Once upon a time, if the Army needed a new weapon or communications system, it would send a list of requirements up the chain of command and wait for years to get the product fielded. But a new concept, called "transformation in contact," is streamlining that process.

"It's user-driven, as opposed to lab-based," Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia, who commands the 101st Airborne Division, said Oct. 15 at the Association of the U.S. Army's Annual Meeting and Exposition.

Those labs of the past would develop the system, he said, "and then a new piece of equipment would show up sometime later and may or may not still be completely relevant."

Sylvia’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team tested this new concept during a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana, over the summer, along with another new innovation, the Multi-Function Reconnaissance Company.

Where previously brigade combat teams would send scouts to identify obstacles or enemies ahead of a unit, these companies can send up a mass of drones to map the area, and, if necessary, fire on targets.

"It can automatically identify a camouflaged enemy platform using its object detection capability, and then we can generate that fire mission and have rounds on target in less than a minute," Sylvia said.

On the flip side, new technology is making units on the battlefield less vulnerable to the enemy. That includes a compact, undetectable command and control center.

"Part of the survivability is the headquarters that we maintain," said Gen. Andrew Poppas, head of Army Forces Command. "If you were with us in Iraq and Afghanistan, you saw what we had there, and they're not survivable in the current battlefield—they're easily detectable."

The new command center concept does away with the antenna farms and static buildings of the past. "And then during this last rotation, our 2nd Brigade had just four Humvees all backed up behind one another, and that was a brigade command post that had every bit of the capability and functionality of those enormous command posts used to have," Sylvia said.

Then there's the new Infantry Squad Vehicle, which can maneuver at 20 kilometers per hour, versus maybe 3 kilometers per hour for its predecessor, allowing troops to quickly reconfigure on the battlefield as needed.

"And in the last exercise that we executed ... when we identified where the enemy was moving in their attack, we were able to adjust the formation, put them in a position of advantage in advance of the enemy and be able to destroy them before they were able to fully operationalize," Poppas said of JRTC rotation.

So far, three brigades have tested "transformation in contact," including 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division and 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division.

The Army plans to tap two armored brigade combat teams, two Stryker brigade combat teams, two divisions and several Army Reserve and National Guard units to test out the concept in the coming year.

— Meghann Myers for AUSA