CCDC Podcast talks leading international innovation through partnerships

By Mr. Kyle Bond (CCDC)January 22, 2020

CCDC Podcast talks leading international innovation through partnerships
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- Technical solutions for U.S. military requirements often come from international partnerships.

According to Brig. Gen. Vincent Malone, deputy commanding general U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, "AFC [Army Futures Command] acknowledges that not every good idea or ground-breaking technology originates here in the United States. There are great institutes of higher learning with really renowned researchers doing groundbreaking technology development efforts worldwide."

CCDC, a major subordinate command of AFC, has a global enterprise of regionally aligned forward element centers located in the Americas, Atlantic and Pacific, along with their subordinate international technology centers and field assistance in science and technology advisors. Support from the CCDC headquarters Global Technology Office and the CCDC Army Research Lab and Centers' international points of contact and quick reaction coordinators round out the enterprise and give the U.S. and its partners a competitive edge over common adversaries.

"Our centers and lab, the Army's program executive offices and increasingly the Army's cross functional teams at AFC are not constrained by domestic boundaries in their search for game-changing technologies," Malone said.

Support personnel in U.S. allies and partner countries provides additional benefits.

Collier Slade, director of the CCDC Global Technology Office, said, "CCDC has a very robust and a very unique global presence. International Technology Centers, or ITCs, are tech scouts and relationship builders. Dr. Perconti, the DASA RT (deputy assistant secretary of the Army for research and technology), recently said proximity builds trust and trust builds relationships. These ITCs are the front line with our allies."

In the twenty-fourth episode of the CCDC "In the Lab" podcast, Malone and Slade talk about the structure of CCDC's international support and the significance of building these types of relationships.

"CCDC in the Lab" is a weekly podcast highlighting the people who develop technology across the command. To listen to the podcast, copy and paste this link: (https://ccdc.podbean.com) or search "CCDC in the Lab" in the Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify or your preferred podcast app.

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The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), formerly known as the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM), has the mission to provide the research, engineering, and analytical expertise to deliver the capabilities that enable the Army to deter and, when necessary, decisively defeat any adversary now and into the future. CCDC collaborates across the Future Force Modernization Enterprise and its own global network of domestic and international partners in academia, industry and other government agencies to accomplish this mission under the strategic vision of the Army Futures Command.