21 Nov 03. The U.S. Air Force and Navy service acquisition xecutives (SAEs)have jointly decided to merge their respective Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS Cluster 3 and Cluster 4) acquisition programs. Both Department of the AirForce and Department of Navy anticipate this merged acquisition will yield development and production efficiencies as well as interoperability advantages for the Department of Defense.

“The merger of the JTRS Cluster 3 and Cluster 4 programs will yield large dividends for the Navy, the Air Force and DoD in general. Joint interoperability is a cornerstone to the way we fight now and in the future. Combining our program efforts will ensure that a truly joint radio system is efficiently developed for our aerospace and maritime forces,” said Marvin Sambur, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition.

The Air Force and Navy SAEs have established a joint management and oversight structure between the two services for the combined program, similar to other joint acquisition efforts.

“The Air Force and the Navy are taking a major step towards
the goals of the JTRS program by merging Clusters 3 and 4. We can assure interoperability, reduce development costs and lower acquisition costs by joining our efforts. More importantly, we can be certain that our warfighters will be able to easily communicate in the joint warfigting environment that Secretary Rumsfeld is creating,” said John J. Young Jr., assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.

Program leadership will rotate between Air Force and Navy at
Appropriate times during the acquisition cycle, with the Air Force initially taking the lead for the combined program. This balanced management approach has been structured to ensure a truly joint management team and resulting product. A combined request for proposal for the pre-system development and demonstration phase is being developed.