DEFENSE R&D OUTLOOK
How is CCDC structured? What is its workforce like? I have the privilege of leading the Army’s largest talent pool of scientists, engineers, analysts, and technicians, many of whom are the world-leading specialists in their field of expertise. Their passion for knowledge and dedication to supporting the soldier is what enables CCDC to discover, develop, and deliver the capabilities soldiers need to fight and win our nation’s wars and come home safely. CCDC is structured into seven centers and one laboratory that each bring unique expertise and key facilities to the Army research, development, and engineering arena.
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John “Mike” Murray (left), commanding general of Army Futures Command, receives a brief by Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins (right), commanding general of Combat Capabilities Development Command, highlighting CCDC’s innovative technological solutions on display at AUSA Global Force Symposium 2019 in Huntsville, Alabama.
The CCDC Army Research Laboratory conducts threatbased foundational research with attention to long-term projections on future military technologies. The CCDC Armaments, Aviation & Missile, Chemical Biological, C5ISR, Data & Analysis, Ground Vehicle Systems, and Soldier Centers conduct applied research and development, engineering and analytical support in their respective domains to transition technologies for soldiers today and in the future. As part of AFC, CCDC is supporting not only the Chief of Staff of the Army’s readiness, future fight, and troop support priorities, but six stated Army modernization priorities: Long-Range Precision Fires; Next Generation Combat Vehicle; Future Vertical Lift; Army Network; Air and Missile Defense; and Soldier Lethality. How is CCDC working to meet the needs of the Army in these areas? As the scientific and technological foundation of the Future Force Modernization Enterprise, CCDC is committed to supporting Army Priorities and the strategic vision of Army Futures Command in the most efficient and impactful manner possible. As part of several ongoing reform efforts within the command, CCDC completed a comprehensive workload review to align our science and technology (S&T) efforts to the Army’s modernization priorities. Each modernization priority is led by a Cross Functional Team as part of Army Futures Command. Early on, CCDC established direct support to the CFTs by identifying
U.S. ARMY PHOTO
AFC also has the Cross Functional Teams [CFTs], the Army Applications Lab and the Artificial Intelligence Task Force. We already work closely with the CFTs. They have small teams and huge tasks, so we provide a lot of subject matter expertise to help the soldiers in charge understand the science and technology behind the capabilities they’re tasked to shepherd to the field faster. We’ve integrated the CFT leaders into things like our Stage-Gate review process, where we go over every piece of technology we’re working on to meet the CFT’s stated needs for modernization. They are eight different teams and they’re still building those teams. They all have more or less the same tasks in different areas and they have made significant headway. You can see the wisdom of unity of command at work.
