The Army’s first mobile brigade combat team will be put through its paces in August as it heads to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana.

Equipped with new capabilities such as the Infantry Squad Vehicle, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team is part of the service’s transforming in contact effort, an Army chief of staff initiative to accelerate the Army’s transformation for the future fight.

Just as the Army adapted to address the emerging needs of the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is now evolving for large-scale combat operations, Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division, said earlier this year.

“The 101st has been one of two divisions to test and prototype the Army’s near-term transformation efforts,” he said. “We’re doing that by introducing the mobile brigade combat team and integrating various technologies to increase lethality and survivability on the future battlefield.”

In addition to designating the 2nd Brigade as the mobile brigade combat team, the division also has “embarked on a multiyear campaign to build a unique capability” for combatant commanders and the Army, he said.

In May, the 2nd Brigade completed its first comprehensive field assessment, called Operation Lethal Eagle, in its new form, Sylvia said. The 21-day exercise involved the entire division and included a large-scale, long-range air assault, he said.

The exercise “provided us a venue to test new Army technologies, prototype reorganized force structures, employ multidomain fires and experiment with creative sustainment solutions to be able to mass combat power at scale [and] at the time and place of our choosing,” Sylvia said.

Operation Lethal Eagle was the first time the mobile brigade combat team was “put through the paces,” Sylvia said. “We’ll do it again in August when we take them down to our Joint Readiness Training Center,” he said.

“We’ll fight it again, and the idea is to continue to fight it in future iterations or whatever it is that the Army wants next out of our 2nd Brigade,” Sylvia said.

Lessons learned will be used to inform Army decisions on whether to move ahead with mobile brigade combat teams, how many there should be and how they should be used, he said.

The centerpiece of the mobile brigade combat team is the Infantry Squad Vehicle, Sylvia said. The nine-passenger vehicle, based on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 platform, has enabled the brigade to “move every infantry squad much faster,” Sylvia said.

The vehicle has given the brigade more flexibility and mobility, he said. During an air assault, soldiers don’t have to land in a single, consolidated location. They can be dispersed, then rapidly come together where they’re needed, he said.

“It provides this ability to rapidly move combat power in a way that you could not before,” he said. “Before, I could move 2½ kilometers an hour when I’m under load, and now I can go up to 200 kilometers in an Infantry Squad Vehicle, and I have the capability to carry more.”

The ability to carry more gives units greater resupply and endurance while out in the field, Sylvia said. “This allows division commanders and corps commanders to increase our operational reach, to extend the lengths at which we would be able to fight the formation,” Sylvia said.

The mobile brigade combat team also has structures designed to integrate its new capabilities, such as a multifunctional reconnaissance company, Sylvia said. Each of the brigade’s infantry battalions also has multipurpose companies that are “providing a landing spot for new capabilities down inside of the infantry battalions as well,” he said.

As the division continues to experiment, test and collect soldier feedback, Sylvia said the 101st Airborne is excited to be at the forefront of the Army’s continuous transformation efforts. “This process that we’ve embarked on will continue to be iterative, adaptive and incentivize disciplined innovation,” he said.