When it comes to manufacturing, the biggest challenge facing the Army is the service’s approach to it, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said.

“It’s a process change, that’s what we’ve got to get after,” George said Dec. 7 during a panel discussion at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. “I think that’s the biggest challenge we have.”

During the panel, titled “Can We Build Again? Overcoming Production and Manufacturing Constraints to Build the Future Force,” George explained that, decades ago, the DoD “had 11 big pots of money, we didn’t have all these programs, we could move money around and we could spend it year after year. Now, we’re up to 1,800 or 1,900 different program lines.”

Exacerbating efficient management of those programs, he said, is a lack of predictable funding that can be used in a more flexible way. “I think we need to be more agile in our funding, especially when you’re talking about [unmanned aircraft systems], counter-UAS and [electronic warfare], and we know it spins very rapidly, and we have to be able to respond to that,” George said.

As part of their effort to more quickly transform the Army, and citing the speed at which technology is evolving and developing, senior leaders are working with Congress on more agile funding mechanisms, particularly in areas such as unmanned aerial systems. “If this pilot approach helps us keep pace with rapidly improving technology without sacrificing congressional oversight, it could help build the trust needed for greater spending flexibility in the future,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in October.

Another area for change is how the Army makes its requirements known, starting with the voluminous documents created to explain the need, George said. “We don’t need 30-page documents,” George said, offering as an example the network and how the Army puts out “a characterization of need.”

“We have a lot of amazing companies that can come in and help us do these things and change for us. We just need to let them go and tell them what they can do and be more rapid about doing that,” he said. “I think that the hardest thing is going to be with process change.”

Recognizing how quickly technology evolves, George called for a change in how the Army decides what it’s going to buy. It’s a topic that has been the subject of much discussion in the Army, George said.

“We’re also going to have to stop buying some things that we know aren’t going to be war-winning down the road, and that means you can find better value for your money and spend your money on the things you know are going to make the biggest difference on the battlefield,” he said.