TheUnited States Army Futures Command (AFC) was aUnited States Armycommand that ran modernization projects.[a] It was headquartered in Austin, Texas.
The AFC began initial operations on 1 July 2018.[3] It was created as a peer ofForces Command (FORSCOM),Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), andArmy Materiel Command (AMC).[4][5] While the other commands focus on readiness to "fight tonight", AFC aimed to improve future readiness for competition with near-peers.[6][7][8] The AFC commander functioned as the Army's chief modernization investment officer.[9][10]: Section 4 [Note 1][11] It was supported by the United States Army Reserve Innovation Command (75th Innovation Command).[12]
Between 1995 and 2009, the Army spent $32 billion on programs such as theFuture Combat System[17] that were later cancelled with no harvestable content.[18] As of 2021, the Army had not fielded a new combat system in decades.[19][20][21][22][23][24]
Army Futures Command was established in 2018 byArmy SecretaryMark Esper to improve Army acquisition by creating better requirements and reducing the time to develop a system to meet them.[25][26][27][28] Leaders who helped form the command include GeneralMark Milley, then Army Chief of Staff,[29] and Under Secretary of the ArmyRyan McCarthy. Its first commander was GeneralJohn Murray,[30] formerly the Army'sG-8.[a]
Over his tenure as Army Secretary, Esper led a process known as "night court", working with other top service officials, to free up and shift billions of dollars into modernization programs and based the new command in Austin, Texas, an area known for its innovative, technology-focused workforce.[31][32][33][34] The Army gave the command's chief and the leaders of new groups, dubbed "§ cross-functional teams", the authority to manage requirements and the leeway to direct dollars.
Murray announced plans to stand up an Army Applications Lab[Note 1] to accelerate acquisition and deployment of materiel to the soldiers, including by usingartificial intelligence (AI).[36][37]
A fundamental strategy was formulated, involving simultaneous integrated operations across domains.[39][40] This strategy involves pushing adversaries tostandoff,[b][43][42] by presenting them with multiple simultaneous dilemmas.[44][45][c] A goal is that by 2028, the ability to project rapid, responsive power across domains will have become apparent to potential adversaries.[46][47][d]
In 2018, Army SecretaryRyan McCarthy said Futures Command would have three areas of focus:[48]
Futures and Concepts: assess gaps (needs versus opportunities,[11] given a threat).[48] Concepts for realizable future systems (with readily harvestable content)[49][50]: for definitions of terms, such as '6.3' will flow into TRADOC doctrine, manuals, and training programs.[a]
Combat Development: stabilized concepts.[49][50] Balance the current state of technology and the cash-flow requirements of the defense contractors providing the technology, that they become deliverable experiments, demonstrations, and prototypes, in an iterative process ofacquisition.[51][e][f] (SeeValue stream)
Combat Systems: experiments, demonstrations, and prototypes.[52] Transition to the acquisition, production, and sustainment programs of AMC.[53][g][h]
Army SecretaryMark Esper said that the 2018 administrative infrastructure for the Futures and Concepts Center (formerlyARCIC) and United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC, now called DEVCOM, (formerly RDECOM)) remains in place at their existing locations.[57] What has changed or will change is the layers of command (operational control, or OPCON)[58] needed to make a decision.[57]
AFC declared its full operational capability in July 2019,[59][60] after an initial one-year period.[61] TheFY2020 military budget allocated $30 billion for the top six modernization priorities over the next five years.[62] The $30 billion came from $8 billion in cost avoidance and $22 billion in terminations.[62][63] More than 30 projects[64][65] were envisioned to become the materiel basis needed forovermatching any potential competitors in the 'continuum of conflict' over the next ten years[23][66] in multi-domain operations (MDO).[67]
From an initial 12 people at its headquarters in 2018, AFC grew to more than 17,000 people[68] across 25 states and 15 countries in 2019.[69] AFC's research facilities and personnel (including ARCIC and RDECOM) moved from other commands and parts of the Army such as theUnited States Army Research Laboratory.[70]
ASA(ALT) Bruce Jette started xTechsearch to reward private innovators.[71][i] TheCOVID-19 pandemic led the Army to run an xTechsearchVentilator Challenge.[73] TRX Systems won an xTechsearch award for technology that allows navigation in a GPS-denied environment.
On 13 October 2021, Army officials said most of AFC's 31 signature systems,[74] and the four rapid capability projects of the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office would be fielded by fiscal year 2023.[75][e][f]
In 2022, Army leaders projected that 24 of the top-35 priority modernization programs would be deployed by fiscal 2023.[92]
Army SecretaryChristine Wormuth announced the top six areas for the Army of 2030:[93][94]: minute 43:30 1) improved intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; 2) "Coordination at greater speed";[c] 3) "Win the Fires fight"; 4) concealment[95][96] via improved mobility and reduced signature; 5) "talk often and quickly";[97][j] and 6) logistics.[93][98][46][47][99][100][101][102]
By 2022, Futures Command was conducting the third annual iteration ofProject Convergence: experiments and joint tests of 300 technologies by the Defense Department and its allies and partners.[103][104][105][106][107]
In October 2022, Wormuth assigned AFC to work on "Army of 2040" concepts.[a][108][94]: minute 51:00 [98][109][110] Two months later, Futures Command hosted a conference with representatives from AMC, TRADOC, FORSCOM, and Headquarters Department of the Army.[111][112][113][114] AFC is leading the development of a new Army Operating Concept (v. 1.0) for the Army of 2030 to 2040.[115][116][a]
The 'All-domain sensing cross-functional team' (CFT) is standing up to support the plethora of data coming from data sources across the joint and combined services, allies, and partners.[117] This CFT is built from the existing PNT (positioning, navigation, and tracking) CFT.[117]See CombinedJADC2. The contested logistics CFT was stood up in 2023.[118][101]
In May 2025, the Army announced it would merge Army Futures Command withTraining and Doctrine Command to form theU.S. Army Transformation and Training Command.[15]
On 2 October 2025, the Army deactivated Army Futures Command in a ceremony atAustin, Texas. The new Transformation and Training Command, known as T2COM, will be activated simultaneously.[119]
The commanding general was assisted by three deputy commanders.
TheFutures and Concepts Center:[120] The first commander was AFC deputy commanding general GeneralEric J. Wesley,[121][122][123][49][50] and it was led in 2021 by Lieutenant GeneralScott McKean.[124] The center operates along four lines of effort: science and technology,[Note 3][125] experiments, concepts development,[11][126][127] and requirements development.[43]
Combat Development:[128][129][120] Helps AFC commander to assess and integrate the future operational environment, emerging threats, and technologies to develop and deliver concepts, requirements, and future force designs.
The capability development integration directorate (CDID) of eachCenter of Excellence, works with its cross-functional team and its research, development and engineering center to develop operational experiments and prototypes to test.
The Battle Labs and the Research Analysis Center[130][126] prototype and analyze the concepts to test.
TheJoint Modernization Command provides live developmental experiments to test those concepts or capabilities, "scalable from company level to corps, amid tough, realistic multi-domain operations".[131][7][132]
Acquisition and Systems (founded as Combat Systems in 2018):[k][a]
Gen. Robert Abrams has tasked III Corps with providing soldier feedback for the Next Generation Combat Vehicles CFT, XVIII Corps for the soldier feedback on the soldier lethality CFT, the Network CFT, as well as the Synthetic Training CFT, and I Corps for the Long Range Precision Fires CFT.[142]
Combat Systems refines, engineers, and produces the developed solutions from Combat Development.[143][144]
Multi-domain operations (MDO): Friendly forces (denoted in black)[145] operating in multi-domains (gray, yellow, light blue, dark gray, and dark blue)—Space, Cyber, Air, Land, and Maritime respectively—cooperate across domains,[h] working as an integrated force against adversaries (denoted in red). These operations will disrupt these adversaries, and present themmultiple simultaneous dilemmas,[c] to encourage adversaries to return to competition rather than continue a conflict.[67][146][147]
When AFC was created in 2018, it was given eight cross-functional teams, or CFTs: one for each of the Army's six modernization priorities, and two others for broader capabilities. These teams are Long-Range Precision Fires, Next-Generation Combat Vehicles, Future Vertical Lift, the Network to include Precision Navigation and Timing, Air-and-Missile Defense, Soldier Lethality and Synthetic Training Environment.[148][149][150][151]
In 2023, the Army announced that it would create a ninth team, for Contested Logistics.[152][101][153] The 2023 exercises for IndoPacom will test its prepositioned stocks.[154] The CG of Army Materiel Command is taking the lead for contested logistics.[155]
In 2018, McCarthy characterized a CFT as a team of teams, led by a requirements leader, program manager, sustainer and tester.[156] Some CFTs also have representatives of U.S. allies.[157][60] Each CFT lead is mentored by a 4-star general.[158] Each CFT can have a Capability Development Integration Directorate.[Note 2] For example, the Aviation Center of Excellence atFort Rucker, in coordination with the Aviation Program Executive Officer (PEO), contains the Vertical Lift CFT and the Aviation CDID. "We were never above probably a total of eight people", the Aviation CFT's Brigadier General Wally Rugen said in 2018.[158] Four of the eight CFT leads have now shifted from dual-hat jobs to full-time status.
Each CFT must strike a balance amid constraints—the realms of requirements, acquisition, science and technology, test, resourcing, costing, and sustainment—to produce a realizable concept before a competitor achieves it.[159]
Project Convergence is a campaign of learning to aggressively pursue an Artificial Intelligence and machine learning-enabled battlefield management system.[j]
AFC has given research funding to more than 300 colleges and universities[60] with one-year program cycles.[176] "We will come to you. You don't have to come to us," Murray said on 24 August 2018",[61]: minute 6:07 [177]
Multiple incubator tech hubs are available in Austin,[178] especially Capital Factory, with offices ofDefense Innovation Unit (DIU) andAFWERX (USAF tech hub).[131]
AFC will work with other organizations such as Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) as needed.[122][179]
AFC's headquarters is based inAustin, Texas where it spreads across three locations totaling 75,000 ft2;[177] One location is aUniversity of Texas System building at 210 W. Seventh St. in downtown Austin, on the 15th and 19th floors; UT Regents did not charge rent to AFC through December 2019.[180][181]
AFC personnel also operate in and from dozens of military installations around the country, including:
A simulation used to put leadership teams in a situation akin to a Combat Training Center rotation, "an intellectually and emotionally challenging environment that forgives the mistakes of the participants"[182][183] In a role-playing session; a trainer (not seen) must tell the virtual Soldier what the Soldier is not doing correctly. Trainers using this program show a 40% increase in their knowledge of theSexual Harassment/Assault Response & Prevention policy.[184] These simulations are created at Army Research Laboratory (ARL) West, andICT,Playa Vista, CACCDCArmy Research Laboratory Neuroscience Big Data: over ten years of EEG data, comprising over 1,000 recording sessions (TheCognition and Neuroergonomics Collaborative Technology Alliance)[185]
AFSG Army Future Studies Group,[49][50] 2530 Crystal Dr, Arlington, VA 22202
FT LVN Operations research: Mission Command Battle Lab,[127][189][190][191][192] Capability development integration directorate (CDID),[193] The Research Analysis Center (TRAC), formerly TRADOC Analysis Center,[130][126]Fort Leavenworth KS
APG[217][218]Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen MD, also housesCombat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC, now called DEVCOM),[128] formerly RDECOM, Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity (AMSAA), and C5ISR center[219][220][221] (the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center was formerlyCERDEC)
In 2018, the Army secretary ordered AFC to draft an execution order to create an Army AI Task Force (A-AI TF) to support theDoD Joint AI center.[232][233][36][234] The Army AI task force establish scalable machine learning projects at Carnegie Mellon University.[235][236]
That same year, the Army Applications Laboratory was established along with AFC to help connect Army-future efforts and commercial products and ideas.[Note 1]
In 2019, theArmy CIO/G-6 was ordered to create an Identity, Credential, and Access Management system to efficiently issue and verify credentials to non-person entities (AI agents and machines)[237] As well, DCS G-2 will coordinate with CG AFC, and director of A-AI TF, to provide intelligence for Long-Range Precision Fires. CG AMC will provide functional expertise and systems for maintenance of materiel with AI. AFC and A-AI TF will establish an AI test bed for experimentation, training, deployment, and testing of machine learning capabilities and workflows.[238][239][240][241]
In 2022, DEVCOM Analysis Center (DAC) signed a cooperative agreement with Northeastern University's Kostas Research Institute (KRI) to build on KRI's analytic framework, with six other universities on artificial intelligence and assistive automation (AI/AA), to further Army sub-goals ("mission effectiveness analysis, ontology for decision making, automatic target recognition, human systems integration, cyber resilience/electronic warfare threat defense, and assessing autonomous maneuver/mobility").[242]
Futures Command was to stand up Army Software Factory in August 2021, to immerse soldiers and Army civilians of all ranks in modern software development, in Austin.[243][244][245][246][247] Like the Training with Industry program, participants are expected to take these practices back with them, to influence other Army people in their future assignments, and to build up the Army's capability in software development. The training program lasts three years, and will produce skill sets for trainees as product managers, user experience and user interface designers, software engineers, or platform engineers.[243] The Al Work Force Development program and this Software Factory will complement the Artificial Intelligence Task Force.[244][248] The Army has identified soldiers who can already code at Ph.D.-level, but who are in unexpected MOSs.[249] In March 2023 the Marine Corps moved its software factory to the Army's software factory in Austin, Texas.[250]
Data
The Army looks for ideas from defense contractors In 2018, for example, the Network CFT and the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications—Tactical (PEO C3T) hosted a forum so vendors could learn what products might soon work as testable or deployable systems.[201][251][252][253] Vendors submitted hundreds of white papers; ones with "very mature ideas" were passed to the Army's acquisition community and to theCommunications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC).[254]
The Army is interested in ways to accelerate acquisition programs. For example, this was an explicit request in the 2019 solicitation for requests for information aboutFuture Vertical Lift.[89] In January 2020, the optionally manned fighting vehicle solicitation was cancelled when its requirements added up to an unobtainable project;[255]
Robotic combat vehicles
Robotic combat vehicle (RCV)Project Origin unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), at Joint Multinational Readiness Center, Hohenfels, Germany[256][257][258]
By October 2021, experiments with a company-sized tele-operated / unmanned formation were underway atCamp Grayling, Michigan.[259][258][260][261] The 18 light and mediumrobotic combat vehicles (RCV), in concert with surrogate heavy RCVs (modifiedM113 armored personnel carriers), proxy manned control vehicles (MET-Ds), and drones for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), were to complete ATEC (Army Test and Evaluation Command) safety testing in May 2022[261] and live-fire drills in August 2022.[261][262]
By June 2022, Army RCVs had demonstrated some disruptive capabilities,[256] in preparation forProject Convergence 2022. At PC22, resupply byunmanned helicopters and other autonomous capabilities were demonstrated by systems from the US, Australia, and UK.[263]: min 25:30 [264][265][266]
In May 2023, Army Futures Command disclosed concepts for robotic combat platoons,[267] akin to thecollaborative combat aircraft (CCA) of the Air Force.[268]
Futures Command works with theASA(ALT),[269][270] who as Army Acquisition Executive (AAE),[10] has milestone decision authority (MDA)[52][24] at multiple points in a materiel development decision (MDD).[271] AFC consolidates expertise into the relevant CFT, which balances the constraints needed to realize a prototype, beginning with requirements, science and technology, test, etc., then enters the acquisition process (typically the Army prototypes on its own and, as of 2019, initiates acquisition at Milestone B in order to have the Acquisition Executive, with the concurrence of the Army Chief of Staff, decide on production as aProgram of Record at Milestone C).[272] Next, refine the prototype to address the factors needed to pass the Milestone decisions A, B, and C which require Milestone decision authority (MDA) in an acquisition process.[272] This consolidation of expertise thus reduces the risks in a Materiel development decision (MDD), for the Army to admit a prototype into a program of record.) The existing processes (as of April 2018) for a Materiel development decision (MDD) have been updated to clarify their place in the Life Cycle of a program of record:[10][271][49] over 1,200 programs/projects were reviewed;[273] by October 2019, over 600 programs of record had been moved from the acquisition phase to the sustainment phase.[273] An additional life cycle management action is underway, to re-examine which of these projects or programs should be cancelled.[273]
The current acquisition system has pieces all throughout the Army. ... There's chunks of it in TRADOC and chunks of it in AMC and then other pieces. So really all we're trying to do is get them all lined up under a single command…..from concept, S&T, RDT&E, through the requirements process, through the beginnings of the acquisition system—Milestone A, B, and C.[48]
— Defense Secretary Mark Esper
The PEOs work closely with their respective CFTs.[276] Operationally, the CFTs reduce degrees of separation between Army echelons,[158] and provide a point of contact for Army reformers.[11][158]
The development process will consist of one or more cycles (prototype, demonstration/testing, and evaluation,[54][282]) meant to find and discard unrealistic requirements before a project becomes a program.[60][24] "Our new approach is really to prototype as much as we can to help us identify requirements, so our reach doesn't exceed our grasp. ... A good example isFuture Vertical Lift: The prototyping has been exceptional," Esper said in 2019.[283][f]
AFC activities include at least one cross-functional team, its capability development integration directorate (CDID),[284]: Para. 2b and the associated Battle Lab,[284]: Para. 2b for each Army Center of Excellence. Each CDID and associated Battle Lab work with their CFT to develop operational experiments and prototypes to test.[133]
ASA(ALT), in coordination with AFC, has dotted-line relationships between its PEOs and the CFTs. In particular, the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office of ASA(ALT) has a PEO to develop experimental prototype "units of action" for rapid fielding. In June 2019, the prototypes were for long-range hypersonic weapons, high-energy laser defense, and space,[285][286][287] The Army tripled its spending on speed and range capabilities from 2017 to 2019.[288][213][289][290][291]
CCDC, now called DEVCOM (formerly RDECOM, at APG) includes the several Army research laboratory locations,[294] as well as research, development and engineering centers listed:[284][133][295]
CCDC is focusing on long-range precision fires the six RDECs and theArmy Research Laboratory. As of September 2018, RDECOM's "concept of operation" is first to support the LRPF CFT,[225] withARDEC.AMRDEC is looking to improve the energetics and efficiency of projectiles.TARDEC Ground Vehicle Center is working on high-voltage components for extended range cannon artillery that save on size and weight.[225] Two dedicated RDECOM people support the LRPF CFT, with reachback support from two dozen more at RDECOM.[296] In January 2019, RDECOM was renamed CCDC; General Murray noted that CCDC will have to support more soldier feedback, and that prototyping and testing will have to begin before a project ever becomes a program of record.[134][295]
Acquisition specialists are being encouraged to accept lateral transfers to RDECs where their skills are needed: Ground Vehicle Systems Center (formerly TARDEC, atDetroit Arsenal. Michigan), Aviation and Missile Center (formerly AMRDEC, atRedstone Arsenal), C5ISR Center (formerly CERDEC, atAberdeen Proving Ground), Soldier Center (formerly NSRDEC, Natick, Massachusetts), and Armaments Center (formerly ARDEC, atPicatinny Arsenal) listedbelow.[297]
Esper said AFC will reduce the time needed to define requirements for a new program from 60 to 12 months.[298][6][58] Requirements may be reduced to "a simple statement of a problem."[299]: minute 41:50 [300][61]: minute 11:00 [123][301][295][49] The development process will consist of repeated prototyping, demonstration/testing, and evaluation, designed to find and eliminated unrealistic requirements. ASA(ALT) Bruce Jette says the acquisition community should seek to fail and find a new solution rather than commit a program to a drawn-out failure.[302][303][276]
Esper scrubbed through 800[304] modernization programs to reprioritize funding[305] for the top six modernization priorities,[169] which will consume 80% of the modernization funding,[306] of 18 systems.[306] His "night court" budget review process shifted $2.4 billion for modernization from programs that were not tied to modernization or to the 2018 National Defense Strategy.[307]
Budgets will likely restrict the fielding of new materiel to one Armor BCT per year;[308] at that rate, updates would take decades.[308][309]
In February 2020, the Army vice chief of staff said Army modernization was perceptibly speeding up.[310]
This Life Cycle Management (formulated in 2004)[311][312] was intended to exert the kind of operational control (OPCON)[58] needed just for the sustainment function (AMC's need for Readiness today),[302] rather than for its relevance to modernization for the future. AFC now serves as the deciding authority when moving a project in its Life Cycle, out of the Acquisition phase and into the Sustainment phase.[273][24][a]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, the Acquisition Executive and the AFC commander created a COVID-19 task force to try to project supplier problems 30, 60, and 90 days out. In 2020, they tracked 800 programs and 35 priorities.[313]
The CFTs must balance requirements, acquisition, science and technology, test, resourcing, costing, and sustainment.[159][156][Note 2]
The plan is to have an MDO-capable Army by 2028[d] and an MDO-ready Army by 2035.[314][315]
In 2018, McConville saidTRADOC, ASA (ALT), and AFC are tied together.[316] The ASA(ALT) will coordinate the acquisition reform with AFC.[284]: Para. 1c [270][24] He also said AFC will have to be "a little bit disruptive" to institute reforms within budget in a timely way.[317]
Congress has given the Army Other Transaction Authority (OTA),[318][Note 1] which allows the PEOs to enter into Full Rate Production quicker by permitting the services to control their own programs of record, rather than DoD.[137] This strips out one layer of bureaucracy.[137][319][320]Middle tier acquisition authority is another tool.[321][322]
There is now aPEO for Rapid Capabilities (RCO) with two program managers, one for rapid prototyping, and one for rapid acquisition, of a capability.[323] Requirements are developed by the Cross-functional team (CFT).[324] In 2019 RCO became the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO).[325]
In 2019, Futures Command was formulating multiyear enterprise campaign plans.[326][189] The planning process includes Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC), AFC's cross-functional teams (CFTs), Futures and Concepts (FCC), Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), and Army Reserve's Houston-based 75th Innovation Command. Pne goal is to formulate the plans in simple, coherent language which nests within the national security strategic documents.[326][97][327][266][328][329]By October 2022 Field Manual 3-0 said "Multi-domain Operations are at the root of all Army operations".[330]: § 1-11, p.1-3 [331]: minute 28:09 to 36:00
A goal of AFC isovermatch of the capability of a competitor or adversary, particularly the imposition of multiple simultaneous dilemmas upon a competitor or adversary.[7] By 2021, Army leaders recognized that themulti-domain operations task force[332] could do so.[333]: min 30:45 [c]
Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) development at Picatinny Arsenal: evaluate several manufacturing technologies, tied to the XM1113 munition.[344][345] ERCA was cancelled in March 2024;[346] Gen. Rainey has ceded towed artillery as at its end-of-life.[347]
Prototype jam-resistant GPS kits are being fielded to2nd Cavalry Regiment inUS European Command (EUCOM) before year-end 2019.[282] More than 300 Strykers of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment are being fitted with the Mounted Assured Precision Navigation & Timing System (MAPS), with thousands more planned forEUCOM.[361]
A Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) to Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) is under development.[362][363][253]
Low Earth orbit satellites for Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing—"When you look at the sheer number of satellites that go up and the reduced cost to do it, it gives us an array of opportunities on how to solve the problems" in A-PNT[364]
ARL researchers have proposed and demonstrated a way for small ground-based robots with mounted antennas to configurephased arrays, a technique which usually takes a static laboratory to develop. Instead the researchers used robots to covertly create and focus a highly directional parasitic array (seeYagi antenna).[365]
ARL's Army Research Office is funding researchers atUniversity of Texas at Austin, andUniversity of Lille who have built a new 5G component using hexagonalboron nitride which can switch at performant speeds, while remaining 50 times more energy-efficient than current materials—the "thinnest known insulator with a thickness of 0.33nanometers".[366]
ARL's Army Research Office is seeking diamondcolloids, microscopic spheres which can assemble bottom-up into promising structures for laser action.[367]
A demonstration of proof of concept allows soldiers to communicate their position using a wearable tracking unit. The technology allows soldiers (or robots) to prosecute a fight even indoors or underground, even if GPS were lost.[368]
Hypersonic glide vehicle launch preparations,[320] beginning in 2020, and continuing with launches every six months.[376]
AtNaval Air Weapons Station China Lake, an FVL CFT-sponsored demonstration of interconnected sensors handed off control of a glide munition which had been launched from a Grey Eagle drone. When another group of sensors picked up a higher-priority target, another operator at the Tactical Operations Center redirected the glide munition to the higher-priority targe.[377][378][379]
CCDC ARL researchers are developing a flexible, waterproof,lithium-ion battery of any size and shape, for soldiers to wear; the electrolyte is water itself. In 2020 the batteries were engineering prototypes; by 2021 soldiers will wear the battery for themselves for the first time.[398]
CCDC ARL and DoE's PNNL are examining the solid-electrolyte-interphase (SEI) as it first forms during the initial charging of a lithium-ion battery. They have found an inner SEI (thin, dense, and inorganic—most likelylithium oxide) between the copper electrode, and an outer SEI which is organic and permeable—a finding which will be useful when building future batteries.[399]
CCDC ARL and MIT researchers are formulating atomically thin materials to be layered upon soldiers' equipment and clothing for MDO information display and processing.[400]
Integrated, wearable cabling for capabilities such as IVAS,Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW), orNett Warrior are under development;[401] the potential exists to reduce 20 pounds of batteries to half that weight.[402]
Natick Soldier RDEC has awarded an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contract to prototype soldier exoskeletons which augment human leg strength under harsh conditions.[404][405][406][407]
DEVCOM Chem Bio Center (CBC) is developing sensors to detect contaminants.[408]
TheInfantry Squad Vehicle (ISV)[409][410] is meant to be airdropped for a squad of nine paratroopers.[411] The GM design was selected; first unit is expected at 1/82nd AB division in February 2021.[412][413]
A-PNT devices are being miniaturized, with more redundant positioning sources.[358][53]: pp220-3 [g]
In September 2019 in the ManeuverCoE's Battle Lab atFort Benning, OneSAF simulations[414] of a platoon augmented by UAS drones, ground robots, and AI were able to dislodge a defending force 3 times larger, repeatedly. But by current doctrine, a near-battalion would have been required to accomplish that mission.[414]
In February 2024 the department of the Air Force announced its intention to create the Space Futures Command.[415][416] The US Air Force is seeking to launch Integrated Capabilities Command by year-end 2024 to set future requirements for the USAF.[417]
^abcdefghijThe CG,AFC is responsible forForce design (in the style ofTRADOC's G357,[422] but applied to Force modernization, rather than training).[160] The Army's Force management model begins with a projection of the Future operating environment, in terms of resources: political, military, economic, social, information, infrastructure, physical environment, and the time available to bring the Current army to bear on the situation.[423] TheAROC serves as a discussion forum of these factors.[160]
The ArmyG-8 andG-3/5/7 sit on the Army Requirements Oversight Council (AROC), chaired by the Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA).[424]: diagram on p.559 [160][423]
The relevant strategy is provided by the Army's leadership to guide Army staff.[424]
ADOTMLPF analysis models the factors necessary to change the Current force into a relevant Future force.[425]
AJCIDS/ACIDS[426] process identifies the gaps in capability between Current and Future force.
A Force design to meet themateriel gaps is underway.
An organization with the desired capabilities (manpower, materiel, training) is brought to bear on each gap.
AR 5-22(pdf) lists the Force modernization proponent for each Army branch, which can be aCoE orBranch proponent leader.
Staff uses Synchronization meetings[427]: minute 8:29 before seeking approval —HTAR Force Management 3-2b: "Managing change in any large, complex organization requires the synchronization of many interrelated processes".[424]: p.3-1
A budget request is submitted to Congress.
Approved requests then await resource deliveries which then become available to thecombatant commanders.
^ Instandoff,[41] adversaries attempt to project protected areas against each other.[42] Within these protected areas, friends are deemed safe, but foes who attempt penetration are endangered by the capabilities of the allies arrayed against them. Outside these protected areas, adversaries compete for control, byprojecting their power.
In September 2020 an ABMS Onramp demonstrated aspecific scenario, which can be illustrated by the 5 red numbered bullet points from the slide in TRADOC pamphlet 525-3-1:
Competition— No overt hostilities are yet detected. Blue bar (force projection) is in standoff against red bar (threat).
Strategic Support area— National assets (blue) detect breaching of standoff by adversary (in red).
Close area support— blue assets hand-off to the combatant commands, who are to create effects visible to the adversary (in red).
Deep maneuver— blue combatant actions dis-integrate adversary efforts (per TRADOC pamphlet 525-3-1: "militarily compete, penetrate, dis-integrate, and exploit" the adversary); —Operational and Strategic deep fires create effects on the adversary. Adversary is further subject todefeat in detail, until adversaries perceive they are overmatched (no more red assets to expend).
Adversary retreats to standoff. The populations perceive that the adversary is defeated, for now. (Compare toPerkins' cycle, 'return to competition', in which deterrence has succeeded in avoiding a total war, in favor of pushing an adversary back to standoff (the red threat bar). Blue force projection still has overmatched red threat.)
^abc In Future Vertical Lift, FARA and FLRAA are projected to be prototyped by 2028, with fielding by 2030.[89][90] The OMFV prototype is projected for 2025.[91]
^abcdefASA(ALT)(2018) Weapon Systems Handbookupdate Page 32 lists how the Weapon Systems Handbook is organized. 440 pages.
By Modernization priority
By Acquisition or Business System category (ACAT or BSC). The Weapon systems in each ACAT are sorted alphabetically by Weapon system name. Each weapon system might also be in several variants (Lettered); a weapon system's variants might be severally and simultaneously in the following phases of its Life Cycle, namely—°Materiel Solution Analysis; °Technology Maturation & Risk Reduction; °Engineering & Manufacturing Development; °Production & Deployment; °Operations & Support
^abcThe Army's unclassified Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) concept is "the combined arms employment of capabilities from all domains that create and exploit relative advantages to defeat enemy forces, achieve objectives and consolidate gains duringcompetition,crisis, andarmed conflict".[56]
^The 2020xTechSearch top ten semifinalists (who will each receive $120,000) are:[72]
Bounce Imaging, for a tactical throwable camera (self-orienting, pointable camera)
GeneCapture, for deployable medical tests
Inductive Ventures, for magnetic braking of helicopters
IoT/AI, for hardware IoT AI devices
LynQ Technologies, for a GPS beacon
KeriCure, for wound care
MEI Micro, for Micro Electronic-Mechanical System Inertial Measurement Unit (assured position, navigation, and timing—A-PNT)
"A computer-coordinated fight": in the air, land, sea, space, cyber, and the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS)
"forces from satellites to foot soldiers to submarines sharing battle data at machine-to-machine speed"
"it's the ability to integrate and effectively command and control all domains in a conflict or in a crisis seamlessly"—Gen. Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
All-Domain Operations (ADO) use global capabilities: "space, cyber, deterrent [the nuclear triad (for mutually assured destruction in the Cold War, an evolving concept in itself)], transportation, electromagnetic spectrum operations, missile defense"
^TheCombat Systems Directorate[129] was to be led by the ASA(ALT)'s Principal Military Deputy[135][136] (Principal Military Deputy (PMILDEP) to theASA(ALT))[10]: AD2018-15, 6b:PMILDEP will additionally be AFC director, Combat Systems [137] who will produce those developed solutions and seek feedback.[52][138] In 2022, AD2018-15 was rescinded by Army Directive AD2022-07,[139] which in turn is subject to rescission 180 days after passage of FY2023 NDAA.[140][141]
—Adam Jay Harrison's list for types of Funding Authority
^abcThe capabilities as prioritized by the Chief of Staff, will usesubject-matter experts (SMEs) in the realms of requirements, acquisition, science and technology, test, resourcing, costing, and sustainment, usingCFTs for:
Contested logistics—(Huntsville, Alabama) Lead:Army Materiel Command (AMC) stood up in 2023
Above, 'dotted line' relationship (i.e., coordination) is denoted by a ' ... '
^As an example, any number of effects can be weaponized (see p.1The New York Times 2 September 2018 "Invisible strikes may be cause of envoy's ills", describing theMicrowave auditory effect), or else countered. Hypersonic vehicles are a countermeasure to ballistic missiles.
^abcJP-1Archived 26 August 2018 at theWayback Machine p.xxi has the definition of operational control (OPCON). Note that "command authority may not be delegated" (COCOM being command authority). p.xxii has the definition of administrative control (ADCON): one application being coordinating authority.
^Mazzone, Chrissy (30 September 2025)."Austin's Army Futures Command 'deactivating' this week".www.kxan.com.Archived from the original on 2 October 2025. Retrieved2 October 2025.After seven years in Austin, the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC) is preparing for a major change. The command, which has been headquartered downtown since 2018, will officially deactivate this week, with a new organization taking its place. (___enter___); A ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 2, at the LBJ Auditorium on the University of Texas campus. The event will mark the end of AFC and the activation of the new Transformation and Training Command.
^Army Futures CommandFCC Leadership (20 February 2020)."Futures and Concepts Center".Futures and Concepts Center. Archived fromthe original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved20 February 2020.
^abcdHeadquarters, Department of the Army(29 Jun 2021) Army Regulation 71–9 Force Management. Warfighting Capabilities DeterminationArchived 23 October 2022 at theWayback Machine °1-6c, p.1) tasks for CG,AFC; °2-24 p.13) CG,AFC is a principal member of AROC, with 43 dutiesa through qq; °3-1 ch.3 pp20-21) AROC is a forum for requirements decisions (RDF); °4-1 p.24) CG,AFC is responsible for force design; °6-4 p39) figure 6-1 Deliberate staffing and review process;figures for more staffing and review processes follow.
Prometheus, which is AI software, combs through the data for potential threats and targets.
SHOT, which is also software, tracks each target on a custody list, correlating each target's current location, signature, and threat assessment, with a list of candidate fires countermeasures, ranked by capability, range to the target, kill radius, etc. "SHOT then computes the optimal match of weapons to targets", and passes the list to AFATDS.
Human commanders choose whether to fire, or not, from the list of fires assets (Nelson notes that ERCA and Grey Eagle drones are to be added to the list of fires assets—currently M777 howitzers and MLRS 270 rocket launchers in the upcoming tests, August 2020).
satellites perform Battle damage assessment, to update the list of threats and targets.
^Maj. Chris Parker, Dr. Paul Reese, Director, Fielded Force Integration Division, COL E.J. Karlberg, Director, Combined Arms Integration Directorate, and Mr. Rich Creed, Director, Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate,Breaking Doctrine podcast at Fort Leavenworth(2020) Breaking Doctrine: Episode 14 - Transitioning the Army to MDOArchived 12 November 2022 at theWayback Machine 1:02:44 How a Concept becomes Doctrine at TRADOC Combined Arms Center,Fort LeavenworthDOTMLPF-P
^abMaj. Anthony Clas, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division Public Affairs: (SEPTEMBER 4, 2019) Target Mensuration course: Bulldog Brigade trains target acquisition with precision Target Mensuration Only (TMO) Including TMO in a unit training plan
^abArmy Futures Command"STAND-TO!".www.army.mil.Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved15 December 2021. Army Software Factory
^Katie Davis Skelley, DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center Public Affairs(27 May 2022) Software Factory helps transform Army from industrial to information ageArchived 12 March 2023 at theWayback Machine 16-week boot camp. Four different tracks (platform engineer, software developer, product manager and designer). Anyone (soldier or Army civilian) can submit a problem to the Factory; A team interviews the problem, performs an initial scoping, and then decides whether to accept the problem to work on.
^Jaspreet Gill(10 March 2023) Marines teaming with Army on 3-year software factory pilotArchived 11 March 2023 at theWayback Machine technical accelerator; 3 year pilot is to build applications; at least 50 Marines; 8 to enter the technical accelerator every 6 months; each of them in a program to accelerate modernization as product managers, designers, or software developers. The teams will learn baseline skillsets using pair programming for one-on-one mentoring, and utilization.
^abcLacdan, Joe (19 June 2019)."Army leaders say service must shore up its space defense"(PDF). Army News Service. I Corps has I2CEWS Battalion or Intelligence, Information, Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Space Battalion. Archived from the original on 23 June 2019. Retrieved30 September 2023.(Fyi: the "original" link at "fortblissbugle.com" is now a gaming site. Only use the archive link.)
^Positioning, Navigation and Timing Assessment Exercise (PNTAX)
^abKoester, Jonathan (4 September 2019)."Army, JMC assess new navigation, positioning systems. Wearable A-PN".fortissbugle.com. Joint Modernization Command Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved30 September 2023.(Fyi: the "original" link at "fortblissbugle.com" is now a gaming site. Only use the archive link.)
Theresa Hitchens(12 October 2020) SMDC Pushes For New PNT, Tracking Sat Payloads In addition to the 3 LEO satellite programs mentioned above, SMDC's technical center is working on project TITAN (Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node), a "common, mobile ground station" for the Army's tactical needs.
^Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.(25 February 2020) Future Vertical Lift: Army's Aerial Vanguard LRPF will be the prime customer for the AI targeting data provided via FVL. The Joint force is also a consumer of this data, provided by FVL's manned or unmanned missions.
^Devon L. Suits, Army News Service(9 December 2019) Third IVAS evaluation slated for July Soldier Touchpoint successfully increased IVAS FOV to 80 degrees while range of the goggles was still at 900 meters, from thermal nightsight capability
^abcUnited States Army War College and Army Force Management School(2019-2020) How the Army Runs HTAR: A senior leader reference handbook which synthesizes "existing and developing National, Defense, Joint, and Army systems, processes, and procedures currently practiced"
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