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The study, “Assessing Compensation Reform in Support of the 10th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation: Theory, Estimation, and Policy Analysis,” is available at www.rand.org .

The 10th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation has proposed an alternative military retirement system to better reflect the need for greater efficiency, increase personnel management flexibility, and address equity issues related to active versus reserve personnel and military personnel versus civilian counterparts.

The new system would include:

• A defined benefit plan with earlier vesting at year-of-service 10
• An early-withdrawal option for the defined benefit plan
• A defined contribution plan vested at year-of-service 10
• “Gate pay,” a multiple of basic pay for those who complete specific milestones, regardless of whether they stay or leave on completion
• Separation pay, vested at year-of-service 20, would be provided to members separating from the military and based on a formula of a multiple of monthly basic pay times years of service

The RAND study, written by RAND researchers Beth J. Asch, James Hosek, Michael Mattock and Christina Panis, analyzes several variants of the 10th Quadrennial Review proposal. The study finds that the proposal would allow the services to maintain the current experience mix of personnel – or change it – and do so at the same or lower cost. It also could increase expected years of service and retention in both early and late careers; provide an incentive to bring more service members to 10 years of service; and address equity concerns and improve force-management flexibility. Consistent with these findings, the 10th Quadrennial Review recommends that the proposal be pilot-tested.

The RAND study also looks at the sustainability of the all-volunteer force; the relationship between compensation structure and the experience and grade structure of the personnel force; and the potential cost and any cost savings of the policy alternatives.

Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being used in increasing numbers around the world, not only by special operations troops but also by frontline soldiers needing to get a better view of the threats facing them.

One of the mini UAVs recently developed by AeroVironment of Monrovia, Calif., is a modified Puma AE (All-Environment) that builds on two previous generations of Puma aircraft, maintains flight for two hours, and gives ground controllers crystal-clear eyeballs in the sky.

The hand-launched Puma AE’s chief improvement over other models is it can land either on the ground or in the water.

“The Puma AE can be used by anyone operating near or on the water, which is the key differentiator between Puma AE and any other system out there today,” says Steven Gitlin, AeroVironment’s director of marketing strategy. “Some of our customers need this level of versatility to operate the Puma wherever they are.”

Gitlin says his firm’s customers include the U.S. Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Special Forces, and “a handful of allied military forces.”

Puma AE, which operates between 100 and 500 feet above ground level, has two cameras — electro-optical and infrared — that provide live, streaming video and are stabilized so they can fix on a designated point and give a steady image, regardless of the aircraft’s movement.

“It’s altitude is high enough so controllers have a very good perspective or look angle,” Gitlin points out. “Puma AE operates high enough to make it harder to see and hear from the ground because it’s battery operated, so it generates less audio signature than its internal combustion counterparts.”

Puma AE is controlled through line-of-sight communications of up to 15 kilometers and has an airspeed between 25 and 45 knots.  It avoids detection through its small size (6-feet long and a 9.2-foot wingspan), quiet engine, and small radar profile.

AeroVironment developed the modified Puma’s electronics, controls, and battery pack, while Protonex Technology Corp. of London, England developed its fuel cell system.

About the author: Alan M. Petrillo is a Tucson, Ariz., freelance writer who works in a wide variety of fields, writing for national and regional magazines and newspapers. He’s also the author of the historical mystery, Full Moon (JoNa Books, 2005).