U.S. ARMY EXPEDITED MODERNIZATION INITIATIVE PROCEDURE
By Scott R. Gourley
“A Ro[deo] by any other name would drive as sweet”
It began as a straightforward, albeit long-winded and tongue-twisting concept. In early July 2004 the US Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) announced its desire to conduct “market research for the Expedited Modernization Initiative Procedure (EMIP) Process, explaining, “The Project Manager Tactical Vehicles (PM-TV), in conjunction with the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Systems Manager for Tactical Wheeled Vehicle (TWV) Modernization and the Directorate of Combat Development for Transportation (DCD-TC), is committed to the goals and performance of a Joint Expeditionary Force, focusing on increasing the relevance and readiness of our TWV fleet, and ensuring that the best possible product is available to support the current force and beyond.”
As a reflection of that service commitment to its TWV fleet, EMIP was unveiled as “a multi-phas ed, continuous process designed to improve the current and future TWV fleet by identifying and leveraging industry’s investments in advanced technologies, and to allow for insertion of these technologies as quickly as possible. The EMIP process offers to the Government and the contractor: A single point of contact with coordinated reviews; The capabilities to more rapidly take advantage of innovations in technology; [and] The flexibility and agility to both take advantage of capabilities offered by rapidly changing technologies as well as to meet the challenges imposed by GWOT [Global War on Terrorism] and the requirement to transform to a modular, expeditionary Army.”
With its emphasis on the near-term insertion of available technologies, EMIP targeted the Army’s current TWV fleet, composed of the M915 Series of Trucks, Palletized Load System (PLS), Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET), Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV), and High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) families of vehicles, as well as all associated trailers.
Industry was invited to identify technologies that would improve the capabilities of that TWV fleet in the areas of agility / versatility, deployability, responsiveness, sustainability, and survivability to support continuous future force operations. An added theme that was woven throughout the early announcements specified “the right products at right time for the right price.“ Although all industry submitted ideas and concepts to improve the TWV fleet were considered, Army planners made it clear that their selection processes focused on “those technologies that can be available for production within six months of completion of verification testing and address concepts that are at a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 8 or better. This is defined as an actual system completed and qualified through test and demonstration.”
Technology candidates were to be submitted as White Paper concepts, which would be reviewed and down-selected for actual demonstration in early 2005. Although the original cut-off date for submitting the White Paper concepts was given as 1 September 2004, this deadline was subsequently slipped to 1 November 2004.
Although the original announcement stated that the first “Annual Technology Rodeo” would be held at the Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC) in February 2005, it actually took place at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, in late January [see “Ride ‘Em’ – Rodeo Revolutionizes U.S. Army Wheeled Vehicle Plans,” BATTLESPACE C4ISTAR Technologies, June / July 2005].
In an effort to eliminate some of the industry confusion surrounding the initial “rodeo” event, TACOM planners convened an “EMIP Industry Day” in May 2005, with the goal “to educate industry concerning the EMIP process.”
That Industry Day gathering was followed by the mid-August 2005 announcement of the second annual EMIP event. Specific areas of interest for