Redstone Arsenal rounds up CTOs

By Jason B. Cutshaw, USASMDC/ARSTRAT Public AffairsFebruary 16, 2018

Redstone Arsenal rounds up CTOs
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Alabama -- Team Redstone chief technology representatives met to explore and collaborate on mutual science and technology interests at Redstone Arsenal to provide better situational awareness of science and technology efforts across the installation's diverse organizations, and potentially leverage related science and technology efforts and core competencies at a CTO Roundup hosted at U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command Feb. 16.

Dr. Steve F. Pierce, chief technology officer, USASMDC/ARSTRAT, began the quarterly meeting with all the CTOs and science and technology leaders on Redstone Arsenal to provide a forum for the senior scientific officers for each command to come together and glean information from each other.

Invited to participate, commands include; Army Materiel Command; NASA; Defense Acquisition University; U.S. Army Missile Research Development and Engineering Center; Program Executive Office -- Aviation; Program Executive Office - Missiles and Space; Missiles and Space Intelligence Center; Redstone Test Center; Threat Management Systems Organization; and others located on the installation.

James Johnson, SMDC deputy to the commander, welcomed the guests and thanked them for their dedication to defending the nation.

"This is extremely important," Johnson said. "We can't do everything we want to do by ourselves and that is why it is so important that we have this collaboration. Everybody in this room brings something unique to the table, and that is what we need."

Participants were briefed on Multi-Domain Battle, third offset strategy, space operations, directed energy and cyber technology, as well as participated in open discussions.

"The primary thing we try to accomplish here is cross-fertilizing information and ideas and leveraging the greatest strength we have here at Redstone in our core competencies with the programs, projects and efforts we have going on among all the various commands," Pierce said. "We use this forum to discuss the challenges each one of us have that we can assist each other with. With all the changes occurring in technologies, what we're finding is every organization here is changing in some way every year.

"This is a great opportunity to bring everyone together," he added. "This forum is owned by everyone here at Redstone and it only succeeds if everyone at Redstone participates. It is a great time right now to cooperate and synchronize with each other."

In each of the commands, science and technology officers lead in the development and set direction for weapon systems and cutting-edge technologies. With the responsibility to lead their respective organizations, they are using the CTO Roundup to gain insights and different perspectives from their peers.

"The roundup is a perfect opportunity to collaborate across Team Redstone," said Robert Stone, U.S. Army Redstone Test Center technical director. "We have most of the organizations within the installation represented and the people who deal with various technologies are here. It is a wonderful opportunity to see how others are solving problems.

"These are very beneficial and we have been able to make connections with other organizations we would not have been able to outside of this venue," he added.

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