Faced with increasingly complex technical, operational and financial challenges, the Army must move faster to transform the force, a senior leader said March 25 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama.

“We have to do more to overtake the rate at which our adversaries are transforming,” said David Fitzgerald, the senior official performing the duties of the undersecretary of the Army. “We have to do it better, we have to do it faster, we have to do it together.”

The Army is at a “pivotal moment,” Fitzgerald said. “The character of warfare is changing before our eyes,” he said. “Our adversaries are transforming.”

This change demands a force that is continuously adapting and evolving. Citing the Army’s transformation in contact initiative, which puts emerging technology in soldiers’ hands for testing and experimentation, Fitzgerald said the concept “rightly recognized that a transformed, ready Army is not an end state.” Instead, it’s a process that includes working with warfighters, industry, developers and more.

“We’ve revolutionized before, from the Manhattan Project to pioneering GPS and the internet, and we can do it again,” Fitzgerald said.

To achieve those goals, the Army must act with purpose and decisiveness, he said. This includes making sure the Army is a “better customer,” one that reimagines how it produces requirements documents and enables industry to innovate and create, he said.

The Army must prioritize outcomes and lower costs, build resiliency in its supply chains and strive to gain greater agility in funding, Fitzgerald said. “We welcome open and continuing dialogue,” he said. “If there’s a better way to do business, we want to do it, and we want to do it now.”

Amid this push to transform, the Army must balance flat and uncertain budgets, Fitzgerald said. “Every single dollar counts in the current fiscal environment,” he said. “To address this, we’ve begun systematically reviewing legacy programs and legacy requirements.”

Ultimately, “it’s not just about spending differently, it’s about thinking differently,” Fitzgerald said, as the Army pursues capabilities in areas such as artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing, unmanned aerial systems and long-range precision fires.

“These are and will remain a priority for immediate and enduring capabilities,” he said.

As Army leaders look to the future, they have a unique opportunity, Fitzgerald said. “The old ways of doing business are no longer working,” he said. “We have the absolute best soldiers in the world, but it’s our mandate to ensure those warfighters have the very best capabilities the world can provide.”

Fitzgerald urged the audience at Global Force, which included industry leaders, to work with the Army. “Let’s move faster, let’s think bigger, and let’s make sure the next revolutionary breakthrough happens with us,” he said. “The world’s not waiting, our adversaries aren’t waiting, and neither are we.”