On behalf of the ASPO staff, welcome to the 25^th anniversary of the Program Office. During the next few minutes, I will be the narrator for a brief retrospective about the organization. This 25-year journey would not have been possible without the efforts of a total team, and we look forward to many more years of working together.

The year was 1973. Richard Nixon was inaugurated for a second term. Watergate was a household word. The top movie of the year was The Sting. It was the year of Super Bowl VII and Secretariat winning the Triple Crown. Notable key events included Wounded Knee, a Vice-Presidential resignation, convictions stemming from the Watergate scandal, the Arab oil embargo, Paris Peace Pact, and an end of the military draft.

And, with little fanfare and at a time when the military-industrial complex was riding high…ASPO was born.

In retrospect, the streamlined concepts and methods developed by ASPO’s founders are clearly visionary in today’s environment and were in stark contrast with a parent organization where money and personnel were plentiful. But, the vision was clear . . .

. . . Find a way to exploit technology associated with satellites and provide this intelligence to tactical forces who were in the dark when it came to national intelligence.

A team led by Dr. Richard Haley, who was then Chief Scientist of the Army, put together a structure for an organization that would bridge the gap and bring this unexploited intelligence information to the tactical commander by integrating Army systems to coincide with development of new national systems.

The end result was a staff element charged with a mission of devising military concepts of operation for future years. To operate effectively, the organization would be somewhat autonomous, with minimal staffing and funding and armed with a charter to provide direct, swift and progressive support by exploiting current and future capabilities into the Army’s decision-making process as rapidly as possible. The challenge…was to make it work.

And so it all began for ASPO and TENCAP. Forged from the Army’s Advanced Materiel Concepts Agency with a startup staff of 3 civilians that included

an engineer, a physicist, a secretary, 2 Army officers and a bankroll of $250,000, the Army Space Program Office began operation in the basement of the Army Materiel Command in Alexandria, Virginia.

In Army parlance the new organization was dubbed Army TENCAP, or, Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities. The vision and mission are still in tact. Twenty-five years later with some 60 systems scattered across the globe, ASPO continues to produce a product in a compressed time frame in concert with user requirements.

Today, as we celebrate this silver anniversary of operation, much of DoD is grappling with how to maintain its readiness despite an end to the Cold War, budget cuts, and downsizing. Figuring out how to deliver products to the warfighter quickly is being microscopically examined at all levels…But swift and direct delivery of products is old news to those who have been with the TENCAP program during the past quarter century and helped demonstrate it is indeed possible to shave years off the standard life cycle model.

Through methods borne partly by design and somewhat by circumstance, ASPO was able to create a formula for successful delivery of products. The program’s basic tenets have not only brought about an enviable record of rapid integration, but provided along the way tools for the tactical forces. In TENCAP, the methods developed seem logical and represent a common sense approach to acquisition…but to outsiders striving for comparable results, it is often met with confusion.

Indeed, much of ASPO’s success lies in the relationships it has established over the years with the people in this very room. The organization learned early on the importance of involving the user in the acquisition process and that concept has indeed turned out to be the critical pillar the organization’s success.

Year after year ASPO has responded to requirements to "build a better mouse trap" and is now preparing to take TENCAP into the next century with the Tactical Exploitation System. The TES is the Army’s objective TENCAP system for the 21^st century and will replace the ETRAC, MIES and AEPDS.

Once fielded, total TENCAP functionality will be housed in this single, integrated, scaleable system—specifically designed for split-based operations.

Let’s now step back a few years and revisit some of the key events and asset development bringing us to the TES. The timeline overhead provides a pictorial view of asset development as well as an encapsulated history of the path ASPO has taken.

The start-up years of the program were dedicated to conducting studies and becoming involved with other organizations that had tools and resources that would help the program office achieve its vision and attain its goal.

The challenges were real…Based on the technology of the time, ASPO had to figure out how to leverage the national technology and integrate it into a system that would support the tactical forces.

The first system developed was a SIGINT system—the Real Time Interactive Processor, or RTIP. RTIP was the prototype asset and subsequently served as the proof of concept for the viability of the program office.

ASPO soon established its ability to produce a product based on its concept of operations when it set out to develop the ITEP, or Interim Tactical ELINT Processor. The ITEP was the precursor for the Electronic Processing and Dissemination System, or EPDS. The ITEP, an integration of existing equipment and capabilities, was fielded in 13 months and set the stage for TENCAP as a measure of success in system development and fielding. It not only came in at cost and on schedule, but performed better than specifications at delivery. This program set the model for sustainment in the field for future TENCAP systems.

The EPDS was a mainstay for nearly 20 years when it was defielded last year to make way for a more modernized version.

The Digital Imagery Test Bed, or DITB, was the imagery exploitation suite initially conceptualized for the program office and was fielded to prove the feasibility of tactical digital imagery exploitation. The DITB was followed by its successor, the Imagery Exploitation System,

And the Tactical Users’ Terminal was the initial step toward transportability and mobility of equipment.

As is today, much of the work during the next phase was accomplished concurrently in an environment steeped in teamwork and mutual respect. Fueled by early successes and acceptance in the field by TENCAP users, this period involved several developmental programs to enhance and expand use of the equipment. In a feedback process commonly referred to as continuous process improvement, TENCAP systems not only established themselves as a "must have" in the field but helped build a solid reputation in the tactical community as well.

Slide 19 - Enhanced Tactical Users' Terminal (ETUT)

The common thread toward development efforts came to mean remote, modular, and transportable. To more fully meet the needs of the voices from the field, several systems were developed in quick succession…the ETUT.

Slide 20/21 - The Tactical HMT (THMT), and

Slide 22 - The Tactical Radar Correlator (TRAC)……

Slide 23… (IES) All laying a solid foundation for enhanced and expanded development and use to fill the soldiers’ needs during crisis situations such as Desert Shield and Desert Storm or operations other than war such as Somalia and Haiti.

In the next phase, TENCAP equipment began to play a more significant role in world events—becoming quintessential systems for forward-deployed troops in war or crisis zones. Gaining a reputation as an essential tool in theaters of operation, TENCAP equipment has proven time and again it is quick…fast…and accurate.

Typically the first intelligence systems deployed with units are TENCAP and TENCAP now serves as a significant source of intelligence for targeting, IPB and situational awareness. TENCAP has provided critical information for tactical theater operations in Haiti, Deserts Shield/Storm and in Somalia. It continues this role today in Bosnia and Hungary.

As has become a tradition in TENCAP and with requirements coming from various sources, enhanced versions of systems in the field followed—establishing a family of TENCAP equipment based on the need of the user. This family of equipment includes the very familiar present-day systems such as the MITT, MIES, FAST, ETRAC and AEPDS.

In closing, we pay special tribute and recognition to not only the founders of the Army Space Program Office but also those who worked tirelessly over the years to support the field units and build an organization that possesses a special flavor in DoD.

We are proud of the associations and relationships forged during the past twenty-five years and salute the conscientious and dedicated involvement of the user,

Slide 31 – Partners – Crests

the national community, sister services and contractor support personnel in helping ASPO attain its early vision to break through the Green Door and ensure tactical forces had the tools it needed to get a glimpse of the battlefield.

And, we thank you for your support, your enthusiasm and your ideas on how we as a team can continue to produce quality products into the next century.