PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY www.ausa.org March 28, 2025 | AUSA Extra 1 IN THIS ISSUE VOLUME 6 NUMBER 46 MARCH 28, 2025 Special Edition: Global Force Symposium ‘Team of Teams’ Needed to Build Future Force 3 Rapid Innovation Requires Industry 4 SMA Discusses Promotion Adjustments 7 Acquisition Efforts Focus on Speed, Scale 8, 9 Sustainment Leaders ‘Thinking Differently’ 10 Building the Squad of the Future 12 NCOs Drive Army Transformation 15 Generation Next Forum 17 Scenes from Global Force 18 Army must move faster to transform future force David Fitzgerald, the senior offi cial performing the duties of the undersecretary of the Army, speaks during AUSA’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama. (AUSA PHOTO) See Fitzgerald,Page 6 F aced with increasingly complex technical, operational and fi nan- cial challenges, the Army must move faster to transform the force, a senior leader said Tuesday at the Asso- ciation of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Hunts- ville, Alabama. “We have to do more to overtake the rate at which our adversaries are trans- forming,” said David Fitzgerald, the se- nior offi cial performing the duties of the undersecretary of the Army. “We have to do it better, we have to do it faster, we have to do it together.” The Army is at a “pivotal moment,” Fitzgerald said. “The character of war- fare is changing before our eyes,” he said. “Our adversaries are transform- ing.” This change demands a force that is continuously adapting and evolving. Citing the Army’s transformation in contact initiative, which puts emerging technology in soldiers’ hands for testing and experimentation, Fitzgerald said the concept “rightly recognized that a transformed, ready Army is not an end state.” Instead, it’s a process that in- cludes working with warfi ghters, indus- try, developers and more. “We’ve revolutionized before, from the Manhattan Project to pioneering GPS and the internet, and we can do it again,” Fitzgerald said. To achieve those goals, the Army must act with purpose and decisiveness, he said. This includes making sure the Army is a “better customer,” one that OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE IS HERE SEE IT AT GLOBAL FORCE HALL 2 • BOOTH #1120 Engineered to dramatically enhance a soldier’s effectiveness, resilience, and overall well-being in the heat of battle, the Future Driven HUMVEE ® concept vehicle features cutting-edge upgrades that redefine performance, survivability, and mission success. www.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY March 28, 2025 | AUSA Extra 3 Rainey: Transformation effort requires ‘team of teams’ I n its quest to transform, the Army is pledging to be a better customer as it looks to industry for the lat- est technology and equipment. “The only metric that matters is capability in the hands of the warf- ighter,” said Gen. James Rainey, commander of Army Futures Com- mand, 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 [pro- gram executive offices] or [program manager] surf through 40 of them,” Rainey said. “My commitment to you, the Army’s going to be a better cus- tomer on this journey. We need you on this.” Speaking Thursday in a keynote address during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Sym- posium 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 con- ditions,” 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 command- ers make decisions faster and take their command posts on the move. He also is observing the merger of preci- sion and mass. “Most of us grew up looking at problems and deciding between a mass solution or a precision solu- tion,” Rainey said. “It looks like … technology is creating an opportu- nity to be precise and mass effects at the same time.” The Army also is looking to inte- grate 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 forma- tions to shoot, move, communicate, train their [butt] off and be well-led by noncommissioned officers and of- ficers, none of that is going away,” he said. “The characteristic I would value tremendously in any forma- tion 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 com- manders in the joint force better for- mations.” Gen. James Rainey, commander of Army Futures Command, speaks during AUSA's 2025 Global Force Symposium and Expo- sition in Huntsville, Alabama. (AUSA PHOTO) Soldiers assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment run to the next obstacle on the obstacle course during a spur ride on Tuesday at the 7th Army Training Command’s Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany. (U.S. ARMY/STAFF SGT. RANDIS MONROE)www.ausa.org 4 AUSA Extra | March 28, 2025 Gen. Bob Brown, USA Ret. President and CEO, AUSA Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith, USA Ret. 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Voice for the Army – Support For the Soldier PERK OF THE WEEK ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY Mohan urges industry to help Army transform, innovate for the future AUSA is proud to offer MetLife pet insurance, which won “Pet Insurance of the Year” in the 2022 Pet Independent Innovation Awards. AUSA members receive a discount and can combine it with MetLife’s military discount. Visit www.ausa.org/pet for more. Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, deputy commanding general and acting commander of Army Materiel Command, speaks during AUSA's 2025 Global Force Symposium and Expo- sition in Huntsville, Alabama. (AUSA PHOTO) F uturistic scenarios involving telemaintenance, advanced manufacturing and the inge- nuity of the American soldier are “exploding” across the Army, said Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, deputy command- ing general and acting commander of Army Materiel Command. In remarks on Wednesday at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama, Mohan called on industry to help the Army by working together to meet the rapid innovation taking place across the sustainment enterprise. “We have a vision for the future that is not that far-fetched,” Mohan said. “We're a blue-collar organiza- tion, and we're doing blocking and tackling, and we know what that fu- ture looks like, and we know how to get there. We just have to have the intestinal fortitude and courage to do the right things, to pick winners and losers to accelerate successful initia- tives.” Evoking a scenario of what the fu- ture battlefield could look like, Mo- han described a unit forward need- ing a part for a malfunctioning High Mobility Artillery Rocket System that’s delivered by an unmanned wa- tercraft. Jumping on to a telemainte- nance call, the crew talks with high- er headquarters and to the engineer who designed the system. The part is identified, produced through advanced manufacturing forward and delivered to the crew with an unmanned aerial system pro- grammed, designed and developed to operate in contested environments. “This is a future state, but let me assure you that we're much closer to this, this future state, than we've ever been,” Mohan said, noting that the Army’s depots and innovation centers are 3D printing parts and de- vising new ways of delivering goods and lethality every day. Advanced manufacturing is hap- pening across the Army, and soldiers are learning how to make parts, he said. Army depot contractors are go- ing in larger numbers to make re- pairs to equipment, saving transpor- tation costs of getting the equipment to the depots and boosting readiness among combat formations. Addressing audience members, Mo- han said, “We have to be agile, and this is where we really, really need your help, help us with our agility, challenge us.” “I've got my list of things that we're attacking that we have not been able to get over the finish line, that now we see opportunity to do that,” Mo- han said. “I'm sure you all have your list, so working together, we can get there.”www.ausa.org 6 AUSA Extra | March 28, 2025 ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY Panel: Army must move quickly to retain warfighting edge Fitzgerald From Page 1 R apidly evolving technology, including new weapons be- ing used on the battlefield in Ukraine, is forcing the Army to move quickly to transform, a panel of ex- perts said. “We have to move quickly, we have to energize the system,” said Lt. Gen. Joseph Ryan, deputy Army chief of staff for operations, G-3. Speaking Tuesday at the Associa- tion of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Hunts- ville, Alabama, Ryan said the Army’s transformation in contact initiative, which puts new technology in sol- diers’ hands for testing and experi- mentation, emphasizes action. “It’s about the need to actually do, to ac- tually transform,” he said. As the Army ramps up for version 2.0, it is preparing to field more than 1,100 unmanned aerial systems, more than 250 electronic warfare systems, more than 2,000 mobility platforms, 1,200 counter-UAS sys- tems and more. “We’re impacting more and more units across the Army with transformation in contact every day,” Ryan said. In the 1st Cavalry Division, which just completed a rotation in Europe, leaders are working to ensure their formations absorb all the lessons learned, said Brig. Gen. Robert Born, reimagines how it produces require- ments documents and enables indus- try to innovate and create, he said. The Army must prioritize outcomes and lower costs, build resiliency in its supply chains and strive to gain greater agility in funding, Fitzgerald said. “We welcome open and continu- ing dialogue,” he said. “If there’s a better way to do business, we want to do it, and we want to do it now.” Amid this push to transform, the Army must balance flat and uncer- tain budgets, Fitzgerald said. “Every single dollar counts in the current fiscal environment,” he said. “To ad- dress this, we’ve begun systemati- cally reviewing legacy programs and legacy requirements.” Ultimately, “it’s not just about spending differently, it’s about think- ing differently,” Fitzgerald said, as the Army pursues capabilities in areas such as artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing, unmanned aerial systems and long-range preci- sion fires. “These are and will remain a prior- ity for immediate and enduring capa- bilities,” he said. As Army leaders look to the fu- ture, they have a unique opportu- nity, Fitzgerald said. “The old ways of doing business are no longer work- ing,” he said. “We have the absolute best soldiers in the world, but it’s our mandate to ensure those warfighters have the very best capabilities the world can provide.” Fitzgerald urged the audience at Global Force, which included indus- try leaders, to work with the Army. “Let’s move faster, let’s think bigger, and let’s make sure the next revolu- tionary breakthrough happens with us,” he said. the division’s deputy commanding general for maneuver. Those lessons include the critical role of division headquarters in the fight, he said. “The role of the division is absolutely important,” he said. “The assets and capabilities required to be successful is not resident or organic in a brigade combat team, and it never will be.” The 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team is one of the units tapped for transfor- mation in contact 2.0, said its com- mander, Col. Christopher Dempsey. “Armored brigade combat teams are way behind infantry brigade combat teams and Stryker brigade combat teams,” he said, regarding transfor- mation. “That’s nobody’s fault. There is a lot of talk about transformation in contact 2.0, 1.0, but I’m interested in doing things about it, in experi- menting and driving change.” As the brigade prepares to receive new equipment, “we’re looking at and doing things in the organizational changes, the training aspect, leader development and preparing for the materiel to come,” Dempsey said. “I think the biggest thing, at least from my perspective, transformation in contact provides is the opportunity and freedom to experiment. I’ve been in the Army 25 years, and I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced an en- vironment to experiment and make mistakes and try things.” As the Army pushes forward with transformation in contact, Ryan said brigade commanders like Dempsey are working hard to innovate and transform. Some of the transforma- tion in contact was born out of the realization that the Army already was taking immense risk by keeping obsolete or inadequate equipment or programs, he said. “When are we going to fight? When- ever we do, we don’t know, but when we do, I’m confident [soldiers] will be able to fight and win,” Ryan said. “It’s our job to get them the equip- ment. … We have more work to do.” Soldiers assigned to the 1st Cavalry Divi- sion’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team maneuver their M1 Abrams tank during Ex- ercise Flaming Thunder at Camp Herkus, Lithuania. (U.S. ARMY PHOTO)www.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY March 28, 2025 | AUSA Extra 7 Weimer drives initiative to refine enlisted promotions Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer, right, speaks with retired Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey, AUSA's vice president of NCO and Soldier Programs, during the associa- tion's 2025 Global Force Symposium and Exposition. (AUSA PHOTO) E nlisted soldiers should be pro- moted based on how well they know their jobs, said Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer, who is driving an initiative to make that happen. “The No. 1 thing we should be bas- ing off whether or not you’re ready to be promoted is how good you are at your current job,” Weimer said Wednesday during a fireside chat at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium and Expo- sition in Huntsville, Alabama. “Call me crazy, but that’s not where we're at right now.” Weimer found consensus from members of the Senior Enlisted Council, a group of senior NCOs from across the Army who advise him on the enlisted force, that a legitimate test to validate soldiers’ current skill level in their professions should be the “base for the promotion rubric.” As it is now, he said, soldiers are being promoted for having checked a box by completing required profes- sional military education without having been tested on whether they know their actual job. “It’s not the Army I grew up in,” Weimer said, noting that members of the Senior Enlisted Council “all agreed, and it wasn't that difficult, we really should reset that as one of the weighted data points for promo- tion.” For close to nine months, pilots to develop such a test have been con- ducted at the Army’s Medical Cen- ter of Excellence at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston and the Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The results “haven’t been great,” Weimer said. However, once soldiers were told what the test was for, they improved dramatically because, Weimer said, “once you remove the ambiguity … and let soldiers know what the stan- dard is, soldiers will rise to the oc- casion.” Weimer expects to be able to pres- ent a full plan to Army senior lead- ers by the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, including a plan on how and where the test could be administered. He believes testing could take place at soldiers’ home stations without the need for a brick-and-mortar facility. He added that soldiers in the Nation- al Guard and Army Reserve also will be tested for promotion, but it may take longer to implement. “What’s more important, 60 credit hours of online self-study from your online university or the data point of how good you are at your current job?” Weimer said. “I would ask the crowd without answering what's more important for a promotion con- sideration. I think we know the an- swer to that.” Sgt. Kevin Tran, left, assigned to the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, is promoted from corporal to sergeant in Sembach, Germany. (U.S. ARMY/SGT. YESENIA CADAVID)www.ausa.org 8 AUSA Extra | March 28, 2025 ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY Subject-matter experts discuss Army acquisition initiatives during AUSA's 2025 Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama. (AUSA PHOTO) L ethality, speed and cost effi- ciency are some of the top fac- tors the Army must consider when evaluating and acquiring new technology and capabilities for the force, a panel of experts said during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Expo- sition in Huntsville, Alabama. “The days of programs of record for non-capital equipment are prob- ably over,” said retired Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood, a former director of the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Criti- cal Technologies Office who is now a senior vice president at Anduril. Instead, the Army should “throw away” things every two to four years for the next iteration,” he said. “In- dustry has to get on board, and the Army just needs to throw things away, which is super hard for the Army, by the way,” Thurgood said. “We are hoarders of people and equipment.” During the panel discussion, “Ag- ile Acquisition for Continuous Trans- formation,” Lt. Gen. Robert Collins, principal military deputy to the as- sistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and director of the Army Acquisition Corps, said the Army must focus, first and foremost, on capabilities that are lethal. Speed, not only on the battlefield but also the ability to be adaptive and agile, is another critical factor. Cost efficiency also is important, as is whether a capability can be fielded at scale, Collins said. “We are in a unique service,” he said. “We’ve got to think about the tyranny of scale in how we do things,” he said. Today, the Army faces the reality that commercial technology in some cases is outpacing military technol- ogy, Collins said. “It wasn’t always the case,” he said. “Acknowledging that is probably one area we need to look to.” One area where the Army has changed its approach is software, Experimentation, speed key to future acquisition efforts said Jennifer Swanson, deputy assis- tant secretary of the Army for data, engineering and software. “A lot of the work that we’ve done over the past three years in the Army to change how we approach software is not be- cause we’re developing the software,” she said. “It’s being able to adopt the software [industry] is developing.” This includes the Modular Open Systems Approach, where officials seek capabilities that can plug and play into an open architecture. As the Army continues its trans- formation, it must continue to ex- periment and test new and emerging capabilities, said Col. Michael Ka- loostian, director of transport and network security for Next Genera- tion Command and Control at Army Futures Command. “Until you get technology in the field, in the dirt, into soldiers’ hands, you’re not going to get the information you need to in- form decisions,” he said. Using Project Convergence as an example, Kaloostian said, “We had soldiers giving us feedback on what they think is right and if we’re on the right track,” he said. Collins agreed. “I would abso- lutely underscore the value of not only experimentation,” he said. Not only does it allow the Army to learn quickly what’s working and what’s not, it also provides “that feedback early directly to the folks that are coding, developing, bending metal and others,” Collins said. As the Army expands its transfor- mation in contact initiative to more units across the force, it must not lose sight of outcomes, Collins said. “Is it effective? Is it suitable? Is it survivable? We always need to be looking at the outcomes,” he said. Journeyman electrician Waylon Hackett, of the Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District, solders wiring analog inputs dur- ing installation of a supervisory control and data acquisition system at the Dale Hollow Dam Power Plant in Celina, Ten- nessee. (U.S. ARMY/LEON ROBERTS)www.ausa.org ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY March 28, 2025 | AUSA Extra 9 Mason: Army must transform to be ‘better customer’ T o provide soldiers with the capabilities they need for the next fight, Army acquisition must transform with the rest of the force, a senior Army leader said. “I don’t think I have to tell you we’re living in kind of interesting times right now,” said Patrick Ma- son, the senior official performing the duties of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. That uncertainty, coupled with the confluence of geostrategic realities, the nation’s security needs and the acceleration of technology, “perhaps presents the tipping point that will foster new approaches to defense ac- quisition,” he said Thursday during a keynote presentation to close the As- sociation of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll’s pri- orities are to make the Army a bet- ter customer, eliminate bureaucratic barriers and outdated systems, and continue the transformation in con- tact initiative, Mason said. “Army transformation is not just about spending differently, or, as I say, buy- ing different stuff,” Mason said. “It’s about thinking differently.” For the Army to be a better cus- tomer, it must understand the capa- bilities it needs and reimagine the way in which it produces require- ments documents, Mason said. “This is a hard journey,” he said. The Army also must iterate faster, experiment and achieve delivery at scale, he said. “We need to bring all this together to optimize lethality at speed and scale while optimizing cost,” he said, adding, “The need for speed—it matters more than ever.” “We have never faced the conflu- ence of events like we face now,” Mason said. “The adaptation cycles that are necessary because of the confluence of these events, and how you determine what you need … in this technological era we’re in, with a changing threat, bringing all this together is an incredibly tough prop- osition.” But the Army is up for the chal- lenge, Mason said. “Congress has given us lots of ac- quisition authorities [so] we can go out and execute,” he said. “It’s chal- lenging the way we think, but it’s our responsibility as leaders to move that forward. We’re adapting our approach to ensure that we operate at speed and scale, producing the needed lethality with the right af- fordability.” Mason urged the Army’s industry partners to work in lockstep with the service. “We have the finest soldiers … and we have to work tirelessly to ensure our warriors have the best ca- pabilities so we can deter aggression, and when they are called, they can fight and win decisively,” he said. Forums such as Global Force en- able the Army and industry to come together, which builds relationships, trust and collaboration, and expands professional dialogue, Mason said. “This is a team sport,” he said, as he lauded AUSA for providing the fo- rum for those conversations. Top: Patrick Mason, the senior official performing the duties of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, speaks during AUSA's Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama. (AUSA PHOTO) Bottom: A soldier assigned to the 169th Field Artillery Brigade performs maintenance checks and services on target acquisition equipment at an undisclosed location in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. (U.S. ARMY/SGT. NICHOLAS RAMSHAW)Next >