Future Combat Zone

Six years ago, the Army decided to stake its future on an untested approach to acquiring futuristic weapons in support of a grand theory about the nature of 21st century warfare. The resulting program, known as Future Combat Systems, has turned out to be the most expensive and complex procurement effort in Army history. According to current estimates, the service will spend well in excess of $100 billion by 2014 to develop the "system of systems," which includes manned and unmanned air and ground vehicles and sensors tied together by a wireless network. The Army's bid for unprecedented speed and killing power requires double the amount of computer code than is contained in the Joint Strike Fighter's systems, relies on 53 new technologies and requires more than ioo network interfaces.