Vice Chief: FCS Vehicles Will Transform Warfighting

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 8, 2008) -- New Army fighting vehicles promise to transform the nature of war as dramatically as the tank did in the 20th Century, said Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli in remarks delivered Monday at an annual breakfast meeting of the Association of the United States Army.>> The Army, however, needs to better explain the revolutionary potential of these vehicles, Chiarelli said, while acting to hasten their delivery and fielding.>> The FCS Manned Ground Vehicle "is a platform designed for the full-spectrum fight," Chiarelli said. "The self-sufficient nature of the system has a vast array of networked capabilities that will literally change the game in favor of the Soldier.">> The Army, though, has had great difficulty explaining this revolutionary potential to policymakers and the public. "We can all intuitively see the benefits of rolling this technology into the force," Chiarelli said. Yet there are phenomenal misperceptions about the program.">> One misperception, according to the general, is that the FCS vehicles are simply new tanks. But since the Army already has the most powerful and effective tanks in the world, people are skeptical that the Army requires new FCS vehicles.>> Chiarelli harkened back to history to explain that not all tanks are equal; and he looked to the future to explain that something more than tanks are required if U.S. Soldiers are to "dominate, not survive, in a full-spectrum operating environment.">> Full-Spectrum Operations>> Emerging global trends --including rapid population growth, the rise of extremism, and advances in information technologies -- are all conspiring, Chiarelli said, to create an era of persistent conflict. This era of persistent conflict will require that soldiers engage in "full-spectrum operations.