The Friendly “Ghost” of the Cancelled Future Combat Systems Effort Shapes Future War

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

It was more than 15-years ago when the Army embarked upon a paradigm-shifting modernization effort then referred to as Future Combat System, an elaborate series of weapons, armored vehicles, next-generation sensors, technologies and a “system-of-systems” network approach intended to transmit critical real-time data across the force.

Future Combat Systems

The concept of FCS, brought to life through demonstration and experiments for many years, was to enable a future force to meet and destroy fast-developing high-tech threats. The program evolved considerably over the course of many years, resulting in the construction of a new fleet of 27-ton Manned Ground Vehicles for armored warfare equipped with a “survivability onion” of layered sensors to track and intercept approaching enemy fire. This effort, which included an entire series of eight vehicles to include a Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon, Mounted Combat System and medical and reconnaissance variants. 

The vehicles were by design engineered to be lighter weight, faster, propelled by a hybrid electric drive and operate with a 360-degree sensor purview among other things. The development of the MGVs was based upon this “survivability onion” concept, meaning breakthrough command and control technology was designed to enable a series of integrated sensors and active protection systems capable of detecting and destroying threats before having to take a hit from enemy fire.

Much work was done, on the NLOS-C and MCS in particular, to enable a paradigm-changing measure of heavy firepower on a much smaller, 27-ton chassis. The NLOS-C was built for a high-rate of 155m artillery fire, and the MCS was built and test fired with a 120mm cannon to fire tank rounds. These platforms, as well as the concept of FCS, generated much success and optimism for future combat capability, however the program was canceled in 2009 by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. 

In the years following this cancellation, many have come to the view that the FCS program, while brilliant and successful in many ways, was perhaps overly ambitious in its scope and not yet mature enough to continue. Gates raised concern about the survivability of the smaller 27-ton armored vehicles, as it was during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars which included massive IED and underbelly vehicle attacks. Also, some expressed concern that vehicles at that lighter weight, even if fortified by composite materials, might simply prove too vulnerable in the event that they had to take a hit. What if, for instance, the network malfunctioned or was successfully hacked? The vehicles might become more vulnerable than hoped for, as the thinking went.

Project Convergence

However, one of the great ironies of the FCS program is that, despite its cancellation, it pioneered the conceptual framework and technological focus of what could now be described as major Army successes in the realm of breakthrough networking and sensor-to-shooter timeline improvement through experiments such as Project Convergence.