Proposed Missions and Organization of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command

During fiscal year 2002, the commander of Army Materiel Command (AMC) ordered the establishment of a U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) to consolidate the research and development (R&D) organizations in AMC under one commander. This report documents one aspect of RAND Arroyo Center’s support during the establishment of RDECOM. Using a modified strategies-to-tasks framework, Arroyo identified four major missions for RDECOM: (1) Provide responsive technical support to current and U.S. Joint Forces Command operations, (2) provide effective technical support to Army acquisition programs, (3) provide the technical vision for the Army of the future, and (4) attend to the planning, management, and oversight of Army R&D and science and technology (S&T) work. These four missions provide a context for RDECOM’s organizational design, and Arroyo researchers recommended the adoption of a matrix structure. Within it, RDECOM’s current laboratories and R&D centers provide the personnel and facilities for accomplishing RDECOM’s missions. Mission accomplishment, however, is managed and resourced by the RDECOM commander, working through a number of deputy commanding generals (DCGs). At the time of the study the number of DCGs to be assigned to RDECOM was not firmly established. This report thus examines alternative organizational designs with either two or three DCGs. Under the three-DCG alternative, the DCG Operations is focused on supporting current military operations; the DCG System-of-Systems is focused on supporting Army acquisition programs and systems integration; and the DCG Army of the Future works with U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and the Army Staff to provide technical support for planning the Army’s long-range future. Under the two-DCG option, the functions of DCG Operations and DCG System-of-Systems are generally combined.