FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — The Army Futures Command Maneuver Support Battle Lab is winding down this year’s Maneuver Support and Protection Integration eXperiments event, commonly referred to as MSPIX, after assessing 16 emerging technologies from May 6 to 23, 2024, at locations across Fort Leonard Wood.

According to Kyle Henry, MSBL Experimentation Branch chief and one of the key organizers of the event, MSPIX puts the latest tools in the hands of Soldiers while also giving capability developers and the science and technology community credible and validated operational experiment venues for their conceptual and materiel development.

Soldiers from Fort Leonard Wood; Fort Bliss, Texas; and Fort Riley, Kansas took part in the assessments.

“Soldier touchpoints early in the capability design process are key to influencing the end product and its ability to support the end user, U.S. Army Soldiers. Key stakeholders are invited to observe the assessment, including the (Maneuver Support Center of Excellence) regiments and members of the (protection warfighting function) community,” Henry said.

Jarret Ellis, an MSBL engineer, said it is crucial to get Soldiers involved in the development of technologies early on to make sure new equipment being issued meets their current needs.

“When these private industry companies come out with technology they think will be helpful, the Soldiers can point them in the right direction,” Ellis said. “A lot of times, the people developing the equipment are not Soldiers in the field — they are from academia, engineers and scientists. MSPIX brings the groups together.”

Soldiers from Army Engineer; Military Police; and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear backgrounds participated in this year’s assessments, Henry said.

On May 15, Soldiers from the 16th Brigade Engineer Battalion at Fort Bliss and the 50th Multi-Role Bridge Company, based on Fort Leonard Wood, were at training area 224 to get their hands on a drone programmed to find subsurface explosives in real time by performing aerial surveillance.

The Soldiers were handed instructions on how to setup the Airborne Ground Mines Detection System, calibrate the software and prepare the unmanned aircraft system to sweep a designated area. After the Soldiers performed the steps, the drone took flight over the training area while sending data back to a computer the Soldiers were monitoring.

“Today we are assessing a means to detect explosive hazards. We are working on detecting threats that are buried or partially buried that could kill Soldiers and destroy equipment,” Ellis said. “This is one of the first looks we have had at something that is UAS-borne that could potentially detect hazards without putting Soldiers into the threat.”

Henry said the AGMDS was one of the technologies he was personally most excited to see in action this year. The others were the robotics for engineering operations and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear sensors in robotic platforms.

“The REO provides standoff and autonomous terrain shaping. The CSIRP is an unmanned and autonomous area reconnaissance that relays information to mission commanders,” Henry explained.

Next year’s MSPIX focus areas will include, according to Henry, wet-gap crossing, situational understanding and protection decision support, obscuration and camouflage and toxic industrial materials site assessment.

By Melissa Buckley, Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office

FORT JOHNSON, La. — Sweat drips down the faces of Soldiers assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), “Warriors,” as they experience life at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana.

Soldiers with 1st BCT enter a two-week character-building crucible inside the area commonly referred to as “the box.” The rotation equals a month-long experience to prepare Warrior Brigade Soldiers for their upcoming deployment.

JRTC allows brigade-sized combat teams to experience simulated large-scale combat operations — known as LSCO — to build readiness to support globally deployable missions.

Soldiers with 1st BCT are the first to experience the shift from limited contingencies that were used for over a decade to LSCO. This shift raised certain questions that Col. Daniel P. Kearney, commander of the 1st BCT, 10th Mountain Division, hoped to answer with this JRTC rotation.

“What does a light infantry brigade look like and what is it capable of,” Kearney said.

This question brings about a fundamental change in how operations will be conducted at JRTC and going forward for the Army.

This rotation represented the first implementation of the new Army force structure. The new force structure meant that 1st BCT would have to become a lighter infantry brigade and conduct the rotation with limited rolling stock. Rolling stock refers to military powered and unpowered vehicles that are used to transport personnel and equipment.

“We’re going from roughly 2,000-plus pieces — years of buildup of rolling stock — and the brigade is going to come in there (JRTC) with 498 pieces of rolling stock in total for the brigade,” Kearney said.

The limited rolling stock affects how quickly the brigade would be able to transport personnel and sustain the force in LSCO environments. These new challenges are why Kearney said it’s important to diversify how to sustain the brigade in LSCO settings.

“It means a heavier reliance on … our sustaining capabilities on both air and ground,” he said.

With a focus on air and ground sustainment and capabilities, this presented another challenge for the brigade at JRTC.

The 1st BCT conducted the rotation without using a U.S. Army cavalry squadron, who would normally provide the reconnaissance force. Their removal is part of the challenge the brigade faced while shifting their focus to LSCO environments. The brigade answered this question by instead coordinating with NATO allies to provide the same function.

The reconnaissance was instead done by partners with the British Army to serve as the cavalry unit and to build interoperability with one another. This JRTC rotation employed allies from the United Kingdom that included soldiers assigned with the Irish Guards; the 3 SCOTS, The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland; and the Royal Artillery.

Soldiers with the Number 2 Company, Irish Guards participated in a night air assault mission, May 1, 2024, to be the reconnaissance force. Guardsman Henry Fell, a machine gunner with Number 2 Company, Irish Guards, who participated in the joint air assault, said it was about ensuring the abilities of the British and U.S. Army would translate when working together.

“There needs to be that cohesiveness so that we can work properly together so we can achieve the same aim that we are looking for,” Fell said.

This is the first time that the 10th Mountain Division worked with NATO allies to facilitate the exercise at JRTC. Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, and 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division would follow soon after and execute the main night air assault over two days.

“It allows us to test our systems as a battalion and find out our weaknesses to ultimately certify the brigade to deploy,” said 1st Lt. Sky Rahill, platoon leader, C Company, 1-32 Infantry.

The air assault exercise marked the second phase of JRTC known as the joint force entry. To prepare for this phase, Soldiers received their multiple integrated laser engagement system, or MILES, gear. The MILES gear operates in a laser tag system to simulate a combat scenario and track Soldiers and their progress. This was done during the reception, staging, onward movement, and integration phase, a process to ensure equipment is ready and accounted for before field exercises.

Staff Sgt. Jacob Hurley, a squad leader assigned to C Company, 1-32 Infantry, said MILES is a way to test the efficacy and lethality of Soldiers.

“The reason we have it and why it’s so effective is that we have to calibrate it through civilians and our military counterparts,” Hurley said, “so that when we go out we can simulate real-world training.”

This rotation served as a lot of firsts for the Warrior Brigade, but also for the division who participated at JRTC as the higher command role. To help support 1st BCT at JRTC, the division tested its ability to exercise mission command over live maneuver units during a force-on-force environment.

The division simultaneously simulated a LSCO scenario to get a better understanding of how to maintain mission command when in an active combat zone. To achieve this, the division displaced the higher command and moved it to another location.

Lt. Col. Christopher Rankin, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, described it as a necessary function in LSCO settings, but it is also still new for Soldiers within the division.

“I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made from the first time we did this” Rankin said. “We are not perfect yet, but we will continue to gain more repetitions.”

Additional support given to the brigade was provided by the 10th Mountain Division Artillery, which incorporated their Hunter-Electromagnetic Spectrum VII Delta exercise.

JRTC served as the culminating event for Hunter-EMS VII Delta and validated the 10th Mountain Division’s capability to conduct friendly and combat enemy long-range digital and voice communication. Maj. Mark Smerka, 10th Mountain Division Artillery effects officer in charge, described the training as an opportunity to help develop brigades and divisions.

“The hope is that all of the capabilities we have either created or validated here are just further exercised,” Smerka said, “in ways that can lead to improvements of the organic equipment and capabilities that maneuver brigades and divisions (in LSCO environments).”

To the 10th Mountain Division, JRTC is an opportunity for small teams to contribute to large-scale movement in meaningful ways. Kearney said the challenge ahead does not serve as a deterrent to his 1st BCT Soldiers from striving to improve and master their crafts, but rather a motivation.

“My defined end state for the Warrior family is a tight-knight family of unbeatable companies and batteries, with staffs that plan in detail and develop and refine processes for the employment of the BCT in large-scale combat operations,” said Kearney. “We’re humble, we’re aggressive in our desire to learn, and we aim to be one percent better every day.”

By SPC Salvador Castro

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (May 9, 2024) — A comprehensive overhaul of the field ordering officer program used in procuring micro-purchases of supplies and limited services recently transformed an outdated process heavily reliant on manual inputs into a more modern and integrated web-based framework offering greater efficiencies.

The Army’s field ordering officer, or FOO, program serves as an influential tool and only readily available supply source for many items by units operating in an austere environment typically hampered by limited or lengthy supply lines.

Sgt. 1st Class Charlee Thousand, the 905th Contracting Battalion program manager for the field ordering officers, set out with a team of knowledge systems professionals in March 2023 to conduct a thorough analysis of existing processes and identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement leading to the recent launch of the portal offering a one-stop shop for special operations forces and support personnel.

“The need for the field ordering officer customer portal was to help reduce the hundreds of emails, calls and (Microsoft) Teams messages received from our supported units with questions about training, the appointment process, clearing process, and termination process,” Thousand said.

She lauded the critical role played by knowledge systems specialists from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command knowledge management support office including Shannon Meeks, Ryan Strauss and Michael Gains. “They have been great at taking my ideas and turning them into products to assist our customers.”

Contracting officers designate field ordering officers, with whom they must work closely, in accordance with guidelines outlined in the Special Operations Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. This delegation grants them the power to commit government funds for micro-purchases to meet one-time, immediate needs, while also streamlining the administrative process for small procurements and alleviating the burden on a contracting office.

The Army relies on contracting officers and appointed FOOs who play a critical role in procuring equipment, supplies and services in support of U.S. operations around the globe and serve as a force multiplier in making on-the-spot, over-the-counter purchases under the micro-purchase threshold that quickly and directly impact mission requirements.

Thousand first approached Lt. Col. Adam Salazar, commander of the 905th CBN, about her desire to modernize the FOO program interface.

“In short, she’s done this terrifically well. She’s saved hundreds of Soldier hours and streamlined the program interface, working one on one with the USASOC tech team to create a seamless website on the USASOC SharePoint portal,” Salazar said. “Everything a FOO needs is right there on the opening pane, from regs, templates, status reports and points of contact. It even includes information for pay agents, which is above and beyond as pay agent support falls outside of procurement and under the supported unit’s comptroller.”

The 905th CBN FOO program supports the Army Special Operations community and other U.S. special operations communities, and within a fiscal year the battalion supports hundreds of FOOs dispersed across dozens of locations around the world. In fiscal 2023, the battalion appointed more than 300 FOOs. The need for in-country micro-purchases as well as obligation and disbursement of funds on behalf of the government during deployed operations often involves a significant amount of administration and scrutiny. This requires FOOs to maintain adequate records and documentation in compliance with U.S. law, federal regulations and local command policies – all better facilitated by the new interface.

“It allows the customer to track and see in real time the status of their document submission. They can see any comments that the contracting officer makes, and it allows them to go in on the same document and make a required correction,” Thousand explained. “Whereas before all of that was done with back-and-forth email traffic. Prior to implementing this interface, my team calculated that it took almost 30 days from first email contact to FOO appointment with over 25 emails in between. Now it has been reduced to around five to seven days and one or two emails on the portal.”

Thousand said her team has received nothing but positive and helpful feedback on making the FOO portal better.

Master Sgt. Kayla Mason, the comptroller senior enlisted adviser for the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), agrees the new interface offers seamless collaboration and streamlines operations by reducing workflows.

“The new interface provides real-time financial data, which is critical to our command’s ability to reallocate funding with confidence and prevent lost buying power in the current fiscal year,” Mason said.

Thousand concludes that bringing greater efficiencies to the FOO program not only optimizes speed and accuracy by reducing manual labor but also delivers increased organizational sourcing and capability.

“Automating repetitive tasks reduces manual effort and minimizes the risk of human error. By streamlining processes, teams can allocate their time and energy to more strategic activities, ultimately improving overall efficiency,” she said. “Manual processes often introduce delays. By automating document workflows, businesses can achieve quicker turnaround times, leading to improved customer satisfaction.”

About the MICC

Headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting goods and services in support of Soldiers as well as readying trained contracting units for the operating force and contingency environment when called upon. As part of its mission, MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, facilitate training in the preparation of more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.

By Daniel P. Elkins, Mission and Installation Contracting Command Public Affairs Office

YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. — In a potentially significant stride forward in military technology, Yuma Proving Ground is testing a cutting-edge Modular Turreted Mortar System, or MTMS.

According to Kevin Irr, a test officer from the Munitions and Weapons Division, intensive evaluations are currently underway to ensure the MTMS system meets performance expectations for an upcoming demonstration at the Maneuver Warfighter Conference at Fort Moore in September 2024.

Installed on an Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, this new mortar, or NeMo, turret is a semi-automated, single-barrel 120mm breech-loaded mortar system and has long captured the interest of the Army for its potential to bolster operational capabilities.

A vehicle commander oversees its operation, while two crew members are needed to load the turret. Since Soldiers will be operating the NeMo at the demonstration, ongoing safety testing holds significant importance.

“We are diligently verifying its advertised capabilities and making sure it is safe for the Soldiers to operate,” Irr explained. “Additionally, we’re conducting several other tests to gauge the weapons system’s overall operability.”

Testing on the weapon system began in January and is projected to wrap up by July. Furthermore, a demonstration test will be carried out at YPG to pinpoint any potential issues or to fine-tune procedures before the AMPV-mounted weapon is sent to Fort Moore.

The safety testing focuses primarily on two critical areas, as outlined by Irr. Foremost, the Army is assessing the impact of vehicle operation on auditory health to protect soldier’s hearing. Mortar systems produce high-intensity noise during firing and prolonged exposure can result in hearing damage.

Additionally, prioritizing the buildup of toxic fumes within the vehicle, which may result from weapon firing and engine exhaust, is another top priority. Irr emphasized the critical need to manage these fumes effectively to safeguard the lives or crew members.

Irr also provided some insight into the project’s origin, tracking back several years, saying this integration onto the AMPV is part of a multi-phase foreign comparative test in which the Army initially evaluated the system’s capability on a foreign vehicle using U.S. ammunition.

Reflecting on that initial testing phase, he remembered how it ignited curiosity and interest among military experts, prompting further exploration of the weapon system’s potential utility within the U.S. Army’s arsenal.

To evaluate its viability, a thorough comparison test was designed, subjecting it to the rigorous conditions at YPG.

“It is a prototype,” clarified Irr, who took part in the early part of the testing. “This turreted system has undergone prior testing here on a different vehicle. During those tests, it piqued our interest and garnered some attention.”

Recognizing the system’s promise, the decision was made to evaluate it on a U.S. vehicle, specifically the AMPV.

According to Capt. Mike Hapner from the Program Executive Office Ground Combat Systems, the AMPV was chosen because it maintains an objective requirement to replace the Mortar Carrier Variant with an automated MTMS.

“The U.S. Army is interested in the MTMS’ capability to shoot on the move, perform direct fire missions, as well as its capability to conduct Multiple Rounds Simultaneous Impact missions,” Hapner stated.

This feature fills a notable gap in the U.S. Army’s current inventory, as there isn’t currently a mortar system with this capability.

“There are other pluses as well,” Irr said. “If it does ever get fielded, it would be the only mortar system in which U.S. Soldiers are protected inside a vehicle.”

By James Gilbert