As the Army fields autonomous capabilities throughout the force, Hawaii-based soldiers demonstrated that new technologies can be incorporated on the move and while in contact, senior leaders in the Indo-Pacific said.

Just back from a six-month Operation Pathways rotation, having spent most of their time training with their counterparts in the Philippines, soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team were observed “changing their mentality” as they adapted to the new technology, said Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, the division commander.

During their rotation, the soldiers focused on warfighting readiness and “transformation in contact,” an initiative driven by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to help the Army adapt more quickly to evolving technology. As part of that effort, the 25th Infantry Division soldiers worked with advanced sensing, striking and protection capabilities.

The soldiers adapted to the new capabilities easily, but “now they’re also looking up … and they’re asking questions about the small unmanned aerial systems they’re seeing, so watching them incorporate these new technologies at the earliest phases of training is really changing their mentality to integrate these additional assets, to see farther, to sense better, to strike farther and protect the formation,” Evans said July 26 during a call with reporters.

One piece of equipment that proved popular was the Silent Tactical Energy Enhanced Dismount, or STEED, said Command Sgt. Maj. Shaun Curry, the division’s senior enlisted adviser. A cart that the soldiers called the wheelbarrow, the STEED was quickly used to perform a multitude of tasks that helped soldiers move farther and faster while lightening their load.

“You can put up to three casualties on it. One person can move this equipment back by itself, so no longer do you need a whole squad to move one casualty,” Curry said, noting that “what the soldiers have been doing during transformation in contact is playing with that piece of equipment and the manufacturer to see what else it can carry.”

Soldiers began to use the wheelbarrow to carry a company’s communications equipment for mission command and mortar systems, Curry said.

“The next thing we’re starting to play with now is power generation, and how do we maintain our power systems, which is always going to be a limiting factor for [us] as we are a light brigade combat team, so less vehicles and less equipment,” Curry said.

Likewise, leaders looking at the broader environment now need to consider things like air-to-ground coordination, such as ensuring the airspace is clear of small unmanned aerial systems that may be performing reconnaissance. It’s an additional step “in some of these processes that leaders at all levels are going to have to train and work through,” Evans said.

Transformation in contact, Evans said, “is a way to adapt formations to get new technology into the hands of soldiers with a clear acknowledgement that the battlefield has changed.”

“We are striving each and every day to be more lethal and more mobile as part of the cornerstones of war fighting readiness,” he said. “We acknowledge that with the changes of technology and tactics that are prevalent, there’s a requirement to rapidly transform.”