{"id":7598,"date":"2018-03-26T17:59:26","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T21:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/crowdsourcing-the-u-s-militarys-next-combat-vehicle\/"},"modified":"2018-03-26T17:59:26","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T21:59:26","slug":"crowdsourcing-the-u-s-militarys-next-combat-vehicle","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/crowdsourcing-the-u-s-militarys-next-combat-vehicle\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowdsourcing the U.S. Military\u2019s Next Combat Vehicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have time, watch this short video first: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aXQ2lO3ieBA<\/a> (10 minutes<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the 1950\u2019s to the 1970\u2019s, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) research and development represented the majority of innovation investment, eventually leading to technologies such as the internet, GPS, and early artificial intelligence. [1]<\/a>\u00a0 Today, the DoD, with its bureaucratic acquisitions system, finds itself unable to keep pace with commercial innovation, consistently delivering programs that are late, over budget, and often obsolete.[2]<\/a> (See Figure A)\u00a0 In 2010, while seeking to overcome these challenges and reduce development time by a factor of 5, the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), created a crowdsourcing platform to design the next generation combat vehicle.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure A. Integrated Defense Technology Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics Lifecycle Management Framework[4]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Background\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

When designing new weapons systems and vehicles, the DoD often breaks subsystems in which separate teams optimize their component.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 After achieving a certain level of development, issues arise when the DoD then tries to integrate these subsystems, resulting in costly and time consuming iterative designs.[6]<\/a>\u00a0 In other words, imagine if you had to design a brand new passenger airplane for Boeing or a new model of luxury sedan for Mercedes in isolated subsystem design teams without a master design plan, universal design language, or component interface standard.\u00a0 Sounds easy, right?<\/p>\n

Crowdsourcing the Next Infantry Fighting Vehicle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Given the shortcomings of current models and emerging international threats, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps are in need of a new Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV).\u00a0 The current vehicles in service were the result of lengthy and costly design processes \u2013 the current IFV began development in 1963 and was not completed until the 1980\u2019s.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 (See Figure B and Figure C)<\/p>\n

Figure B. Bradley Fighting Vehicle (U.S. Army)<\/strong> [8]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Figure C. Amphibious Combat Vehicle (U.S. Marine Corps)<\/strong> [9]<\/a><\/p>\n

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In an effort to accelerate development and access talent beyond the traditional defense industry, DARPA launched a crowdsourcing competition with staged, prize-based challenges to progressively design vehicle subsystems and eventually a full IFV.[10]<\/a>\u00a0 (See Figure D)\u00a0 Named as the Fast Adaptable Next-Generation Ground Vehicle (FANG) Challenge, this competition also allowed DARPA to test its collaborative design platform (VehicleFORGE) and software design and testing tool (META), which it hoped to employ across the industry.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure D.\u00a0 How the FANG Challenge Works[12]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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