How Future Combat Systems (FCS) will work

HowStuffWorks provides an informative view of the armed forces' Future Combat Systems (FCS) programs. FCS is a combined forces platform -- linking air, land, and sea warfare -- and emphasizes speed and lethality over heft and mass.

Just as the Internet is a "network of networks", FCS is a "system of systems." Eighteen systems make up FCS and each represents a type of combat or support platform (e.g., a manned tank or an unmanned aerial vehicle).

The four principles of FCS are good lessons for software designers everywhere. Modularity, efficiency, and agility appear to be the key tenets:

- Improve strategic agility - An Army with large, inflexible units that take months to deploy can't react quickly enough or deal with all of the problems at hand. Some military analysts refer to this as "having a pocket full of $20 bills and a lot of $5 problems..." - Decrease the logistics footprint - The logistics footprint represents the support crews, fuel, parts and ammunition needed to keep a unit operational. Long supply chains, large refueling vehicles and the need to set up large maintenance depots work against agility and makes the forces that they're attached to more vulnerable. - Reduce operating and maintenance costs - Creating multiple units based on the same basic structures allows for exchangeable parts and gives maintenance personnel the ability to repair a wider range of units with the same amount of training. This also contributes to a smaller logistics footprint and greater agility... The Army is focusing on smaller, lighter vehicles that are faster and more maneuverable. Instead of heavy armor, units will use stealth strategies and smaller profiles to reduce casualties. Lighter vehicles are also easier to transport and use less fuel. The Army will combine its efforts with other military branches and other nations. This makes the ability to communicate with coalition forces a vital facet of future warfare. - Increase battlefield lethality and survivability - Tomorrow's soldiers need to destroy their targets and survive attacks a greater percentage of the time. This reduces the number of units needed in any particular engagement, reduces the need for extensive reinforcements and eases the burden on medical and repair units.

HowStuffWorks: How Future Combat Systems (FCS) will work