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Boeing project takes aim at wars of the future

Jul-12-2005 » Filed Under: Stryker Vehicle

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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune

What the Army calls its biggest, most complicated acquisition project ever employs more than 600 workers at Boeing facilities in Kent, with another 100 jobs due by the end of next year.

And that’s just a tenth of the total number of engineers, software developers and others across the country who are working on the Army’s Future Combat System, project officials said in a media briefing Monday.

The local jobs could grow if the Army designates Fort Lewis as home for an experimental combat brigade. Beginning in 2008, the unit would be the first to try out the array of unmanned and manned ground and aerial vehicles, computer networks and other equipment.[...]

The Army has declined to comment on the prospective location of the experimental brigade. Industry, military and congressional officials have speculated that the local post would make sense.

Fort Lewis in 1999 was designated as the cradle of the Army’s Stryker program, the effort to create a medium-weight alternative to the service’s heavy armor and light infantry formations. Fort Lewis boasts a civilian and uniformed workforce well versed in the Army’s transformation efforts.

Boeing officials said they already are tapping Fort Lewis’ Stryker know-how for advice in developing the Future Combat System.

Stryker soldiers have met with Boeing engineers to talk about how what they’ve learned in Iraq could be applied to the FCS. Lt. Col. William “Buck” James commanded a Fort Lewis infantry battalion in Mosul last year.

“If anything, I tailored the brief to provide some perspective on how Strykers were employed in combat, but far more on the human dimension of close combat,” James said. “I believe some of the lessons we learned might be beneficial as they continue forward with the FCS project.”[...]


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