Leaders look at Fires future

By James Brabenec, Fort Sill CannoneerSeptember 11, 2014

Fires PEO
Maj. Gen. John Rossi (center), Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill commanding general, gives closing remarks at the Program Executive Officer summit Sept. 4, 2014 at Snow Hall. The two-day summit kept lines of communication open between materiel... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT SILL, Okla. (Sept. 11, 2014) -- A Program Executive Officer (PEO) summit met Sept. 3 and 4 at Fort Sill as senior leaders from the materiel development community and the Fires Center of Excellence (FCoE) exchanged vision, priority and strategy.

The semi-annual event also gave Maj. Gen. John Rossi, Fort Sill and FCoE commanding general, a platform to discuss the Fires portfolio, force structure development, materiel solutions and other topics relevant to the future of Fires.

Col. Terry Wilson, Capability Development Integration Directorate FCOE acquisition adviser, said the summit kept lines of communication open between materiel developers and the FCoE. It also reiterated the Fires vision and the role it plays with all contributing offices.

"This continuous dialogue reinforces to all what the Fires priorities are and helps prioritize materiel developers' efforts to meet those priorities," said Wilson.

The PEO website states its mission is to develop, acquire, field and sustain affordable ... equipment to improve Soldier dominance in Army operations today and in the future.

In this instance affordable is certainly a key word. Rossi expressed the luxury of allocating money to technological concepts that do not clearly demonstrate added value toward future requirements is gone. However, the summit provided a forum for parties to clarify where value would be added toward capability gaps, to prioritize them and to identify where risk must be assumed. By achieving a common understanding, summit participants departed with a better understanding of Fire's portfolio priorities and how to apply resources to exercise fiscal discipline.

The summit looked at developmental and materiel solutions for both Fires branches moving through the Program Objective Management process, a near-term period until 2021, and the Long Range Investment Requirements Analysis (LIRA), that reaches out to 2048. This process looks at dated capability as well as planned-for and projected weapons systems, and considers alternatives that will come with time.

"We know with technology there are things that become obsolete. There's a value in knowing when this may occur, or when threats may change. That is a good indication that there needs to be a solution past that obsolete time frame. Though we cannot describe what that solution may be, instead the CG communicates a vision from which we can place science and technology dollars to get after determinants that will shape materiel solutions 20 to 30 years from now," said Wilson.

Although the summit primarily looked at materiel, the CG's vision also communicated aspects of training and leader development that will impact everyone. Wilson said analysis may suggest changes to force structure or what is taught in the artillery schoolhouses.

"This may also further determine the responsibilities of our officers, noncommissioned and Soldiers as we change our force structure to be more lethal and more efficient," he said.

However, any analysis, debate or discussion though returns to one central idea.

"The constant repeat of the vision for others to assimilate helps everyone move forward in understanding how it pertains to them," said Wilson. "It also helps determine where they should focus their development and provides insight into what the future Army will look like."

In addition to the CG's vision statement being the focal point of the summit, strategic communication messages were scrutinized as well. Review of these messages confirmed material developers and the Fires Center are communicating along the same lines of thought.

In turn, this sends a consistent message to Army leaders of what the priorities are here, the colonel said.

A third value of the summit pertained to a much more basic premise: a get acquainted session. In addition to Rossi, who took command of Fort Sill in June, many other key leaders only recently moved into their current positions.

Wilson added he received positive feedback from the PEOs of the Fires Center's efforts to hold three key meetings that engaged the material development and research and development communities within the last 14 months.

"The focused approach will shape and share the Fires vision so that capability gaps are addressed and solution sets are determined with a unified voice," he said.

"The summit further strengthened a cohesive team as we go into these periods of industry engagements, POM and LIRA in building the Fires future," said Wilson.

The summit was one of the first events in which Rossi will share his vision for Fires. In a later gathering, scheduled for Sept. 26, Rossi will convey his intent for advancing institutional and operational Fires training and promoting effective support to Soldiers and families at Fort Sill.