INDUSTRY INTERVIEW: Strategies, Simulation, and Training Business Unit, SAIC
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Q: What is Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and what has been the company’s primary focus since its founding in 1969?
A: SAIC is a leading systems, solutions and technical services company. We solve our customers’ mission-critical problems with innovative applications of technology and expertise. In medical labs researching cancer cures, in the desert testing next-generation robotics, in the ocean deploying tsunami warning systems, in training and equipping the next generation of warfighters, SAIC people and technologies are there. In Iraq helping protect and support our men and women in uniform, SAIC is there. We have a reputation for exceeding customer expectations. Our people are empowered to deliver outstanding value and productivity and to go the extra mile for our customers. SAIC is a platform-independent provider of scientific, engineering and systems integration services. We draw on a wealth of technology and integration options to better serve our customers. We are committed to recruiting, retaining and developing a diverse team of talented professionals. For us, success depends on bringing people together to solve some of the toughest problems facing our nation and the world. We do all this with the constant and deliberate commitment to ethical performance and integrity that has marked SAIC since its founding in 1969.
Q: What is SAIC’s background, especially when it comes to providing services for military training?
A: SAIC has been working with DoD for over 20 years on many of the systems we take for granted nowadays. SAIC was involved in programs as diverse as the initial NTC and LATR ranges, the application of Computer Generated forces to services and joint training and research, and the development of advanced e-learning and learning management systems. We develop and apply models, simulations and tools that support military decision-making processes, development activities, exercises, demonstrations, analysis and advanced mission planning. We are an industry leader in live, virtual, and constructive simulation and training.
Q: What services and products are you specifically targeting to the military user?
A: We are a prime contractor for the U.S. Army PEO STRI Omnibus Contract (STOC) and the developer and integrator for the OneSAF Objective System. SAIC supports the Army’s Future Combat System (FCS) Lead Systems Integration as the leader of the FCS Training IPT. SAIC is a TSC II prime contractor for NAVAIR Orlando Training Systems Division and provides the Briefing-Debriefing Stations for Air Force, Navy and the international community in support of Distributed Mission Training. We integrate and deliver the newest simulator in the Army’s inventory, the Common Driver Trainer, Stryker Variant. We’re building out live training ranges in the U.S. Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. We are also providing professional classroom and computer-based training for several agencies, as well as managing simulation and exercise centers worldwide.
Q: What is OneSAF?
A: The OneSAF Objective System (OOS) is able to produce composable, next-generation computer-generated forces capable of representing a full range of operations, systems, and controls processes. These range from the individual combatant and vehicle level to fully automated, friendly, battalion-level and fully automated, opposing force, brigade-level representations. SAIC is responsible for developing the overall system and software architecture for the OOS as well as the tools, methods, and processes needed to integrate components, knowledge, and capabilities being developed by other contractors. It was recognized as one of the Top 5 DoD Software Projects two years in a row and is being projected for on-board integration into the Army’s Future Combat System family of vehicles.
Q: Could you discuss the company’s latest products in the simulation and training market?
A: The Common Driver Trainer (CDT) is the newest and most exciting product in our robust product line. Unlike the usual “one of” simulators built for a single purpose, the CDT allows the user to keep the visual system, instructor/operator station, and motion platform and just change out the “cab” to have an entirely new simulator at a fraction of the cost. The same architecture will support ground and aviation vehicles.
Q: Where do you see the future of military training?
A: The biggest change we see on the horizon is the breaking down of the legacy boundaries. In this context, training is mirroring what we are seeing in the operational world: everything is getting integrated. The legacy labels of Service, Joint, Live, Virtual, etc. are becoming progressively irrelevant when we talk about training. Instead of stovepipes, the concept of imparting the right knowledge, through the means available at the time, to the warfighter is where training is going. By taking advantage of modern technologies, we see an integrated spectrum of systems that the warfighter can tie into to become proficient and current in their domain.
Q: What does the future have in store for SAIC?
A: Our strategies, simulation, and training business areas are growing. We’ve just broken ground on a new 85,000-square-foot facility here in Orlando’s Research Park to house our people and programs. Our business unit’s international business is growing, and we will be increasing our presence overseas from the U.K. to the Middle East. The company as a whole has a number of exciting plans for the future. All in all, it’s an exciting time to be at SAIC, and it’s a great place to work. ♦