Army Special Operations Command Innovates for Next War
Army Special Operations Command Innovates for Next War

The side that adapts and innovates first will win the next war, said Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, commander of Army Special Operations Command.
The key to achieving that is adopting a collective mindset, he said.
“Innovation is a mindset. It's not a thing, it's not a widget, it's not an end state. It's a perpetual process, and what I'm asking here is really a call to arms for the innovation cycle,” Braga said Oct. 15 during a Warriors Corner presentation at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.
Responsibility for the innovation cycle does not belong to one entity nor solely to the military, he said. Innovation can come from academia, coalition partners, the defense industrial base, lawmakers or policy makers, and whether it’s a new idea or someone else’s idea, “it’s not always the one with the first idea.”
“The adaptation of that idea, the employment of that idea on the battlefield, in the domain against the adversary, the lessons learned from that employment and the rapid innovation for the next phase of that and how tightly you can get that, I argue is going to be the winner of the next war,” Braga said, adding that it is “something we need to work on collectively.”
Technology is easy to acquire, and the advantage in warfare will belong to the entity that can optimize and adapt it quickly, whether it’s one-way attack drones, electromagnetic interference, coding, 3D printing or engineering, Braga said, pointing out that innovation is playing out on battlefields from the Middle East to Europe every day.
“The speed of innovation is only getting faster. … We are not talking months and years and programs of record. You're talking hours and days from idea to concept to operator to engineer to building it, to flying it and getting it to the front line to make a difference in someone's life,” Braga said. “We must challenge the status quo, we must look at new technology, or old technology perhaps deployed in a new way, … and it's going to be inherent that we work together as a coalition.”
Army Special Operations Command, he said, is “not resting on any laurels.” Rather, the command is learning from others and changing its formations, schoolhouses, doctrine and institution. This includes creating a technical warrant officer position, new courses in robotics and unmanned systems integration, and a new special operations robotics detachment.
“Every facet of Army special operations is changing because warfare is changing,” Braga said.
— Gina Cavallaro