology. To assure technological superiority, the Army set five modernization objectives necessary to establish land force dominance. These were to project and sustain the force, to protect the force, to win the battlefield information war, to conduct precision strikes throughout the battlefield, and to dominate the maneuver battle.

Because of the increasing lethality of modern weapons, the Army staunchly maintained that the protection of U.S. forces was a critical part of any modernization strategy. The Army not only needed to continue to deny the enemy knowledge of the locations and operations of its units, but also to defeat attacks when they came. In particular, Operation DESERT STORM demonstrated to the Army the importance of tactical missile defense in any foreseeable contingency to protect critical ports, airfields, and population centers. The Patriot missile, which the Army had used against Iraqi Scud missiles, provided a limited counter to the broader theater ballistic missile threat. During the fiscal year, the Army in coordination with the other services undertook several programs to improve existing systems and to develop new weapons to defeat theater ballistic missiles. In addition, the Army reemphasized its requirement for an effective counterbattery capability to defeat enemy artillery and for an improved ability to operate in a chemical environment.

To win the information war, the Army leadership realized that it needed to gather information, process it, and transmit it around the battlefield, while denying the same capability to any enemy. Researchers investigated sensors that located and identified targets. They also examined intelligence fusion systems, smart munitions, and systems that disrupted or destroyed the enemy's information flow.

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The Army needed to interdict and destroy enemy forces throughout the battlefield in order to conduct synchronized and decisive operations. To accomplish this, American forces required modern artillery, attack helicopters, and missiles with sufficient range. In addition, the munitions had to be capable of destroying moving vehicles and high-priority mobile targets, such as tactical missile launchers. Army units also needed the ability to concentrate and coordinate indirect fires and massive helicopter attacks against enemy maneuvering formations.

Army doctrine held that decisive operations culminated in the destruction of the enemy's land combat capability and that the Army needed superior maneuver forces to win the direct fire battles. One way to attain this capability was the use of the microprocessor on the battlefield, enabling American forces to rapidly pass information on enemy and friendly forces' locations among their combat units. Digitization of the battlefield would facilitate decisive maneuver and help reduce fratricide. It would also make possible timely force synchronization and the ability to deliver highly accurate, massed fires from widely dispersed locations.

The key to the successful execution of this strategy was the concept of continuous modernization, which the Army based on the five modernization objectives. Continuous modernization meant that for every class of major weapon system the Army would seek to have a system in production, an upgrade in progress, or a replacement system in development. Planners maintained that a break in this cycle would stagnate technology, diminish the industrial base, erode critical skills, delay fielding of systems, and dull the Army's warfighting edge. Continuous modernization would sustain combat forces, capabilities, and the entire acquisition system.

As in other areas, the Army tried to do more with less in the field of research, development, and acquisition during FY 1992. The Army reorganized its RDA agencies and tried, through continuous modernization, to ensure that the soldier would have the most up-to-date weapons systems at his disposal, even in a period of budget reduction. Research continued in a number of critical areas, such as civil works and medicine. The Army leadership planned to give resources only to those programs that met a strong user requirement, giving first priority to the warfighting needs of the soldier.

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Last Updated 21 July 2003

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