Team Ripsaw: Disrupting with Future Solutions Today
Team Ripsaw brings together Textron Systems and its Howe & Howe subsidiary, as well as FLIR Inc. – organizations known for dedication to customer success. As Team Ripsaw prepares to unveil its Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) at the 2019 AUSA Annual Meeting, Lisa Atherton, President & CEO, Textron Systems, David Ray, President, Government & Defense Business Unit, FLIR and Michael Howe, Senior Vice President, Howe & Howe Technologies, discuss the importance of teamwork and its benefit to our customer.
Q: How has bringing this unique team of dreamers, doers and disruptors together to create innovative solutions best served the customer?
David Ray: We’ve created a team comprising the best companies in the business to respond to the U.S. Army’s rapid RCV acquisition timeline and needs. We are each, and collectively, laser-focused on delivering the best overall platform, with world-class intelligent sensors and unmanned assets to provide a leap-ahead technology solution for the Army.
Lisa Atherton: FLIR and Textron Systems are two companies uniquely situated in the industry. As a “mighty medium” combination, we bring a critical amount of engineering expertise that, coupled with our agility and nimbleness, allow us to bring this technology forward.
Michael Howe: When two or more disruptive powers can join efforts, their overall effectiveness is multiplied exponentially. By teaming with FLIR on this incredible product for the customer, we have found this to be the case.
Q: How has the collaboration between Textron Systems, Howe & Howe and FLIR already benefited the customer?
LA: This team has already accomplished the near impossible. Within 30 days of joining forces, the team performed exceptionally well at the Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle Surrogate Maturity Assessment in May, showcasing our ability to combine our strengths to best support our customer.
MH: When industry leaders develop a team that’s mission centric, products can be developed faster and more efficiently. In this case, we can clearly see the focus and results of such a team.
Q: We are using the tagline, “Wingman Ready” to describe the critical assistance that the product will provide to the U.S. Army. Can you further elaborate on the message behind this tagline and what it means regarding our customer?
LA: Our RCV product is going to bring a unique capability to our customer, allowing them to change the way they fight – and the best part is, they don’t have to wait for it. The capability is already here.
DR: To me, it means our team has leaned forward – through internal investment, development, and platform integration – to ensure that our offering meets all customer requirements. It means we’re delivering the Army’s future ‘robotic wingman’ with the situational awareness and decisive lethality needed to provide standoff for our troops through intelligent sensing and, ultimately, to defeat current and future foes on the battlefield.
Q: Textron Systems, Howe & Howe and FLIR are combining their expertise to unveil a comprehensive solution to the U.S. Army. How will the customer continue to benefit from this collaboration in the future?
MH: An innovative team operates at its highest level when diversity of thought and a mission centric purpose come together. The Textron Systems and FLIR team have both of these attributes, allowing us to create this fantastic solution for the customer.
DR: We built a ‘dream team’ when Textron, Howe & Howe, and FLIR came together on the RCV program. The customer will benefit from the combined DNA each of us brings to the table – from Textron’s renowned systems integration expertise to Howe & Howe’s out-of-the-box approach to extreme-mobility platforms, and to FLIR’s continually innovating commercial sensing and unmanned systems capabilities to stay on technology’s edge.
LA: With FLIR, Textron Systems has invested in and listened to the customer’s needs. We’re all in to provide them with the comprehensive solution needed to accomplish their mission. Together, we’ve brought the equipment that will allow the U.S. Army to bring the future fight to today’s battlefields.