11
Reinvigorating Squad Level Units
for U.S. Marine Corps Dismounted
Combat Capabilities
Mark Richter
Director, Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad
Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico VA
13 March 2017
Brief for Future Soldier Technology 2017
22
• Manage the Marine Rifle Squad as a System. Revised MERS Initial Capability Document approved 13 Aug 2015.
• Coordinate the integration and modernization of everything worn, carried, used, or consumed by the rifle squad including integration of equipped Marines in mobility platforms.
• Provide the ability to conduct systems engineering, human factors, integration assessments, and spiral development in a reduced time cycle by operating the Gruntworks Squad Integration Facility as a Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) provided resource.
MERS Mission
33
Operating Concept
• What makes MERS and Gruntworks effective is the Triad:
The MERS Team– Sponsor: Infantry Advocate from DC, PP&O
– Requirements: MERS Capability Integration Officer, DC, CD&I
– Acquisition Office: MERS, MCSC
– Other Stakeholders
• MERS is aligned within MCSC under the Chief Engineer of the Marine Corps:– Systems Engineering, Human Factors, and Interoperability
focused
– Responsible for Human Systems Integration (HSI) across the Command
– Support for the Programs - works with the programs to make their products better and an integrated solution
• Actively engage many of the other soldier modernization programs (Joint, International) to leverage technology opportunities and ensure coalition interoperability.
44
MERS FY17 Goals
and Objectives
• Establish and fund Partnership Intermediary Agreement
(PIA) in order to support Commander’s Intent for
Innovation focused primarily on the Infantry community.
• Mobility assessments utilizing Marine Corps Load Effects
Assessment Program (MC-LEAP) in Okinawa and
CONUS.
• Execute integration projects and tasks as required in
order to support requirements and programs. Identify
priority projects through the CD&I Infantry Working
Group.
• Provide and improve Gruntworks as a capability for the
Command and the Marine Corps.
• Provide Human Systems Integration and Human
Research Protection Program expertise to the
Command.
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MERS FY17 Tasks
and Actions
• Conduct mobility metric assessments of equipment and equipment
configurations and develop designs that improve mobility.
• Conduct integration of infantry squad and days of supply into mobility
platforms to include seating and seat restraint systems. Conduct Design
Tight initiative and support vehicle loadout trials.
• Develop a USMC Anthropometry database, use Anthropometry to support
vehicle platforms, and identify MOS discriminators. Develop strength
database relative to gender and anthropometry. Smart Adaptations.
• Determine successful candidate technologies for usability assessments
from Infantry Equipping Challenge and evaluate.
• Human Systems Integration reviews with programs and collaborate on
solution optimization.
• Validate new instrumentation received into the trial processes and develop
trial plans. Jungle thermal strain study.
• CD&I Infantry Working Group Charter influence on PIA initiatives.
• Collaborate with internal and external organizations on innovation efforts.
• Work with and leverage similar organizations- SOFWERX, Diggerworks,
WinSite, and other similar establishments.
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• Establish a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) for the Command in order to provide a mechanism to rapidly engage industry and academia to include the ability to rapidly acquire COTS items in small quantities for evaluation and integration.
• Diversify the capabilities within the Gruntworks Squad Integration Facility by using a PIA as a technology scouting and market research mechanism. Utilize Gruntworks as the core location for engaging industry and leveraging the PIA as the mechanism for rapid response. The Command’s own PIA will allow us to place Collaborative Project Orders and will reduce the cycle time and improve responsiveness.
• Authority to execute PIAs is in SecNavInst 5700.17 and the responsibility for Science and Technology development and readiness is in SecNavInst 5400.15C (see page 6 para C). PIAs are established under 15 USC 3715.
Innovation and
Technology
77
• Third Battalion Fifth Marines has been designated as the experimentation unit in order to determine the optimal size rifle squad with technology insertions that have been provided to the Battalion. – The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab is leading the
experimentation and analysis process.
– Each of the three Rifle Companies have a unique squad size and a variety of technologies to utilize during pre-deployment training and during deployment.
– 10 Marine squad, 12 Marine squad and 14 Marine squad sizes are in the experiment. The current rifle squad size is 13 Marines
– Currently, the battalion’s initial recommendation is for a 15 man squad. This is based upon the insertion of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS), ground robotics, small unit command and control systems, information technologies, and a variety of other technologies. Rationale is manpower is required to effectively operate and exploit the technologies while maintaining effective combat power and preventing cognitive burden on small unit leaders.
– Assistant Squad Leader or Assistant to the Squad Leader?
Experimentation
88
• Third Battalion Fifth Marines will deploy as the Ground Combat Element of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). – This provides an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of
the rifle squad in a Naval expeditionary environment
– Major exercises provide the environment to assess the advantages and disadvantages that new technologies bring to the rifle squad. It allows the Marines the opportunity to improvise how they can utilize the technology for a tactical advantage.
– Data collection and assessments will provide the information required for analysis and recommendations
– In 2017 it is anticipated that a final decision will be made on the size and composition of the Marine Rifle Squad.
– Integration of new technologies to the Marines will be a critical step in order to achieve success. Ergonomics, load carriage, accessibility, usability, training, and human performance will all be critical factors for material solutions.
– This is actually the beginning as the Marine Operating Concept is injected into the Marine Rifle Squad.
Experimentation
99
Marine Operating
Concept
5 Critical Task
and Issue Areas
1. Integrate the Naval
force to fight at and
from the sea.
2. Evolve the
MAGTF.
3. Operate with
resilience in a
contested network
environment.
4. Enhance our ability
to maneuver.
5. Exploit the
competency of the
individual Marine.
All five areas apply to
the Marine Rifle Squad!
1010
Marine Operating
Concept
Exploit the Competence of the
Individual MarineThe Marine Corps is a personnel-centric military
organization. As such, we must ensure our
ability to exploit our asymmetric advantage: the
U.S. Marine. We must modernize our personnel
policies in order to seek high-quality human
capital and better train and educate Marines
for the integrated naval force. Training and
education must be focused on developing
Marines for complexity and developing
leaders at every echelon. We must continue
our efforts towards cultural learning and
emphasize quality in leadership positions.
This also means managing talent to improve
the return on this training and education
investment in terms of managing individual
talent across the Total Force regardless of MOS
and improving retention. Even as we pursue
greater networking of the force, we must resist
the temptation to use the connectivity to
centralize decision-making, and in so doing
undercut our ability to take full advantage of the
qualified, trained, experienced, and capable
Marine.
1111
Marine Operating
Concept
Key Drivers of ChangeComplex Terrain- Physical, informational,
and human aspects of conflict are adding
significant complexity and compression to
the “three-block war”.
Technology Proliferation- Proliferation
across information, S&T, cyber, EW,
automation, and Anti Access/Area Denial
(A2AD) at a pace far faster than our military
acquisition.
Information as a Weapon- We must vie for
the sentiment of the society local to the
conflict and simultaneously the opinion of the
world at large.
Battle of Signatures- Being detected is to
be targeted….we must raise and detect
enemy signatures, assign meaning, and take
action first.
Contested Maritime Domain- Previously
unmatched sea control ….now air, surface,
and subsurface U.S. naval capabilities are
being contested.
The Problem: The Marine Corps is not
organized, trained and equipped to meet the
demands of a future operating environment.
1212
Marine Operating
Concept
The 21st century MAGTF conducts maneuver warfare in the physical and
cognitive dimensions of conflict to generate and exploit psychological,
technological, temporal, and spatial advantages over the adversary. The 21st
century MAGTF executes maneuver warfare through a combined arms
approach that embraces information warfare as indispensable for achieving
complementary effects across five domains – air, land, sea, space, and
cyberspace. The 21st century MAGTF avoids linear, sequential, and phased
approaches to operations and blends maneuver warfare and combined arms
to generate the combat power needed for simultaneity of action in its full range
of missions. The 21st century MAGTF operates and fights at sea, from the
sea, and ashore as an integrated part of the Naval force and the larger
Combined/Joint force.
1313
• Facilitating the Marine Operating Concept into the Marine Rifle Squad will require novel methods for integration and assessments at the Gruntworks Squad Integration Facility. It requires a coordinated effort reliant on the Infantry Advocate, Requirements, Acquisition, and other stakeholders.– Policies supporting integration in the Requirements Generation
Phase of new initiatives.
– Instrumentation investments and innovative methodologies to support Acquisition decision making.
– Evaluations utilizing the right user populations
– Training burden assessments for new technologies
– Resourcing and prioritizing solutions
– Reduce the cycle time from concept to fielding by providing solid information for better informed requirements attributes and providing disciplined systems engineering and human systems integration in the acquisition process.
Marine Expeditionary
Rifle Squad
1414
• The Infantry Working Group– Provide a forum to share lessons learned, after action reports, intelligence reports,
injury data, research and development findings, materiel developments, technologies, and test methodologies among all key organizations involved in infantry capabilities development.
– Develop sound, achievable requirements defined in terms of operational capabilities and gaps, and link these requirements to the Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad Initial Capabilities Document (ICD) dated 13 August 2015.
– Leverage the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity to reassess current and future threats.
– Review the status of materiel and non-materiel solutions currently planned and/or underway to fulfill approved capability gaps. Identify the status of technology initiatives in all stages of development as potential fulfillment of approved capability gaps.
– Develop a Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad roadmap that captures the non-materiel and materiel efforts focused on the squad and individual infantry military occupational specialties (MOS) across DOTmLPF-P through the Future Years Defense Program.
– Establish priorities and forward capability gaps for inclusion in the Marine Corps Gap List beginning with Program Objective Memorandum - 19 (POM-19).
– Advise Commandant of the Marine Corps, Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration, and other Marine Corps senior leaders on infantry modernization initiatives that can be implemented immediately to improve current warfighting capabilities and over the longer term to support Marine Corps Force 2025 goals and the Marine Corps Operating Concept.
Infantry Working Group
1515
• Core Members– Fires and Maneuver Integration Division (FMID), Capabilities Development
Directorate (CDD), Combat Development and Integration, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps
– Ground Combat Element (POG)-30, Plans, Policies, and Operations (PP&O), Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps
– Program Manager, Infantry Weapon Systems (IWS), Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC)
– Director, Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad (MERS), MCSC
– Training and Education Command (TECOM), CD&I
– Marine Corps Operational Test and Evaluation Activity (MCOTEA)
• Other Members– Program Managers (PM), Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) / Installations
and Logistics (I&L) / Marine Corps Forces Command (MARFORCOM) / Marine Corps Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) / Marine Corps Logistics Command (MARCORLOGCOM) / Integration Divisions (ID), CDD, CD&I / Operations Analysis Division (OAD), CD&I / Futures, CD&I (MCWL) / Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA) / Expeditionary Energy Office (E2O), Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps / Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) / Code 30, Office of Naval Research (ONR) / Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) / Marine Corps Forces Reserve (MARFORRES) / Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE), U.S. Army / Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier, U.S. Army / Defense Logistics Agency, (Troop Support and Marine Team) / Prepositioning Programs Section (POE-40), Expeditionary Policies Branch (POE), PP&O, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps / G-8, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC)
Infantry Working Group
1616
• 2. Background. Reference (a) “The MERS ICD”,
paragraph 7.3(1) requires the establishment of a mobility
metric. Mobility, as it pertains to requirements for the
individual Marine with a standard combat load, is defined
as the relative ability to move efficiently and to effectively
accomplish combat related tasks while wearing and
carrying assigned weapons and mission essential
equipment. Reference (a), paragraph 7.3(1) also
identifies an integration requirement for all systems
fielded to the infantry to reduce the weight, bulk, and
stiffness of issued weapons and equipment, thus
improving individual Marine mobility. Reference (a),
paragraph 7.3(3) requires the development of thermal
strain performance parameters to also be considered
when developing items to be worn next to the body.
Marine Mobility Policy
1717
• 7.3. (U) Materiel Recommendations
• Required System Integration to Close Material Gaps. Inherent to all materiel
development solutions for the Rifle Squad is a materiel solutions integration
requirement for existing systems at the squad level. To this end, the Infantry CIO
and Marine Corps System Command must:
• (1) Establish a mobility metric for equipment/weapons development worn/carried by
dismounted forces through integration testing with the MERS program;
• (2) Conduct integration testing on all fielded equipment/weapons worn/carried by
dismounted forces and forecasted to remain in the inventory for the foreseeable
future to investigate potential equipment modifications to improve overall mobility in
accordance with the established mobility metrics;
• (3) Develop thermal strain performance parameters to be considered during
development or modification of all future equipment worn next to the body;
• (4) Develop energy consumption / harvesting / distribution performance parameters
for use in future powered equipment / weapon development to ensure that
appropriate trade-offs are made when powered systems are worn / carried and
subsequently affect dismounted mobility;
• (5) Conduct integration testing with all mobility platforms employed by infantry
forces to ensure mobility platforms design personnel carriage systems facilitate
timely debarkation/embarkation and account for combat equipment space
constraints.
Marine Mobility Policy
1818
• 3. Action. Effective immediately, all new Capability Development
Documents (CDDs), Capability Production Documents (CPDs),
Capability Requirement Change (CRC) and updates to existing
CDDs and CPDs for weapons and combat equipment that is to be
worn or carried by the individual Marine shall include a mobility
attribute. The mobility attribute may be designated a Key
Performance Parameter (KPP) / Key System Attribute (KSA), or
Additional Performance Attribute (for a CRC), as appropriate for
the system. There is no requirement to update previous
documents unless they are undergoing changes or updates. The
Marine Corps Load Effects Assessment Program (MC-LEAP) will
be used to evaluate the mobility attribute, per enclosure (1). The
results of the MC-LEAP evaluation characterizing the equipment’s
impact on mobility will be forwarded to Director, CDD for
consideration.
Marine Mobility Policy
1919
• The Marine Rifle Squad is evolving quickly. Much more going on than a 30 minute presentation allows.
• Gruntworks, the Partnership Intermediary Agreement, and Infantry Working Group will be key elements as the Squad modernizes with the Marine Operating Concept.
• The modernization of our requirements, policies, processes, instrumentation, and capabilities have created a solid foundation for modernizing the rifle squad
• We are enhancing our ability to engage industry and academia by this summer. Contact and engage us.
• We are open to continuing collaboration with our international partners.
• If there are questions since I am not there in person, please send an email to [email protected] and I will try to answer it.
• Enjoy the conference!
Summary
2020
MC-LEAP -
Questions?