Call for Papers: Defense Budget Cuts Require Innovative Management of Aging Electronic Warfare Systems

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association of Old Crows (AOC) will host the EMS Lifecycle Management conference in Dahlgren, Virginia, July 17-19, 2012.  In the wake of constrained Department of Defense (DoD) budgets, Electronic Warfare (EW) combat systems must develop strategies of integration and cost-effective methods for sustainment to remain in operational use by the warfighter.  For systems lifecycle management to be most efficient, it is vital for the armed forces to collaborate to meet the new fiscal restraints by producing more commonality in EW combat systems.  The viewpoints presented at this conference are essential for excelling in a challenging fiscal environment, and helping EW missions contribute effectively to our critical national defense mission.

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The AOC cordially invites you to submit a paper(s) to the EMS Lifecycle Management conference in Dahlgren, VA.  Selected speakers will present their expert solutions in front of representatives from government, military, industry, and academia - addressing these issues:

1. Combat Systems Integration and Life Cycle Cost and Performance Improvements

• How do the different services conduct EW sustainment and what processes and capabilities would they like to offer for Service-wide consideration?
• What can new programs do better to design-in reduced sustainment costs and therefore reduce the life cycle expense of military systems?
• What does Defense Acquisition University (DAU) train and offer as solutions to reduce life cycle cost of military systems? What training initiatives are supported by DAU to improve tech insertion and cost reduction into legacy systems? What DAU insights could support the unique aspects of EW legacy systems which must be not only sustained but constantly improved to counter new threats regardless of their age?
• What are the three or four main things the DoD and industry can do to reduce EW system sustainment?
• Are there DoD fiscal policies, sustainment policies, or other policies that should be created, modified, or deleted to permit faster legacy system performance enhancement or reduced sustainment costs?

2. Combat System Component Integration

• How can EW systems be developed to make our Naval Combat systems more affordable and make it easier to vertically integrate new capabilities?
• How can the Navy further decouple combat system development from platform development while continuing to recognize the need for platform specific requirements?
• How can open architecture assist in the affordable integration of counter-strike elements across the ship and the battle group?
• How can the Navy most effectively perform testing and evolution on future integrated battleforce requirements such as Advanced Offboard EW and EW Battle Management?

Abstracts should be limited to one page of unclassified text.  Presentations will be required in Microsoft PowerPoint.  Deadline for abstracts is June 4, 2012.

AOC is a non-profit international Electronic Warfare/Information Operations (EW/IO) association which promotes electromagnetic spectrum operations and related activities across military, civilian and commercial applications.

SOURCE Association of Old Crows