PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. (March 4, 2015) -- Engineer Adam Jacob entered the room where the meeting had already begun, and before he had even finished taking off his jacket the meeting facilitator pointed to Jacob and said, "You're up."
The meeting was designed to be fast paced. The goal was to hear 27 presentations, each lasting about three minutes. Since Jacob was scheduled to attend class that day, meeting facilitator Ernie Garcia saw the opportunity to give Jacob an opening to present his ideas then be on his way.
"Who needs to get out of here?" Garcia later asked the assembled group, seeking to adhere to the tight schedule while acknowledging that some presenters couldn't stay for the entire meeting.
The gathering of engineers at the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal was held to present ideas and concepts for the Future Vertical Lift, or FVL, an initiative created by the Secretary of Defense to focus on enhancing vertical life capabilities and technology development. (Vertical lift is a term largely associated with helicopters.)
The U.S. vertical lift fleet is aging. Typically, platforms remain in service for 40 to 60 years. FVL is intended to provide the foundation to replace the fleet over the next 25 to 40 years.
Platforms for the FVL are expected to provide greater capability to overcome complex terrain, higher altitudes, extreme temperatures and extended distances.
Among the various military services, the Army has been designated as the lead service for the Joint FVL effort.
At Picatinny Arsenal, the focus of the research and engineering center is on armaments and weapons systems, as well as aircraft survivability equipment, that can be used on future aviation systems.
The ARDEC is part of a joint integrated products team, and is working closely with U. S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, or AMRDEC, other research and engineering centers, laboratories and other branches of the military.
The compressed meeting to brainstorm and parse ideas resembled a cross between "technology speed dating" and the television show "Shark Tank," in which entrepreneurs "pitch" ideas that are then subjected to scrutiny.
The meeting was held in preparation for an upcoming presentation to the Army aviation community by ARDEC Technology Director Joseph Pelino, who would periodically drill down for more details as the parade of ideas unfolded.
What is the weight of the proposed product? What is the size? Are there re-coil issues? Can it be patented? Can it be developed with an airdrop shape?
At times, Pelino would ask for more information, or suggest that collaboration begin with outside organizations.
"They don't like things hanging off the aircraft because of drag," Pelino would periodically remind the attendees, urging further work on how to minimize drag or address other potential concerns from the aviation community.
Although the presentation of ideas took about 90 minutes, considerable time and effort went into getting to the point where the "pitch" presentations could be held.
"It took about a year of work and three workshops," said Garcia, Program Manager for Innovation at the Business Interface Office.
During the past year, ARDEC employees participated in a series of meetings and collaboration calls with the FVL team and the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command community to more fully understand FVL operations and requirements.
Another goal was to identify ARDEC technologies applicable to aviation armaments. Picatinny Arsenal is the Department of Defense's Joint Center of Excellence for Armaments and Munitions.
Pelino had tasked Greg Phillips and Andrei Cernasov to explore concepts for new technology that could address the needs of the Future Vertical Lift. Phillips is the chief of the customer account and relationship management office, which is part of the Business Interface Office. Cernasov is head of the Office for Innovation at ARDEC.
"We were tasked in December to develop a 'stretch vision' for aviation lethality and that's where the recent innovation workshops kicked in, although throughout the past year there were other innovation meetings looking at ideas for aviation weapon systems," Phillips said.
"This series of recent workshops were more intensive and resulted in more ideas," Phillips added.
The innovation process involves four workshops. Anyone with an interest in the topic can attend.
The first workshop explains the problems and history, and elicits questions to help address problems. Participants are asked to carefully consider the problem over the next week
During the second workshop, the team discusses potential solutions to problems. Participants are asked to place ideas that will solve the problem into quad charts, then into an idea database.
The team discusses each idea to be placed in the database for validity or clarification, thus ensuring consensus that the idea has a potential application to the problem.
During the third workshop, each subject matter expert or SME presents the idea in a quad chart to the team and to senior SMEs for fine-tuning and challenges.
The last workshop is where teams present the ideas to the director of technology. Team members have three to five minutes to present their ideas.
Typically, the director of technology challenges each idea to assure that it has potential application, and selects some of the concepts for further development and refinement.
In the case of the future vertical lift, these ideas were then presented to the other organizations on the FVL team as well as to the user community, where they will undergo additional scrutiny for feasibility.
Over time, additional workshops for further refinement are conducted before any ideas are selected for formal proposal development.
Collaboration participants include end-users, such as Soldiers and pilots, along with other laboratories, research and engineering organizations.
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The Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to develop technology and engineering solutions for America's Soldiers.
The research center, also known as ARDEC, is the largest organization at Picatinny Arsenal, which is a major employer in northern New Jersey. The center has acquired a reputation for quality improvement and plays a vital role in developing superior armament technology for the U.S. Army and other branches of the nation's military.
ARDEC is one of the largest employers in northern New Jersey, employing 3,378 people on site here, with an additional 377 at other locations. More than 2,481 ARDEC employees are scientists or engineers.
By designation of the Secretary of Defense and an act of Congress, Picatinny Arsenal is the Department of Defense's Joint Center of Excellence for Armaments and Munitions. Picatinny's portfolio comprises nearly 90 percent of the Army's lethality and all conventional ammunition for joint warfighters.
A 6,500-acre military installation located in Morris County, the Arsenal contributes more than $1.3 billion to New Jersey's economy.
Related Links:
U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) homepage
U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) homepage
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