“Increased speed means when
the general comes up with a con
cept or a requirement, my job is to
help move that through as fast as
we possibly can up to the acquisi
tion phase and deliver capabilities
to our Marines or to our Sailors as
fast as we possibly can. Prototyping
and experimentation are an integral
part of every phase that we have
and it is the connection between
all,” he said.
“Industry and academia are
doing a lot of good things here, so
bringing their ideas to the table,
as well as the ideas of our scien
tists and engineers and the naval
research and development estab
lishment, really gives a broad brush
both in breadth and depth of ideas
that we can come and help solve
these problems,” Burrow said.
Walsh said the urgent needs pro
cess has been working well in many
cases in rapidly fielding systems
during the recent wars, includ
ing the Mine Resistant Ambush
Protected Vehicle and counter
improvised explosive device tech
nology.
“There is also the other end of
the spectrum of when we deter
mine we’ve got a program of record
that we want to move faster, that is
acceleration, too,” he said.
Although it technically is not an
example of rapid prototyping, the
Amphibious Combat Vehicle pro
gram as one where mature technol
ogy was exploited to rapidly select
demonstrators to downselect for
further competition, Walsh said.
Burrow said the Navy Depart
ment likely would decide in
December which technology would
be tested next year for possible fur
ther development.
Mergers, Acquisitions,
Reorganizations
n Huntington Ingalls Industries
(HII) has entered into a defini
tive agreement to acquire Camber
Corp., a government services com
pany headquartered in Huntsville,
Ala. Camber is a provider of sophis
ticated missionbased and informa
tion technology solutions. Its major
customers include the U.S. Navy.
Upon closing of the acquisition, HII
Lance Cpl. Zackary W. Rippin, infantry assaultman, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, operates a weaponized Multi-Utility Tactical Transport vehicle during a company assault on Range 400 at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center,
Twentynine Palms, Calif., Nov. 7 as part of Integrated Training Exercise 1-17. The battalion has been designated as the
Marine Corps’ experimental force. Prototyping and experimentation are an integral part of the service’s push to more
rapidly develop and field advanced warfighting capability.
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