In FY97, crewstations optimized for the FSCS mission and digitized battlefield will be designed, and panoramic displays, multifunction displays, and head-mounted displays will be developed for the crewstations. In FY98, crewstation simulators will be built to test, improve, and validate the crewstation designs; transition the virtual prototype developed from concepts; and competitively award the ATD contract to industry. In FY99, preliminary designs will be developed from the virtual prototype; alternatives explored, a vehicle-level System Integration Laboratory initiated; and scout mobility and survivability technologies demonstrated in user warfighting experiments. In FY00, subsystems fabrication will be completed, and demonstrator fabrication and integration will be performed. In FY02, a technical test and BLWE will be completed. Key demonstrations include: FY97—Hunter Sensor Suite ATD and Hit Avoidance ATD; FY98—Composite Armored Vehicle ATD and Target Acquisition ATD; FY01—Multifunction Staring Sensor Suite ATD.

The payoffs for implementing these technologies include the ability and flexibility to defeat line-of-sight targets out to 5 km, and non-line-of-sight targets to 10 km for any known threat system to the year 2025 and beyond; achieving a level cross-country speed of 100 km/hr; achieving vehicle and crew protection against direct fire KE/CE munitions and hemispheric protection against indirect threats; and reduction of vehicle weight by 33%, of consumables such as ammunition and fuel by 50%, and of crews by 25%.

The technology barriers are the specific power, specific energy, and efficiency that key components need to attain to be integratable within the constraints of the combat vehicle. Mobility barriers are the volumes of the engine, active suspension and transmission components, high specific power demands, volume and weight of electrical energy storage components, and efficiency of electric power conditioning devices. The stability of the power management and distribution system is also a barrier in the integration of electric armament lethality systems. The integration advanced armors, active protection systems, and signature management, is also impeded by the volume and weight of the electrical energy storage and power conditioning component. The energy level of ammunition propellants is an additional barrier to survivability integration. Information management, vehicle maintenance, and driveability using external sensors are key barriers in achieving fightability goals with a reduced crew.

^*DARPA funding is directed at combat vehicle mobility and survivability technologies. These technologies are applicable but not specific to the FCS.

Ground vehicle payoffs from the integration of advanced vehicle electronic architecture and crewstation include improved deployability of smaller combat vehicles resulting from reduction of number of crew members, the ability for the combat vehicle crew to handle massive amounts of new digital information being generated on the future battlefields, reduced operating and support costs of electronic systems, and reduced cost and time to integrate upgraded and modular subsystems.

New Army doctrine requires soldiers to fight and win the information war. Ground combat vehicle crews are required to operate in a constrained, time-critical, event-intensive, and information-limited environment which results in sub-optimum mission task executions. Technology barriers that prevent optimum crew performance are the lack of data and hardware automation technologies, lack of SMI technology that aids the crew in assimilating cognitive information, lack of well-defined and structured knowledge base for decision aiding, lack of algorithms to dynamically balance crew workload, and lack of design schema for user-tailorable and -reconfigurable SMI. Embedded computer-based weapon systems are complex, hardware-intensive, real-time distributed systems. The need to meet hard, real-time task deadlines to avoid catastrophic consequences and the lack of generalized and commercial real-time technology have resulted in system stovepiped and unique technology implementations which have become increasingly unaffordable, prone to obsolescence, and difficult to maintain and upgrade. The general approach is (1) to define a comprehensive and real-time yet generalized and evolvable computer/network/software interface structure that can optimize commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) applications and enable standard and reusable technology solutions, and (2) to develop required non-COTS reusable technology solutions while continuing to advance the system processing and network throughput.

Mobility technology advances will provide compact power necessary to achieve a smaller and lighter FCS in the 40-50-ton range, facilitate the power requirements of electric weapon options, and provide cross-country mobility increases for speeds up to 60 mph over selected terrain.

For FCS to be an electric drive, power electronics must be developed that are capable of handling the power requirements of a large combat vehicle without overheating. A continuous-band track must be developed to move beyond lightweight applications into the medium-to-heavyweight vehicles. For active suspension, sensors and algorithms must be developed that can preview rough terrain and react accordingly. Suspension reaction units must be developed which can provide the response required and yet be practical in terms of size, weight, and power consumption. For FCS application, a low-heat-rejection engine must be developed that has improved power density

The payoffs for achieving these capabilities include a reduction in gross vehicle weight of 10-15% for vehicles in the 15- to 30-ton range, reduction of structural and piece-part weight in larger and smaller vehicles, and an integrated solution with structure, armor, and signature management combined.

The technical barriers for chassis and turret technologies are in manufacturing. The properties of the materials are fairly well known, but the ability to manufacture combat vehicles from these materials needs more work than was done under the Composite Armored Vehicle Program. A strong ManTech effort is needed to capitalize on CAV knowledge.

Potential payoffs relative to the notional Flight IIA upgrade to the DDG-51-class destroyers will be a 90% reduction in topside RCS/IR signatures and a 99% reduction in topside electromagnetic interference/emissions by the year FY00.

The major technical barriers to achieving the objective are reliable high-quality, low-cost composite structures for enclosing and embedding antennas; frequency-selective surfaces/panels to achieve acceptable antenna performance while reducing RCS signatures; reliable methods to predict RCS/IR signatures of complex topside configurations taking into account secondary effects; multifunction communication antennas fully embedded in lightweight structures; IR coating materials having long life in a marine environment; and a wideband electromagnetic monitoring system.

Payoffs are 100% uninterruptible ship power with a 40% reduction in weight, a 50% reduction in manning, and a 50% reduction in cost while supporting future ship signature and environmental requirements.

Power generation efficiency requires breaking the thermal cycle efficiency barrier with fuel cells that can operate on widely available fuels in sufficient power densities for shipboard use. High-power-density PEBB-based conversion equipment requires packaging that simultaneously delivers electromagnetic compatibility, thermal material matching, and control circuits that can support high switching speeds with low total harmonic distortion. Fault detection and classification algorithms that consistently identify electrical faults in the microsecond time frame are needed. Nonlinear control algorithms that can predict local and global system stability with incomplete overall system status knowledge must be developed. Networked communication with the bandwidth and reliability to implement intelligent control schemes must be designed to realize overall system implementation.

Payoffs will be in the areas of affordability, through reduced manning, and improved fight-through capability, by decreasing the amount of time needed to correct the casualty. In FY98, a 20% decrease in damage control manning will be demonstrated, and the ability to characterize the casualty will go from hours to minutes. In FY99, a 30% reduction in damage control manning will be demonstrated with the ability to characterize the casualty and assess the situation in less than an hour. In FY00, a 92% decrease in damage control manning will be demonstrated, exhibiting the ability to go from characterization of the casualty to corrective response in minutes.

The major technical barriers to achieving the objective are affordable sensors that are survivable, reliable, and intelligent; fault-tolerant, multifunctional networks; component-level architecture with the ability to recover from network fragmentation; affordable component-level control nodes; data reduction, transfer, and storage methods that will enable rapid transfer of information throughout the ship; validated predictive models of casualty situations; and robust control and actuation algorithms that provide rapid and reliable response.

Specific benefits include reduced equipment cost (by at least 40%) through use of COTS equipment, reduced construction costs through modular design and fabrication, increased shock survivability by using semiactive mounts that reduce equipment accelerations by 70%, improved acoustic signature characteristics through application of Project M technology, and design of attenuation into support structure (10-20-dB reduction in low-frequency modes).

Technology barriers include integration of shock and acoustic requirements into large machinery support structures, extension of Project M technology to modular deck structures, and developing and validating scale-model demonstration systems to evaluate both shock and acoustic performance of machinery support structures.

Specific benefits include reduced weight, volume, and cost; 10% reduction of signature control costs; 5-dB reduction in radiated noise through application of advanced pressure hull concepts; 3-10-dB reduction in hull flow and propulsor noise; reduction of design, acquisition, and maintenance cost of propulsor through simplified design; and reduction of nonacoustic signatures important in littoral warfare.

Technology barriers are related to the assessment of critical signature sources. As advancements are made in controlling specific noise sources to reduce the overall signature of submarines, previously unimportant noise sources become critical. An integrated approach must be taken to effectively control submarine acoustic and nonacoustic signatures.

Specific benefits of electric drive include a 50% reduction in propulsor and main propulsion plant signatures; increased flexibility in machinery space arrangements; reduced submarine volume and cost; and expanded design space for advanced propulsion and maneuvering concepts.

Technology barriers to developing an electric drive system include developing validated electroacoustic design tools, developing PM materials with acceptable material properties, and developing motor controllers and bearings that meet acoustic requirements.

Payoffs for achieving these capabilities include an eightfold increase in UUV range/endurance with the thermal propulsion subsystem and a 75% reduction in development and training life-cycle costs with the rechargeable electric battery propulsion subsystem; 3 additional feet of payload area with the integrated motor/propulsor; a tenfold improvement in low-speed maneuvering and stability in energetic environments and a 75% reduction in autopilot controller life-cycle costs; a tenfold improvement in mission robustness; a twentyfold increase in undersea communications data rate and distance, for tactical data transfer; a tenfold increase in covert navigational accuracy; and a tenfold reduction in EM signature for increased stealth, reduced target vulnerability and improved sensor performance. All of these payoffs lead to a common, improved, affordable, and cost-effective Mission Reconfigurable UUV.

The major technology challenges/barriers for developing a Mission Reconfigurable UUV are electrode and cell separator materials for the high-energy density and long life-cycle electric rechargeable battery; steady flow, porous metal combustors with integral heat exchangers for thermal propulsion subsystem reliability; integrated rotor and blade/control surface for motor/ propulsor efficiency and noise reduction; adaptation of nonlinear autopilot controller for energetic changing environments; real-time, computationally light algorithms/signal processing for fault tolerance, nontraditional geophysical navigation and undersea communications; high data rate and long-range undersea acoustic communications in a multipath environment; and passive and active signature reduction methodologies.