Fort Gordon, Ga. –
Maj. Shawn Jones, Assistant Product Manager, Integration, Product Manager Ground Soldier Systems (PdM GSS), is deeply involved with the development of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS).
The IVAS features 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. IVAS improves Soldier sensing and target detection and offers a wider field-of-view display than current equipment and features thermal and low-light sensors, as well as real-time 3D mapping and navigation capabilities. IVAS will be fielded over the next several years to Soldiers in the close combat force.
Within GSS and Project Manager IVAS, Jones focuses on the development, acquisition and integration of new technological capabilities that interface with IVAS and will be fielded to Soldiers.
Commissioned as engineering officer in 2009, Jones said the ability to positively impact large portions of the Army drew him to the acquisition corps in 2017.
“Acquisition is relevant to today's military and it's relevant to tomorrow's military,” Jones said. “You're always working to solve a problem. You’re representing not just the warfighter, but the Army as a whole. The workforce that you get to work with and the leadership within the acquisition corps is some of the best that the Army has to offer. You work with nothing but people who care about their job and find meaning in what they do.”
Jones stressed the importance of building strong partnerships while developing new platforms for the Army, such as IVAS.
“You have to work to connect the different stove pipes. Each program, each PEO, are working towards their end, but there's a lot of connected tissue and if it isn't established and communicated how things relate, it can end up really setting integration back significantly,” he explained. “If you don't have that team building and stakeholder management early on in the process, then you are going to be playing catch up.”
Jones emphasized the value in developing ties with the user community, “to continually update and have an iterative feedback process to make the product that we build more relevant and can gain better acceptance.”
Before joining PEO Soldier, Jones’ assignments included serving as Assistant Product Manager (APM) for Bradley A4 production, APM for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program, known as the Bradley replacement, and as an executive officer for Program Executive Officer Ground Combat Systems (GSC). He deployed to Central Command area of operations from 2014-2015, serving in the engineering directorate of Combined Joint Task Force-Operational Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR).
Jones recently graduated Airborne School on Jan. 27, with his family and PEO Soldier Brig. Gen. Christopher Schneider in attendance.
“PEO Soldier is great environment to work in,” said Jones. “You definitely feel like you are a member of a team, a valued member of a family.”