adaptive acquisition & l125 · adaptive acquisition & l125 col mark jennings ... an...

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

Adaptive Acquisition & L125

COL Mark JenningsDirector Diggerworks

7 Nov 13


• Army has many small projects which require the acquisition of thousands of items and, in many cases with little thought of integration, particularly on to the soldier.– Led to a ‘Christmas Tree’ effect.

• Need for a more responsive acquisition approach to equipping close combatants.

• The soldier must be considered as an integrated Soldier Combat System, rather than simply the aggregation of individual components.

Soldier Combat Ensemble Problem


Some Army DefinitionsL125 Project Guidance documentation:

• “Adaptive Acquisition is an iterative process that combines discovery & learning by acknowledging that the specifications of the required capability are often unable to be fully known until a response is stimulated by using that capability on operations and / or in training.”

L125-3B Project Guidance

• “Adaptive Acquisition envisages the selective & limited roll-out of mature MOTS or COTS equipment solutions to meet Army operational requirements and the supporting RTS tasks within the Army Force Generation cycle. The end-state will be technically up to date equipment that meets operational requirements; and enhances the ability of individual close combatant personnel to survive on the battlefield and contribute to the combat effectiveness of of ADF dismounted combatants.”

L125-4 Draft Project Guidance


Some Procurement Manual DefinitionsEvolutionary Acquisition:

• The spiral approach to Evolutionary Acquisition is used where the end-state requirements are not known in detail at the outset of the project. Under this approach, an acquisition strategy is implemented to acquire the required system in such a way that the requirements are able to be progressively refined & applied to future increments.

• Evolutionary acquisition projects generally will be heavily reliant on feedback from users in earlier phases to determine the future of subsequent phases… the exact functionality & price of early increments may be agreed up front, but later increments will typically not be agreed until prior to the start of each increment


Key Tenets

• No longer is everyone to be equipped the same:– Tier 1 – Specialists– Tier 2 – Close Combatants– Tier 3 – General Combatants

• The close combatant is to be treated differently.

• Buy less more often. • System upgrades delivered in synch

with Army’s force generation cycle.


Adaptive Methodology• Identify the problem or requirement

– From the field– From our allies– From threat analysis – From modernisation concepts

• Analyse options– Technology evaluation– Industry engagement

• Develop or identify the integrated solution– Science and Technology– Design Engineering– Test and Evaluation

• Report to Army and hand off to a Systems Program Office for acquisition.


Shaped Plate Trial: Potential Spiral• 4 plates to be trialled (comparative

assessment)– In-service

• CIB24• SAPI

– Prototypes• Hybrid CIB24/SAPI• 50th percentile chest curvature Male

and Female (from L400 Anthropometric survey results)

• Plate carrier– TBAS Tier 2 Version 3.0+/4.2

• Trial participants– 8 Males/ 8 Females

• Australian Load Effects Assessment Program (AUS-LEAP) trials facility– 10 obstacles,4 activities– Subjective feedback from soldiers– Objective data (Time to complete

course)

Male chest curvature plate

Female chest curvature plate


Yr 0

Yr 1

Yr 2

Yr 3

Force Generation

Cycle

Adaptive Acquisition

Cycle

High Readiness & Operations

Reconstitute & Individual Training

Collective Training & Force Preparation

Op Feedback

Integration& Testing @ Diggerworks

Refined Tender Spec

Acquire & deliver new

System

2 Year Turnaround

ReadyReadyReady ResetResetReset ReadyingReadyingReadying

User Need Refined

Trg Feedback

Modify

Yr 4

Yr 5

Yr 6




Op Feedback


Refined Tender Spec


System

2 Year Turnaround


User Need Refined

Trg Feedback

Modify

Yr 0

Yr 1

Yr 2

Yr 3

Yr 4

Yr 5

Yr 6

Yr 0

Yr 1

Yr 2

Yr 3

Force Generation

Cycle

Adaptive Acquisition

Cycle




Op Feedback


Refined Tender Spec


System

2 Year TurnaroundSCE V1.1


User Need Refined

Trg Feedback

Modify

Yr 4

Yr 5

Yr 6




Op Feedback


Refined Tender Spec


System

2 Year TurnaroundSCE V2.0


User Need Refined

Trg Feedback

Modify

Yr 0

Yr 1

Yr 2

Yr 3

Yr 4

Yr 5

Yr 6

SCE V1.0

Use and limited sustainment Deliver Use and limited sustainmentDeliver

SCE V1.1

Deliver

SCE V2.0

V1.0

Adaptive Acquisition and FORGEN


Evolutionary Acquisition Outcomes• Specifies the initial functionality required and the manner in which it

can be incorporated into successive releases

• Design development requirement allows customer and contractor to improve the design over the life of the contract

• As new functionality or requirements are identified, orders are placed for incorporation into the evolving requirement– Must integrate with current and past orders

Note that actual Acquisition strategy and contracting methodology are ultimately determined on a case by case basis by the Project


Integrated removable knee pads

Current Version 5 Terra Combat Boot

2013 T2 Equipment

AMP Combat Trousers

Stretch panels to facilitate body movement (rear waist, crotch, knees)

Pelvic Protection System: Tier 1 (under garment, not visible)

Tier 2 (over garment, not shown)

LA 5 Aiming Device

Integrated removable elbow pads

Australian F88 Advanced Combat Optical Gun Sight

AMP Combat Shirt

Enhanced Combat Helmet Upgrade 2 (VAS Shroud, OPSCORE retention

system, Team Wendy Pads) Ballistic and Laser Ocular Protection System (Sunglasses)

Hydration System (on back)

Tiered Body Armour System (includes load carriage, ammunition pouches and

belt)

F88SA2 Rifle

Combat Gloves

Soldier Personal Radio, Switch Pack and Headset

NINOX NVG and WILCOX mount (not shown)

Garmin Foretrex GPS (under shirt sleeve)

MultiBand Inter/Intra Team Radio, Whip Antenna, Holster, Battery and Headset

(on back, whip antenna visible)

Field Packs available for use (not shown):Sniper/Spec Packs (new), Medium Assault Pack, Small Assault Pack

(Special Forces only) andLarge Field Pack 05

AMP Hat (not shown)

AMP Field Shirt (not shown)


Current Version 5 Terra Combat Boot

2013 T3 Equipment

AMP Combat Trousers

Pelvic Protection System: Tier 1 (under garment, not visible)

Tier 2 (over garment, not shown)

AMP Combat Shirt

Enhanced Combat Helmet Upgrade 2 (VAS Shroud, OPSCORE retention

system, Team Wendy Pads)

Ballistic and Laser Ocular Protection System (Sunglasses)

Hydration System (on back)

Tiered Body Armour System – Tier 3 (includes load carriage, ammunition

pouches and belt)

F88SA2 Rifle with 1.5 Optical Sight

Combat Gloves

Soldier Personal Radio, Switch Pack and Headset (not shown)

AMP Hat (not shown)

AMP Field Shirt (not shown)


Summary• Adaptive Acquisition is an Army initiative to provide up to date equipment

over the life cycle of a project– Requirements may evolve over time– Requires different contracting approach

• Currently limited to Soldier Combat System Projects– L125-3B:focus on SCE– L125-3C Ancilliaries– L125-4

• Issued to units within Army’s tiered approach– Not a big bang to replace all items– Unit entitlement as opposed to individual issue (for T1,T2, T3 specific

equipment)– Sustainment through replacement

• Modernisation through COTS and MOTS focus– DW watch and monitor emerging trends to inform development of SCE– Injection of iterative development items as they mature– Inform deliberate adaptation cycle or urgent operational requirements


– Diggerworks - [email protected] Please use this address if you wish to contact Diggerworks directly on proposed enhancements to the soldier combat systems.

– Integrated Soldier Systems Branch - [email protected] Please use this address if you have generic enquiries about the Branch's business, or if you are unsure who to talk to on an issue. Your email will be passed to the appropriate person to respond.

Points of Contact

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

adaptive acquisition & l125 · adaptive acquisition & l125 col mark jennings ... an...

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