US Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) Modernization

[Kirkhill]

Army modernizing, moving to multi-vendor approach for aging fires system​

"I don't want one teammate. I want a team of industry that's going after this really robust set of applications that modernizes this sort of monolithic, single application," Mark Kitz told Breaking Defense.​

By JASPREET GILLon October 11, 2023 at 7:46 AM

the code for AFATDS was written in 1995

AUSA 2023 — The Army wants to modernize its aging system for planning and executing fires, and is planning to move to a multi-vendor approach in what one service official told Breaking Defense is a brand new move for the service.

Historically, “a very small number of industry” has been involved in the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS), the Army’s main command and control system, because “it’s very complicated, it’s very niche,” Mark Kitz, program executive officer for command, control, communications-tactical (PEO C3T) said in an interview Monday.

“However, at the end of the day, it’s just data where we’re building applications on top of data,” he said. “And so in my first couple of months here, what one of the challenges I’ve [given] to industry is, ‘Hey, let’s not treat AFATDS as this really special thing. Let’s treat it as an application that any number of vendors can be developing on top of when we treat it as just fires data.’”

Army modernizing, moving to multi-vendor approach for aging fires system - Breaking Defense

"I don't want one teammate. I want a team of industry that's going after this really robust set of applications that modernizes this sort of monolithic, single application," Mark Kitz told Breaking Defense.

breakingdefense.com

Highlighting again the ability to modify software on the fly and make optimum use of existing kit and rapidly deployable new technologies.