ADELPHI, Md. (Nov. 6, 2014) – The U.S. Army Research Laboratory released its Science and Technology Campaign Plans for 2015 – 2035 today to support strategic land power dominance for the Army of 2030 and beyond.
The campaign plans support the laboratory’s technical strategy that was published in April.
“The laboratory’s leadership has laid out the technical areas ARL (the Army Research Laboratory) believes are critical to the Army’s long-term future,” said Dr. Troy Alexander, ARL’s associate for strategic planning. “The detail in the campaign adds greater clarity to the existing research approach.”
The purpose of the campaign plans, and the organizational strategy overall is to provide the vision, key technical focus areas and principal transition pathways that guide our work, Alexander said.
ARL’s vision is linked with the Army Operating Concept published this year, a blueprint for the way land forces approach future conflicts. It provides an “intellectual framework” for fundamental science and technology.
There are eight major campaigns that are a part of ARL’s research portfolio — extramural basic research, computational sciences, materials research, sciences-for-maneuver, information sciences, sciences-for-lethality and protection, human sciences and assessment and analysis.
The next step is to identify 20 to 30 major focus areas that define where the laboratory will maintain considerable in-house expertise, substantive infrastructure and devote significant investment. This step will also identify where the laboratory will collaborate with partners and areas where ARL’s posture is less active.
ARL is part of the network of professionals who guide the future of the nation, as such, the laboratory is moving toward a culture where “the employees who are most directly involved with the problems are more empowered to solve it. Having a public document is a logical step in that direction,” Alexander said.
ARL’s primary focus is not today’s fighting forces. The role is to be prepared for the future Army — a force that will be globally responsive, regionally engaged and more expeditionary.
The S&T Campaigns outlines how ARL executes its mission to support the operational Army of 2030 and beyond. The more the workforce, partners and future collaborators understands about ARL’s strategic vision, the better positioned they are to be a part of the Army’s solutions, he said.
As an element of the Army Materiel Command and RDECOM, ARL is the nation’s premier laboratory for land forces with a mission to discover, innovate and transition science and technology to ensure dominate strategic land power.