In its quest to transform, the Army is pledging to be a better customer as it looks to industry for the latest technology and equipment.

“The only metric that matters is capability in the hands of the warfighter,” said Gen. James Rainey, commander of Army Futures Command, and the Army must make it easier for industry to understand what the service needs or is looking for. “You should not have to come to the Army and deal with three [program executive offices] or [program manager] surf through 40 of them,” Rainey said. “My commitment to you, the Army’s going to be a better customer on this journey. We need you on this.”

Speaking March 27 in a keynote address during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama, Rainey said the Army can’t transform by itself. “It’s going to take a team of teams,” he said.

As it looks to the future, the Army’s people remain its No. 1 asymmetric advantage, Rainey said. American ground forces—soldiers, Marines, special operations troops—remain the world’s premier land force, he said. “We’re absolutely going to need to do things like fight in cities, close in and fight enemies in horrific conditions,” Rainey said. “That last 500 meters, that’s not going away. That’s been constant throughout the history of warfare. There’s no technological solution that’s going to offset that.”

At the same time, the Army faces disruptive and challenging times, Rainey said. “Adaptation cycles are compressing, complexity is going through the roof,” he said.

Among his observations, Rainey said, is the move toward data-centric warfare, which will help commanders make decisions faster and take their command posts on the move. He also is observing the merger of precision and mass, Rainey said. “Most of us grew up looking at problems and deciding between a mass solution or a precision solution,” Rainey said. “It looks like … technology is creating an opportunity to be precise and mass effects at the same time.”

The Army also is looking to integrate humans with machines. “We’re figuring out how to combine our great people with unmanned systems,” Rainey said. “What we’re trying to offset is the risk.”

As he looks to the future, Rainey said the Army must be adaptable and have endurance.

“The ability of our combat formations to shoot, move, communicate, train their [butt] off and be well-led by noncommissioned officers and officers, none of that is going away,” he said. “The characteristic I would value tremendously in any formation is the ability to adapt. This is an advantage for us. The time and energy we put into building leaders and teaching leaders how to think, not what to think, that offers a huge advantage for the U.S.”

The Army—and the nation—also will need endurance to sustain large-scale combat operations, Rainey said.

“Well-led, well-trained formations are what our enemies want no part of at all,” Rainey said. “We’ve got to keep our close-combat dominance, and we owe our soldiers and commanders in the joint force better formations.”