ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

While autonomous capabilities are expected to be ubiquitous in the Army of 2040, it is unlikely that entire formations will be replaced by autonomous systems, Army Futures Command leaders said.

“As we have been studying this and war-gaming this, we believe human-machine integration will be at the core of our formations as we move forward,” Lt. Gen. Scott McKean, director of Army Futures Command’s Futures and Concepts Center, said March 28 at the Global Force Symposium and Exposition hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Army’s new approach to acquiring the systems it needs to modernize is “pretty quick” compared to the cumbersome, yearslong process of the past, said Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville.

With 34 major modernization systems coming to bear as part of the Army’s transformation through 2040, of which 24 systems are on track to be fielded or in prototype “in the hands of soldiers” this year, the Army has been able to streamline its process by having industry present ideas on paper first, McConville said.

The Army is committed to improving its installations and ensuring they are modern and resilient, a senior Army leader told lawmakers. 

“Installations are at the epicenter of everything we do in the Army,” Rachel Jacobson, assistant Army secretary for installations, energy and environment, said during a hearing before the House Armed Services subcommittee on readiness. “They’re where we train, work, learn and live. To strengthen Army readiness and build the force of the future, we must be laser-focused on providing state-of-the-art installations.” 

Army leaders have an ambitious initiative to grow the total force to 976,000 soldiers by 2028 through dramatic improvements in Regular Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve recruiting.

This goal would leave the Army slightly short of the 1 million uniformed members it had in 2022.

In its quest to help soldiers enhance their physical and mental performance, Army Futures Command brought together experts from the private sector to discuss new technologies and emerging trends.

Over a two-day symposium, the experts from academia and sports and technology companies weighed in on optimizing human performance by focusing on cognition among people with physically demanding jobs, using wearable technology or analog methods to encourage desired outcomes, making healthy choices, and examining the role of data in enabling better health, precision and resilience.

As the Army works to electrify its combat vehicles, it will not compromise combat effectiveness, a senior Army leader said.

In its bid to see, understand, decide and act first on the future battlefield, the Army tested more than 300 new and emerging technologies during its Project Convergence 2022 series of exercises.