The Army is prioritizing a targeted approach to rapidly get energy and technology to soldiers at the point of need, said Brandon Cockrell, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for energy and sustainability.

“The Army's [focus] is knowing that we have to deliver the energy when it’s needed, where it’s needed and at the level that it’s needed,” Cockrell said May 8 during a Noon Report webinar hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army. “That is such a critical and crucial piece moving forward, and that’s ... our strategy as we’re driving through this.”

As the service drives forward, it is keeping an eye on several key risks, including cyberattacks, natural disasters, physical attacks and increased energy demand, Cockrell said during the webinar titled “U.S. Army: Powering the Mission.”

The Army is leveraging and testing new technology, especially for soldiers in combat roles who may be farther from typical power sources, he said. “If you place a battery between the generator and the need, we’re seeing up to a 50% reduction in generator run time,” Cockrell said. “Battalion commanders … are raving fans, because at night they’re able to shut down the generator. … They are almost to the point of there’s no thermal signature, there’s virtually no auditory signature and they are at full ops.”

Maintaining the energy and sustainability edge supports lethality and readiness for soldiers and their families, Cockrell said.

In addition to making sure soldiers “have the energy that they need when they deploy,” the Army also is focused on ensuring “we have the energy back at the installation, to make sure we take care of that family through the entire deployment cycle,” he said. “While that soldier is deployed, as long as they ... know their family is taken care of at our installations, that ... allows them to be the most lethal soldier that they can be.”

Above all, “getting this resilience in place for our soldiers is key,” Cockrell said.

“We’re pushing hard, and we’re pushing fast, and I think that is so critical moving forward. Everything we do is going to be through the lens of a soldier,” he said. “As we’re working against our near-peer competitors, … if we are better than our competitors in certain areas, we have to … stay ahead of them.”