MSSPIX 22

The Maneuver Support Battle Laboratory, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and the Sustainment Battle Laboratory, Fort Lee, Virginia, annually execute the Maneuver Support Sustainment and Protection Integration Experiment (MSSPIX) under the oversight of the U.S. Army Joint Modernization Command, Fort Bliss, Texas. MSSPIX is one of four Army focused warfighter experiments funded by the Futures and Concepts Center, U.S. Army Futures Command, Fort Eustis, Virginia; it focuses on sustainment- and protection-based capability gaps, using emerging prototype technologies and capabilities developed by government laboratories and private industry.

During the annual experiments, Soldiers have the opportunity to use prototype systems in an operationally relevant environment. In return, technology developers receive Soldier feedback and some insight into Army priorities. This year, MSSPIX 22 was executed at Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Lee from 2 to 17 May 2022. With the help of 27 Soldiers tasked from four U.S. Army Forces Command installations, the Maneuver Support Battle Laboratory assessed the potential for using emerging technologies to address existing capability gaps and to provide input for capability development documents. This article highlights some of the technologies that were assessed during MSSPIX 22 and describes the focus of each of those assessments.

A Soldier receives instruction on the Mobile-Acquisition Cue and Effector System.

The Mobile-Acquisition Cue and Effector System©, developed by Northup Grumman, is an air defense vehicle that is fitted with a 30-millimeter M230LF Bushmaster cannon, incorporated with an automated targeting platform. The Mobile-Acquisition Cue and Effector System can successfully detect, identify, track, and eliminate unmanned aircraft systems (UASs). The platform is designed to provide on-the-halt capability, nondedicated air defense, and ground detection to units on the move. During the MSSPIX 22 event, military police and infantry Soldiers were trained on the use of the targeting and detection system incorporated into the technology and multiple live-fire scenarios were conducted to demonstrate the capability of the system to engage fixed-wing and rotary-wing UASs.

The Anduril Lattice© family of systems was also tested during MSSPIX 22. It is unique in that it combines surveillance capabilities with an artificial-intelligence-enabled Lattice software platform. Radar and sensors, along with the artificial-intelligence-enabled software, presents prioritized threat alerts to Soldiers, reducing the cognitive load on operators while providing an autonomous reconnaissance capability via the use of a rotary-wing UAS platform. The advanced sensors can also be used to gather detailed targeting information about potential threats. The Lattice software is designed to elevate situational awareness and provide Soldiers with additional planning time to coordinate denial activities.

The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Defense has developed CBRN sensors in robotic platform technology, which provides detection, identification, and mapping of weapons of mass destruction hazards via its modular detection payloads attached to a UAS. The software includes chemical plume prediction and radiation heat-mapping capabilities that help mitigate exposure risk to personnel and equipment by maximizing standoff distances during CBRN reconnaissance. During MSSPIX 22, CBRN Soldiers were trained on the detailed mission setup and deployment of the autonomous UAS platform and scenarios that included a live radiation source and a simulated chemical plume (which demonstrated the ability of the system to conduct CBRN reconnaissance at standoff) were conducted.

Training on an InstantEye UAS with attached payload.

The InstantEye© UAS, developed by InstantEye Robotics, is a small, lightweight, autonomous UAS designed to be rapidly deployed by any Soldier to conduct tactical close-area reconnaissance or deploy light payloads. The compact InstantEye fits into a standard Army pack, which allows the Soldier to deploy it while on mission. During MSSPIX 22, the system was used by a mix of military police, engineer, and infantry Soldiers to demonstrate its minimal training burden and its reconnaissance capabilities against personnel, vehicles, and areas of interest under operational scenarios. The ability of the system to deploy a reconnaissance robot into a facility of interest was also demonstrated during MSSPIX 22.

Finally, during MSSPIX 22, the U.S. Army CBRN School, Fort Leonard Wood, assessed four different technologies designed to provide personnel-carried detection of chemical vapors and provide users with alerts of a suite of chemical agents at greater sensitivity and lower false-alarm rates than those of existing Army systems. These technologies, referred to as compact vapor chemical agent detectors, were developed by N5 Sensors©, GE Research©, Teledyne FLIR©, and Collins Aerospace©. The focus of the assessments was to determine the burden on the warfighter payload and any interference with Soldiers’ primary mission. All vendor-presented devices were compact and lightweight and could be strapped or clipped onto the Soldiers. CBRN and infantry Soldiers compared the variants of the compact vapor chemical agent detectors and provided feedback on the device interfaces, functional controls, and control limitations that could be assessed while in personal protective equipment.

The assessment of emerging prototype systems is an important component of the capability development process. Capability developers learn about the latest state-of-the-art advancements and how new technologies may be able to fill capability gaps in order to better define key performance parameters and system attributes, leading to more-refined requirements and improved capability development documents. At the same time, science and technology developers receive crucial feedback from military users, which helps ensure that the new systems are not only relevant but also operationally useful. Army focused warfighter experimentation events play a critical role in Army modernization by providing a learning venue where military problems and potential solutions in a multi-domain operations-relevant environment may be better understood.