for deployment of any new capability will be presented to the Under Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff before deployment. Another of my responsibilities is the management of the advanced concept technology demonstration [ACTD] programs. This is an effort that has been established to provide a means of rapidly transitioning promising technologies from the developers to the operational users.

Again, in response to Mr. Hunter and Mr. Kennedy, to your questions, we have, in fact, been able to move technology from the laboratory to operational use in a matter of months. The one example that I think you may be familiar with, is the Predator system. The Predator system was conceived in late 1994. The request for proposal [RFP] went out on the street in March 1994. We had the first system flying in June and July 1994 and, frankly, we deployed that system to Bosnia a year later and it has performed exceptionally well in Bosnia. We are about to redeploy in March of this year. So we can do that. In fact, the ACTD concept has been set up specifically to address the kind of issue you are alluding to. So that we don't take years but rather we take months or possibly days. And we think we have been successful in doing that.

One of the things we are looking at in this context is some of the efforts we have going on in technology now to address the countermine problem. The ACTD's allow the war fighter and the user to evaluate military technology, the military utility of the technology that is emerging from our scientific programs. It also permits them to develop concepts of operation for employment of that new technology in a theater of war.

Key among the ACTD's that my office now has under way is a joint countermine ACTD which was initiated in fiscal 1995. This ACTD is a coordinated effort between the Army, Navy, and the Marine Corps. It is focused on conducting seamless mine countermeasure operations from the sea, through the surf zone, and on land. This will be accomplished by integrating Army, Navy, and Marine Corps mine-detection technology along with currently fielded military equipment.

The ACTD leverages these technologies to both detect and neutralize mines that may be found, and those programs that are being conducted within the individual services. Key mission areas are mine surveillance, reconnaissance, detection, and neutralization. The current plan is to conduct a countermine ACTD demonstration in fiscal year 1997 and another that is more focused on ocean and surf zone in fiscal 1998. We have looked at this. It does not appear possible or practical to accelerate the ACTD in support of Bosnia.

Even though I make that statement as far as it relates to the joint countermine ACTD, there are individual technologies that may, in fact, be candidates for Bosnian support. The Army under Brigadier General Beauchamp, whom you will hear from shortly, has been conducting an investigation to determine if any of the novel technologies in the ACTD, or elsewhere, might be deployed in support of Operation Joint Endeavor. This effort is concentrated on the needs of the Army forces which will be operating in Bosnia. Similarly, I have had ARPA conduct an assessment of those technologies that are being pursued in Office of the Secretary of De

fense [OSD] agencies, the national laboratories, Federal funded research and development centers [FFRDC's] and industry that may also have countermine application. Both of these studies have been conducted in consideration of the threat, the mission in Bosnia, the maturity of the technology that is being looked at, the training and supportability requirement that may be necessary in order to employ that technology in theater. We will be reviewing the outcome of both of these efforts within the next 7 to 10 days and making appropriate recommendations to Dr. Kaminsky and the Joint Staff. In order to provide you with an understanding of how the DOD science and technology activities address and may apply to the countermine needs, I will be followed by Mr. George Singley, Deputy Director of Research and Engineering, who will discuss the Department's plans for future countermine technologies.

He will be followed by Dr. Fenner Milton from the Office of the Secretary of the Army, who will address the Army efforts to respond the technological challenge of mine countermeasure operations.

General Beauchamp from the Army Materiel Command will provide an overview of their activities in the fielding of support ability of Army countermine systems.

Mr. Reingruber, of the Office of Low Intensity Conflict, will address the Department's demining capabilities.

Our last witness, who is not from the Department of Defense but from the National Research Council, is Dr. Mike Dow.

Once again, I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I hope the information we provide will lead you to conclude we are doing everything possible to provide our forces with the most effective countermine technology and systems available; that our activities are closely coordinated across the Department of Defense, from research through acquisition; and that we have established a procedure that will permit us to respond to critical needs and take advantage of technical breakthroughs. With your continued interest and support, we can ensure our forces are equipped with the most advanced and relevant technologies and are properly trained to maximize their potential.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bachkosky follows:]

25-974 96-3

Mister Chairman, Members of the Subcommittees, and Staff, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I want to discuss our technology efforts in response to the landmine threat in Bosnia. It gives me particular pleasure to appear together with my associates, each of whom are key individuals in our coordinated effort to identify new technologies which could be developed and potentially procured in order to improve countermine capabilities of both U.S. Forces participating in Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia and, additionally, might support future Bosnia-like operations. It is clear to all of us that the mine threat in Bosnia represents a significant operational and technical challenge.

As the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Advanced Technology I am specifically charged with assuming responsibility for oversight of Advanced Technology Development Programs designated for exceptional management attention because they represent technologies which might be of significant value in addressing needs. In accomplishing this task I coordinate and work closely with the Joint Staff, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), the Unified Military Commanders, individual Military Service operational and science and technology leaders and the key Department of Defense research and technology agencies such as the Advanced Research Projects Agency.

I employ the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) process to accomplish my responsibilities. Established in 1994, the ACTD process is

playing a significant role in revolutionizing the DoD technology transition process and in ensuring the Department can respond quickly and effectively to today's dynamic military needs. ACTDs are designed to rapidly transition promising mature technology from developers to operational users. Each ACTD represents a close teaming between both the technological and operational communities of the Department of Defense. They are clearly user oriented and I take particular efforts to ensure they are user driven. In each ACTD, the operational military user is the key individual charged with ensuring that the technology under evaluation is relevant to the mission or task at hand and that it in fact can be operated and supported under field operating conditions. Each ACTD is an integrated effort to assemble and demonstrate a significant, new and improved military capability based upon mature advanced technologies. Typically we will conduct a series of exercises or operations at a scale size adequate to establish both the operational utility and system integrity of the technologies under evaluation. ACTDs allow the warfighting user to:

- Evaluate a technology's military utility before a commitment is made to acquisition.

- Develop concepts of operation for employment of the new technology. - If the technologies under evaluation represents a “value added” to the warfighter the ACTD will allow retention of a low cost residual capability available for future military operations.

It is important to note that ACTDs are not a replacement for our formal

acquisition process. Rather, they are a means to permit the military user to

evaluate new technologies, assess their operational impact and enable our military forces to make more informed acquisition decisions.

To date the Department has initiated twenty ACTDs. Ten were begun in Fiscal

Year 1995 and an additional ten commenced in Fiscal Year 1996. Perhaps the most visible ACTD has been the Predator Medium Altitude Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which began in Fiscal Year 1995.

Another key ACTD is the Joint Countermine ACTD. Initiated in Fiscal Year 1995 this ACTD is a teaming between the operational and science and technology communities of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. The objective of the Joint Countermine ACTD is to demonstrate the capability to conduct seamless land and amphibious mine countermeasure operations from sea to land. The demonstration will be accomplished by integrating on-going Army, Navy and Marine Corps technology developments along with fielded military equipment. As such this ACTD leverages mine countermeasure and neutralization technology investments of the individual military services and laboratories and will

demonstrate an integrated, seamless capability. This ACTD will demonstrate coupling of selected current countermine capabilities with developing