Fort Belvoir, Va –
On May 25th, Program Executive Officer (PEO) Soldier officially announced Col. Anthony Gibbs as the new project manager of Project Manager Soldier Warrior (PM SWAR) at a change of charter ceremony at a crowded Veterans Hall at the National Museum of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir.
Program Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Christopher Schneider presided over the ceremony, which welcomed Gibbs and highlighted the contributions of outgoing SWAR Project Manager Col. Troy Denomy to the organization, the Army and its Soldiers.
PM SWAR’s mission is to rapidly deliver and sustain innovative solutions for Soldiers that enable maneuver and lethal effects on enemy forces. PM SWAR includes three product manager teams: Product Manager Integrated Visual Augmentation System (PdM IVAS), Product Manager Soldier Maneuver Sensors (PdM SMS) and Product Manager Soldier Precision Targeting Devices (PdM SPTD).
The organization’s portfolio includes IVAS, Nett Warrior, night vision and targeting devices, power products, and tactical software and sensors that improve situational awareness and survivability in all operational environments.
Schneider focused his remarks on Denomy’s achievements as a project manager for over four years, a longer than average tenure for his position. In addition to leading PM SWAR, Denomy headed the former-Project Manager Integrated Visual Augmentation System (PM IVAS), which was renamed PM SWAR, and before that, Project Manager Close Combat Squad (PM CCS).
Denomy managed over a dozen Firm Fixed Price Other Transaction Agreements, numerous Soldier Centered Design activities and Soldier Touch Point test events, and executed hundreds of millions of dollars in Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation, and procurement for PM SWAR products.
Schneider praised Denomy’s leadership attributes and steady hand while managing multiple priorities and programs and ensuring continuity through the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple reorganizations.
“He knows the long game and plays the short game better than anybody else. He's measured, he's humble, he's calming, strategic, he's a teammate,” Schneider said of Denomy. “When things get tough, that's when you see someone's true character and their mettle. When things get tough, that's just when Troy elevates, that's when he's at his best. He makes everybody better.”
Denomy oversaw the development and production of Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), a platform that will bring significantly improved capabilities to the close combat force.
IVAS is a day/night, all-weather fighting goggle and a mixed reality headset that integrates situational awareness tools and simulations to provide Soldiers with unprecedented capabilities to fight, rehearse and train. Its Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Augmented Reality capabilities improve Soldier sensing and target identification and provide real-time 3D mapping and navigation capabilities. The Army plans to field approximately 121,500 IVAS systems as standard gear to close combat Soldiers.
Denomy deflected credit for his accomplishments and stated that he “stands on the shoulders of giants, and those giants are everybody in this room that I’m looking at right now,” referring to the PEO Soldier, Army and industry partners.
“Winning war is different than sports,” Denomy said, putting SWAR’s mission into perspective. “In sports you get a trophy, sometimes even second place, a runner up gets a trophy. Not the case in our business - it's a difference between life and death. If you lose in war, you don't come home. That passion and that drive, that reason why, inspires everybody here. And that's why we all do what we do.”
Denomy’s next assignment takes him to Army Futures Command in Austin, TX.
Gibbs arrives to PEO Soldier and SWAR from the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASAALT), where he served as the Assistant Deputy for Acquisition and System management. His other assignments in recent years include positions as Product Manager, Guided Precision Munitions and Mortar Systems at Picatinny Arsenal; Program Support Division Chief, J-39 Deputy Director for Global Operations at the Joint Staff; and Project Manager, Combat Ammunition Systems, also at Picatinny Arsenal.
“I can’t tell you what a thrill it is for me to have this opportunity,” said Gibbs. “I’m really excited about the work that we are doing here at PM SWAR. I’ve always said that I like doing work that matters, and I believe that the work we are doing here is critically important. The products we manage here not only give our Soldiers unprecedented situational awareness and lethality today, but the work we are doing on new systems, such as IVAS, lethal unnamed systems, [and] the efforts to integrate capabilities across the PEO Soldier portfolio, have the potential to change the way we fight.”