Registration for the 2018 NFCS is currently sold out. There is currently a waitlist, so please feel free to add your name to the event. You will be given a spot in a first come-first served fashion as cancellations occur. Please note, there will not be onsite registration this year since the event is currently at capacity.
Welcome to the
25th Anniversary of the
National Fire Control Symposium
"Sharpening the Spear – Strengthening the Warfighter"
5 - 9 February 2018
Ft. Shafter, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
With tours to the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) 9 February 2018 Kauai, Hawaii
The National Fire Control Symposium (NFCS) is a tri-service supported event with technical program advisory rotating among the services. NFCS is under the technical advisorship of the U.S. Navy in February 2018 for its 25th event.
Keynote Speakers
Rear Admiral Victorino "Vic" Mercado
Director of Maritime Operations, U.S. Pacific Fleet
Ms. Jeannette Evans-Morgis
SES, Deputy to the Commander, Systems Engineering & Acquisition Logistics
Rear Admiral Jon Hill
Deputy Director, Missile Defense Agency
Brigadier General Stephen Michael
Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, U.S. Army Pacific
Major General Russ Mack
Deputy Commander, Pacific Air Forces, Joint Base Pearl
Harbor-Hickam and the Deputy Theater Air Component
Commander to the Commander, U.S. Pacific Command
Moderator: Mr. Michael Roberts
SES, Director, Development and Integration Program Executive Office, Integrated Warfare Systems PEO IWS
Science & Technology Round Table
The Science and Technology round table will be an interactive engagement with the 2018 NFCS attendees. It is intended to help stimulate dialogue regarding the operators needs and the technology investments that are being made or planned. The format will include short presentations from each of the panel members followed by a Q&A. If you would like to submit a question for consideration in the Q&A, please send to awalker@blue52productions.com. Please make sure your questions are unclassified.
Moderator:
Mr. William Bray
SES, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, Test & Evaluation
Dr. Azar Ali
SES, Chief Scientist, Pacific Air Forces
Ms. Cynthia Holland
S&T Advisor to USPACOM
Mr. Roger Carter
S&T Air and Missile Advisor, NORAD & USNORTHCOM
Mr. Ross Wilhelm
S&T Advisor, PACFLT
Mr. John Stephansky
S&T Advisor, Commander, USMC Forces Pacific
Why Hawaii?
For over two decades, the NFCS has served the Integrated Fire Control Community of Interest (IFC-COI). Due to our restricted and no-foreign format the NFCS is in unique position to cultivate lasting relationships between the forward operators, the service communities, Warfare centers, laboratories and our industry partners. The 25th Symposium is scheduled to meet at the Ft. Shafter conference facility on Oahu, Hawaii 5-8 February 2018. This site was specifically encouraged by the NFCS Advisory Committee to bring the event closer to the operators. The numerous service and joint commands, located on the island of Oahu, will provide ample opportunity to engage with operators tasked with providing our country with frontline defense.
Our 2018 theme "Sharpening the Spear – Strengthening the Warfighter" is intended to build upon the dialogue initiated by PACFLT in the “Sea of Dreams” conference held in September 2016. Our 2018 paper selection process will emphasize solutions to the issues raised during that initial discussion. We are confident the 2018 NFCS we will present a continued opportunity for dialogue that will resonate with the challenges the front line commanders face as the importance of the Pacific theater continues to increase in our national priorities. Admiral Swift COMPACFLT has accepted our invitation to be our Keynote speaker.
Planning is underway for an optional visit to the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), on the island of Kauai, on Friday 9 February, 2018. This tour will provide a unique opportunity to witness firsthand the investments being made in our IFC testing capability as well as the cultural beauty of the island. Attendance at the 2018 NFCS will be limited. We strongly encourage you to register early in order to take full advantage of the technical, educational and cultural opportunities this event will offer.
2018 NFCS Lead Advisors
Mr. Steven Buckley, Navy PEO IWS6
Mr. James V. Cech, GTRI
Mrs. Penny Moran, NSWC Dahlgren Division
About
The National Fire Control Symposium
Vision
The NFCS brings together the Nation’s fire control community to address the needs of the entire kill chain, translate those needs into emerging technology requirements, and identify the crucial challenges in fulfilling those requirements. The NFCS provides a forum to discuss science and technology (S&T) priorities, drive technology toward maximizing return on investment, and report real progress on current investments.
Focus
The NFCS is the only all-Service forum for discussing the entire kill chain applicable to the Joint Military Services, as well as their research and development centers and defense industry partners. Technical content includes the presentation, demonstration, discussion, and sharing of advanced concepts required for: force management and pre-mission planning; locating, identifying, targeting, and attacking air, sea, ground, space targets; performing post-attack evaluations, as well as the integration, testing, tactics, and training required to maintain our tactical advantage. The Symposium addresses the application and integration of sensing, information interoperability, command and control, and weapons used for countering difficult targets characterized as concealed, time-critical, urban, deeply buried, or electronic. In recognition of the heightened threat, emphasis will be placed on extending DoD investments to support homeland defense, including opportunities for direct support of CONUS operations. Participants will discuss potential technology barriers, structural design, analysis, application methods, and plans to advance the current state-of-the-art.
Value
NFCS provides managers and planners a global perspective for planning and deciding on strategy and associated investment planning. At the same time, the Symposium enables technical interaction between scientists, project engineers, program managers, and users of fire control technologies. Attendance by researchers at an event with the technical breadth of NFCS has proven vital to meeting the U.S.’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) requirements in support of the warfighter. With continued reduction in budgets, the government has an increasing reliability on cooperative research efforts. The size and focus of the NFCS affords a greater number of productive contacts, cooperative relationships, and understanding of a larger number of external research efforts while providing U.S. researchers with a deeper understanding of the state-of-the-art and the warfighter’s perspective. The net result is the potential reduction in duplication of work completed by academia or industry, as well as the promotion of scientific advances resulting from collaborative efforts that could save DoD valuable time and financial resources while defining innovative solutions to technology challenges.