U.S. ARMY DETROIT ARSENAL, WARREN, MI ― More than 320 industry partners attended the second annual U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) Industry Days on March 18th and 19th to hear the latest information about its 30-Year Strategy and the research and development initiatives taking place at the Detroit Arsenal. TARDEC business group leaders highlighted their key projects to present actionable information and engage their industry counterparts in two-way dialogue.

• Industry Days was held at the Detroit Arsenal March 18-19 to continue to build awareness about TARDEC's 30-Year Strategy and its alignment to the Army Chief of Staff's focus to fundamentally change how the Army of 2025 and beyond will fight and win in a complex world.

• TARDEC's 30-Year Strategy provides strategic direction and context for decision making and purposeful management of its manned and autonomy-enabled ground systems portfolio, enabling business processes and external/internal communications to stakeholders.

• TARDEC Director Dr. Paul Rogers defined key funded projects and priorities, and illustrated how industry can leverage critical Army capabilities and align their research efforts and investments with TARDEC.

• Collaboration with industry is vital to TARDEC's success. Utilizing a variety of agreements, industry can leverage critical Army capabilities, facilities and the expertise of TARDEC's highly skilled workforce for mutual benefit.

• The Army of 2025 and beyond must be expeditionary, lethal, autonomy-enabled and efficient. To achieve these objectives, TARDEC must provide capabilities that sustain a modular, flexible, adaptable and smart ground systems portfolio.

TARDEC Director Dr. Paul Rogers welcomed industry representatives and stressed the focus of the event should be on the audience's needs, not the presenters. He added that Industry Days can be considered a success only if it leads to generating industry engagement and collaborative efforts that enhance warfighting capability.

"Regardless of what we are working on, we are here in support of the warfighter. As you are here to provide products and tools and services for the military complex, you are also here in support of our warfighters," Rogers stated. "So together, as an enterprise, we are giving those solutions to them so they can be successful in the fight they're in today and any future conflicts they may find themselves in over the next 20 to 30 years."

Specifically, Rogers explained how the 30-Year Strategy will direct and pace technology discovery, development, demonstration and transition to secure enduring value and continued battlefield dominance of the Army's current and future ground systems. Through purposeful engagement with industry, academia and other government agencies, and purposeful investment in human capital, laboratories and equipment, and IT infrastructure, TARDEC can strategically shape the ground system domain's future for the Force of 2025 and beyond.

Shaping the Future

Rogers emphasized that total integration with the requirements community, namely the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), is critical to TARDEC's efforts to define the future.

"Some of the things we're doing today are in support of programs and vehicle systems that are out in the force and the modernization or enhancement of those systems," Rogers said. "But again, a significant part of what we're doing is providing capability for that warfighter 30 years from now. If we want to field the system 30 years from now, we need to be doing the science and technology today to inform requirements for future ground systems. Those of you who have experienced the acquisition process know that to be true -- the acquisition process takes an extended period to produce systems and get them into the hands of Soldiers. Therefore, looking toward the future, it's the requirements community that's going to be our principal partner," he concluded.

About TARDEC

Headquartered at the U.S. Army Detroit Arsenal in Warren, MI, TARDEC is a major research, development and engineering center for the Army Materiel Command's Research, Development and Engineering Command, and is an enterprise partner in the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command. Guided by the 30-Year Strategy, TARDEC develops, integrates and sustains advanced manned and autonomy-enabled ground system capabilities that will reduce weight and the logistics tail, increase mobility and make the Army more expeditionary. Collaborating with non-traditional industry partners helps build a bench of science, technology and engineering skills across the Army, industry and acquisition communities that, ultimately, leads to high-tech and innovative solutions delivery. With industry's help, TARDEC is developing modular, flexible ground vehicle systems capable of adapting to a wide range of operational mission environments that will fundamentally change how the Army of 2025 and beyond will fight and win in battle.

Visit us at:

http://tardec.army.mil www.facebook.com/TARDEC https://twitter.com/TARDEC_PAO

For more information or media interviews please contact: michael.i.roddin.civ@mail.mil or call him at (913) 206-3002.