ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (June 16, 2021) — Army commissioned and warrant officers have the opportunity to obtain an in-depth look at the acquisition processes for intelligence and information warfare technology through a premiere fellowship program.
Fellows are competitively selected and spend a year-long rotation with the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center – a component of the Army Futures Command’s (AFC) Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) – as part of the Army’s Intelligence Capabilities Modernization Professional Development Program.
“The fellows program provides Soldiers with a greater understanding of the entire acquisition process, cutting edge science and technology, modernization and a firm grasp of requirements processes,” said Col. Mark Henderson, the C5ISR Center military deputy director. “Additionally, they develop strong personal relationships throughout the C5ISR Center, DEVCOM, program executive offices, AFC, cross-functional teams and other key stakeholders while assigned here.”
Fellows are embedded into the C5ISR Center’s organizational entity, providing engineers with a military perspective as well as tactical and operational experience to improve science and technology through Soldier touchpoints before intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; electronic warfare; and cyber technologies get into the field for Soldiers.
“Often, it can take a year for new capability developers to develop good acquisition requirement writing skills. The fellows program reduces that time to roughly three months, where they can truly go on to hit the ground running,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Denning, a C5ISR Center directorate military deputy.
The program allows fellows to learn how technology is evolving the thought process of acquiring, manipulating, and sharing intelligence data, according to Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CW4) Sean M. Moore, a fellow who recently departed the C5ISR Center.
Moore added, “I can say wholeheartedly, I am better prepared to articulate the requirements for future intelligence processing systems based on the exposure provided by the program, which is not replicated through any other assignment in the Army.”
Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3) Dane Rosenkrans, another C5ISR Center departing fellow, said, “To say this has been the most eye-opening experience in my career would be an understatement. When I explain this program to my peers, I liken it to language immersion in which a student of a particular language is sent to where it is spoken natively for an extended period of time. Only in this case, the language is Army acquisitions.”
Rosenkrans noted the program helped him to see behind the curtain on how systems are developed.
“I'm now able to not only provide the context as to why the systems are the way that they are, but how to improve the current systems and shape future systems,” he said.
Following their year with the Center, the fellows complete a two-year tour at the Intelligence Center of Excellence, the Army's school for professional training of military intelligence personnel.
The C5ISR Center recognized both Moore and Rosenkrans with the Meritorious Service Medal for their immense contributions to the Army while here. Due to the successful nature of this program, more fellows have already been identified for the next iteration.
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The C5ISR Center is the Army’s applied research and advanced technology development center for C5ISR capabilities. As the Army’s primary integrator of C5ISR technologies and systems, the center develops and matures capabilities that support all six Army modernization priorities, enabling information dominance and tactical overmatch for the joint warfighter.
The C5ISR Center is an element of U.S. Army DEVCOM. Through collaboration across the command’s core technical competencies, DEVCOM leads in the discovery, development and delivery of the technology-based capabilities required to make Soldiers more lethal to win our nation’s wars and come home safely. DEVCOM is an AFC major subordinate command.
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