# Statement by Hon. John E. Whitley and Gen. James P. McConville before the Subcommittee on Defense on the Posture of the United States Army

RECORD VERSION STATEMENT BY THE HONORABLE JOHN E. WHITLEY SECRETARY OF THE ARMY, ACTING AND GENERAL JAMES P. MCCONVILLE CHIEF OF STAFF UNITED STATES ARMY BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEFENSE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FIRST SESSION, 117TH CONGRESS ON THE POSTURE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY MAY 5, 2021 NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL RELEASED BY THE COMMITTEE
America’s Army remains prepared to compete globally and fight and win the Nation’s wars as a member of the Joint Force. As demonstrated repeatedly over the past year, we also remain the Nation’s principal response force to protect our country and communities in the face of unexpected crises. We thank Congress for the consistent, predictable, and sustained funding you have provided. This funding enabled us to deliver a ready Army that responded promptly and superbly to a dynamic and unpredictable security environment, like the COVID-19 pandemic, Middle East tensions, civil unrest, cyberattacks, and south-west border mission. Our priorities are well aligned with the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance: investing in people, sustaining readiness, divesting of legacy systems to reinvest in cutting edge technologies and capabilities, mitigating the impact of climate change, and strengthening our alliances and partnerships.
Last October, the Army evolved its priorities to people, readiness, and modernization. This evolution reflects the achievements of a multi-year effort to rebuild readiness and accelerate modernization. Six years ago, we recognized that readiness had declined precipitously after years of reduced funding, uncertain budgets, and deferred modernization. We also recognized the need for new concepts, capabilities, and posture to compete aggressively in the Indo-Pacific and Europe. With your support, we rebuilt tactical readiness in our units and built strategic readiness in our power projection infrastructure. We deliberately executed internal reforms over the last four years by realigning over $35 billion within the Army budget to self-fund modernization priorities in support of joint all-domain operations.
Thanks to your continued support for Army modernization, we are successfully pivoting from the incremental improvements of the past to fulfilling the robust Army Modernization Strategy that Congress prescribed in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. Because of this strategy, and new Congressional authorities to streamline the acquisitions process, we are already beginning to field new systems in long-range precision fires, air and missile defense, and soldier lethality, with more on the way in next generation combat vehicles, future vertical lift, and the Army network. With these modernization capabilities, we are able to deliver multi-domain concepts, ​capabilities, and formations that will give the Joint Force asymmetric, all-domain advantages against near-peer potential adversaries. Our gains are real, but fragile. With Congressional support, we established a deliberate achievable path to deliver a ready and modernized Army by 2028 and a transformed multi-domain Army by 2035. However, sustaining today’s readiness and modernizing for tomorrow’s readiness is only possible through your timely, adequate, predictable, and sustained funding.
Strategic Environment
A dynamic global security landscape continues to challenge our nation. These challenges include: (1) borderless threats, like COVID, cyber, violent extremism, and climate change; (2) the global siege on democracy to include an increasingly contested information environment; and (3) the changing distribution of global power that draws new lines and value propositions for many of our allies and partners. These challenges require an agile, ready, modern, and multi-domain Army that works alongside strong allies and partners. Strategic competitors and regional actors are testing American norms, institutions, and alliances. China, our pacing threat, increases its global assertiveness, while Russia increases its disruptive behavior. Threats from Iran, North Korea, and violent extremism and terrorism remain. While America’s Army maintains a tenuous overmatch, it is fleeting. Future conflicts will manifest at longer range, across all domains, and at much greater speed, both physically and cognitively.
Climate change is altering the Army’s operational environment and adding new mission demands; mitigating these effects has been an ongoing priority for the Army for several years. Climate change impacts Army installations globally and opens the Arctic as a new geographic theater for competition. The Army must consider alternative energy sources, improved energy storage, fuel-efficient design, more robust power distribution, and new technologies, such as weather pattern and terrain stability modeling to better inform operations.
The Army must also contend with threats from within. The harmful behaviors of sexual assault, sexual harassment, racism, and extremism hurt Soldiers and break trust with the American people. The Army is working diligently to solidify a culture of cohesion and intervention to protect our Soldiers, not only from the deliberate fratricide of these ​behaviors, but from the invisible danger of mental and behavioral health issues, and other stressors that can increase the risk of suicide.
People First
Listening to Soldiers led to our very deliberate decision to re-align our priorities. The Army’s number one priority is now people. Our people are our Soldiers from the Active, Guard, and Reserve components, Army families, Army civilians, and retiree and veteran Soldiers for Life. At every echelon, the Army must promote and build cohesive teams (1) that are highly trained, disciplined, and fit, (2) that are ready to fight and win, and (3) in which each person is treated with dignity and respect. Cohesive teams are the foundation of all our people initiatives and how the Army can best sustain readiness and transform for the future. Three critical enablers from the 2019 Army People Strategy continue to set conditions for putting people first: Army Culture, Quality of Life initiatives, and a 21st Century Talent Management System.
Army Culture
Last December, the Army stood up the People First Task Force to address and implement the 70 Fort Hood Independent Review Committee recommendations, with the understanding that the issues identified are not unique to a single installation. Army leaders are stewards of a special bond of trust and confidence with the American people. We held accountable those leaders deemed to have broken that trust. We have fundamentally transformed our command selection process in order to improve the way we choose future leaders to assume positions with the most influence over Soldiers. We are piloting independent climate assessment teams of subject matter experts to identify unit climate trends early and respond before systemic problems emerge. We are listening to our people to learn and lead better. We conducted 96 listening sessions across 14 locations in addition to a special “Solarium” conference that asked junior- and mid-career leaders to develop solutions. The Army is now working to change policies and aspects of Army culture that impede prevention and response to harmful behaviors. The first policy change introduced “absent – unknown”, an additional duty status code which affords missing Soldiers oversight not present in "Absent Without Leave (AWOL)."
​“This is My Squad” is the foundational principle for Army culture. This initiative, led by the Sergeant Major of the Army, promotes cohesion by encouraging Soldiers to better know those around them, develop greater compassion, and intervene early to protect others. Implementation actions include increased non commissioned officer professional military education, redistribution of experienced leaders, and better reception processes for integrating new Soldiers at each installation and unit.
Project Inclusion is a holistic effort to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion across the force. As of March of this year, the Army had conducted 83 Project Inclusion listening sessions with over 4,700 attendees. Separately, the Army reviewed its policy on official photos and removed official photos from all promotion boards. The Army later redacted race, ethnicity, and gender data from Soldier Record Briefs in accordance with the Secretary of Defense’s direction. The Army is building relationships with influencers in diverse cities and communities to better acquire, develop, employ, and retain the best talent across the entire nation.
Quality of Life (QoL) Initiatives
Putting people first also means creating a duty and installation environment that allows Soldiers to thrive. The Army continues to prioritize the QoL focus areas identified in 2019. The COVID era only reinforced how essential each of those initiatives is to the well-being and readiness of our Soldiers and their families.
Housing and Barracks. We continue executing the Army Housing Campaign Plan to shape policies, procedures, and processes at every echelon. The Army implemented 14 of the 18 tenets of the Tenant Bill of Rights in its Residential Communities Initiatives (RCI) projects. We expect the remaining four (common tenant lease, 7-year maintenance history, dispute resolution and rent segregation) to be available at the majority of installations with privatized housing by June 1, 2021. We implemented mechanisms that hold privatized companies accountable to residents for proper maintenance and customer service, hired additional personnel to provide quality assurance oversight, and implemented 100 percent change of occupancy inspections and quality assurance checks. To address environmental hazards (mold and lead), we developed educational materials, a response registry, and policies for habitability and ​displaced residents. Through the RCI, we are committing over $1.8 billion and reinvesting another $1 billion to improve residential housing. Additionally, the Army is projected to invest over $10 billion in the next 10 years, in both Restoration & Modernization and Military Construction funds, which will renovate or replace more than 1,200 barracks for all components and eliminate sub-standard barracks.
Healthcare. Army Medicine is partnering with the Defense Health Agency to deliver the best care for our beneficiaries across our installations. We are focusing on readiness as the Military Health System reforms. We will emphasize operationally oriented training, modernized capabilities, and innovative operational concepts. We are grateful to Congress for increases in Health Professional Officer special pay caps. This necessary investment ensures Army Medicine can recruit and retain the best quality healthcare professionals for the sustainability of the force.
Childcare. Childcare professionals serve on the front line of the Army’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as they allow mission essential personnel to maintain Army readiness. The Army has a multi-pronged strategy to maintain, and in some cases, increase access to care. With continued Congressional support, we plan to build 21 additional Child Development Centers by FY30, adding approximately 4,000 spaces. We appreciate Congressional support for the three centers funded in FY21, two in Hawaii and one in Alaska. We continue to invest in these professionals, adjusting compensation to recruit and retain quality staff. We are incentivizing the family child care program, like a $1,000 bonus for new providers and for families that stay in the program after a move. We implemented revised DoD priorities for childcare to grant more access to military families. Finally, we continue to invest in fee assistance to buy down the cost of off-post care when on-post care is unavailable.
Spouse Employment. With the support of Congress, the Army continues to make improvements in spouse employment. The Army reimburses up to $1,000 for professional licensing and certification in a new state, with Army Emergency Relief offering an additional $2,500. We thank Congress for its efforts to bolster the support of individual states in granting reciprocity. We streamlined the Home-Based Business application and approval system, improved policies for military spouse hiring ​preference, strengthened the Employment Readiness Program, and made the transfer of non-appropriated fund employees between installations easier. We continue to work with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) to promote workforce development scholarships, improve state license reciprocity and professional license compacts, and reduce overseas employment barriers.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS) Moves. Soldiers are now receiving PCS orders an average of 120 days before their report date, an improvement of 30 to 90 days. Families can now claim 100 percent of their costs for reimbursement when conducting a personally procured move. Our development and launch of the “Army PCS Move” app and automation of several business processes, including the Smart Voucher program, are helping families research, book movers, track progress, and file claims, expediting reimbursement. Though COVID-19 heavily impacted last summer’s peak PCS season, we still executed over 70,000 moves with a 95 percent satisfaction rate.
21st Century Talent Management System
The Army continues to refine and implement its 21st Century Talent Management System in order to effectively acquire, develop, employ, and retain talent. We are maximizing the potential of each Soldier. We are evolving our marketing and recruiting with initiatives like Army Hiring Days and the “What’s Your Warrior?” campaign to bring in the best talent from across the country, including cities and communities with populations who may be unfamiliar with the opportunities military service affords. This year the Army launched cutting-edge digital talent initiatives. Our Army Artificial Intelligence Center partners with Carnegie Mellon University to grow data engineers and data technicians, while our Software Factory leverages the extraordinary existing talent in our Army to grow coders to solve Army problems.
At the heart of the Army’s 21st Century Talent Management System are new approaches, systems, and processes that leverage deep data about unit needs and Soldier knowledge, skills, behaviors, and preferences. The Integrated Personnel and Pay System – Army (IPPS-A) is on track to go live across all three components by the end of this calendar year. Release 2 is complete, having brought IPPS-A to the Army National Guard across 54 states and territories. Release 3, currently in testing, will ​integrate the active and reserve forces and complete the Army’s transition to a single system across all components capable of identifying needed talent and managing Soldier careers from accession to transition.
Talent management starts with having the right Army leaders at the battalion and brigade-level. These are the Army’s most consequential leadership positions in terms of affecting retention and attrition. In the biggest change to the Army’s command selection process in fifty years, the Army now uses a Commander Assessment Program to select future battalion and brigade commanders, as well as command sergeants major. This intensive five-day program evaluates individuals for their temperament, cognitive fitness, physical health, and leadership skills. We are also expanding to build a system to assess and select our Army Acquisition Corps civilians at the same echelons. We are putting the right people in the right place at the right time to remain ready today.
Ready Today
The Army stands ready today to compete globally and fight and win the Nation’s wars in support of the Joint Force. This is only because we recognized six years ago that readiness had declined precipitously after three years of reduced funding and uncertain budgets. Since then, and funding from Congress, we rebuilt tactical readiness and built strategic readiness. However, readiness is fragile. We require continued support to maintain it, in order to reliably meet the needs of combatant commands without overstressing our people.
People are the Army’s most important weapon system. The Army represents 25 percent of the Defense budget, 35 percent of the active force, and 45 percent of the active and reserve forces, but meets over half of global demands. Today, the Total Army supports the Joint Force by supplying Soldiers to combatant commanders in more than 140 countries. Over 69,000 Soldiers are in the Indo-Pacific, including over 25,000 forward deployed on the Korean peninsula. Over 30,000 Soldiers are in Europe supporting NATO and the European Deterrence Initiative, including the forward command post of our newly reactivated V Corps. We remain dedicated to our counterterrorism and train, advise, assist missions, providing over 21,000 Soldiers in support of the U.S. Central Command theater. In our Nation’s Capital this year, over ​26,000 National Guard Soldiers mobilized from 28 states to assist with medical evacuation, communications, security, logistics and safety support. Last year, we executed 64 brigade-equivalent deployments and moved 45 thousand pieces of equipment through 55 ports of embarkation/debarkation in support of worldwide missions.
This past year highlighted the need for the Army to defend the Nation at home as well as abroad. In response, the Army continually demonstrated its capability and capacity to provide timely and effective support in crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic expanded the Army’s existing mission set as DoD’s leader in protecting the warfighter from biological threats and investigating infectious diseases that threaten public health. Since last March, Army scientists, medical professionals, engineers, and logisticians from all components have deployed nationwide to aid COVID prevention and response efforts. For its vaccine development and distribution initiative, America turned to an Army logistician to lead operations. Our National Guard and Reserve units across America supported both neighbor and nation in an unprecedented level of mobilization, not only for COVID support, but in response to civil unrest, hurricanes, and wildfires, all while continuing to train for wartime missions.
In 2020, the Army demonstrated strategic readiness through its series of DEFENDER exercises, despite the constraints of a pandemic environment. Strategic readiness involves installation capabilities to mobilize, train, and deploy formations and then sustain them from the homeland. DEFENDER-Pacific 2020 witnessed the deployment of combat credible forces across the breadth of the Indo-Pacific theater from Guam and Palau to the Aleutian Island chain and mainland Alaska. Under the command and control of U.S. Army Pacific, combined joint forces executed strategic readiness operations that included cargo delivery, forcible entry operations, rapid infiltration of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), operational maneuver of Army watercraft, and fighter combat patrols. DEFENDER-Europe 2021 is currently underway with over 30,000 multinational forces from 27 nations conducting nearly simultaneous operations across 30 training areas. This year’s exercise will incorporate Security Force Assistance Brigades, the Army’s new V Corps, and U.S. Air Force and ​Navy assets. DEFENDER-Europe 21 is led by the Army’s newly consolidated U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command.
The foundation of Army readiness is our people. The Army is moving to a foundational readiness model that prioritizes the training of individuals and small units at the company level and below. The best combat units in the world ensure their individuals and small units are masters of their craft. To foster individual readiness, the Army is also investing in holistic health and fitness. We continue to study the impact of the Army Combat Fitness Test in accordance with Congressional guidance in order to better connect individual fitness with combat readiness. A solid foundation of readiness enables unit agility and provides the greatest return on an investment of limited time and resources. We will continue to use the combat training centers to bring these highly trained, disciplined, and fit teams together for large-scale collective training that validates the combat effectiveness of our battalions and brigades.
The Army must balance the continuous demand for current readiness from combatant command requirements with the imperative to secure future readiness, all without overly stressing our people or our equipment. To this end, the Army developed, tested, and rehearsed a new unit lifecycle model that will go into effect October 2021: the Regionally Aligned Readiness and Modernization Model (ReARMM). ReARMM will harmonize historically conflicting Army priorities. It will take care of people by reducing operational tempo and maximizing predictability and stability to commanders, Soldiers, and families. ReARMM will sustain readiness by carving out dedicated windows for building readiness at echelon while aligning units with primary regions and functions. Regional alignment provides units deep wells of knowledge on the terrain, culture, and people where their units are most likely to operate. Joint force commanders also gain by leveraging habitual, trusted relationships between Army formations and Allies and partners. Finally, ReARMM will facilitate modernization by giving units dedicated windows to integrate new equipment, reorganize formations, and train on new doctrine. Adopting this model transitions the Army from small, incremental, evolutionary modernization of platforms to large-step modernization of our formations.
Army Modernization - Transforming for Tomorrow
​The Army faces an inflection point that requires innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship in the application of combat power. The battlefield is increasingly faster, more lethal, and more distributed. Overmatch will belong to the side that can make better decisions faster. To meet emerging challenges, the Army is transforming to provide the Joint Force with the speed, range, and convergence of cutting edge technologies that will generate the decision dominance and overmatch required to win the next fight. We are leading the way in developing and fielding advanced technology in support of the Joint Force.
The Army’s materiel modernization transformation – what we fight with – is based on the six modernization priorities announced in 2018: Long Range Precision Fires, Next Generation Combat Vehicle, Future Vertical Lift, the Army Network, Air and Missile Defense, and Soldier Lethality. The Army’s conceptual transformation—how we fight— begins with our Multi-Domain Operations concept, which we are currently turning into doctrine. The Army is using Project Convergence, our campaign of learning and annual capstone event, to shape future concepts and capabilities. By 2035, the Army will realize its vision of a multi-domain force.
The Army is committed to seeing our signature materiel modernization efforts through to completion. Many are coming on line according to, or ahead of, our accelerated development schedule and being delivered to our Soldiers. Through continuous reform efforts, we have been able to redirect scarce resources to these key modernization efforts; however, we could not achieve this without Congressional support and authorities. Army Futures Command is providing unprecedented unity of effort across the modernization enterprise, having changed our business model and culture through public-private partnerships and a focus on Soldier-centered design. This allows us to gain immediate operator feedback, accelerating the development process and ensuring new systems are effective in operational environments. These reforms, combined with early experimentation through Project Convergence, are paying significant dividends. Judicious use of Middle Tier Acquisition and Other Transaction Authorities enable progress from characteristics to fielded capabilities in as short as ​three years, versus the five to seven years it took just to prescribe requirements in the past.
Long Range Precision Fires
Long range precision fires provide the capability to penetrate Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) environments, suppress air defenses and strike maritime targets at range from land, and establish our own A2/AD capability to open windows of opportunity for the Joint Force to exploit. In 2019, OSD directed the Army to develop a ground based long-range hypersonic weapon. In FY23, the Army will field the first Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) firing battery. The Army is also developing a ground-launched, Mid-Range Capability that will complement the LRHW and the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) capabilities. The PrSM is on schedule to conduct its maximum range test in 3QFY21 and deliver 30 missiles in FY23. It will provide greater range, lethality, and survivability at a lower cost per shot than ATACMS. The Extended Range Cannon Artillery remains on schedule for delivery in FY23. It will establish overmatch against peer adversaries in the close and deep operational maneuver areas with an extended range out to 70km.
Next Generation Combat Vehicle
Next generation combat vehicles will increase the firepower, speed, and survivability of land forces, allowing them to maneuver into positions of advantage in the future operational environment. After rebaselining the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program last year, the Army issued the final request for proposal for the concept design phase on December 18, 2020. OMFV is an example of how our new acquisitions process enabled the Army to learn early and recover before programs become too big to fail. The Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) effort envisions an unmanned platform that provides decisive mobility, lethality, survivability, and increased situational awareness to formations. RCV will undergo increasingly rigorous experiments and capability demonstrations with a decision to procure by FY24. The Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) is an adaptable and more survivable multivariant vehicle that replaces the 1960s era M113 Family of Vehicles. Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) is an armored combat vehicle that will provide, large caliber, long​range direct fires in support of Infantry Brigade Combat Teams. The first unit equipped with MPF will be in FY25.
Future Vertical Lift
Future Vertical Lift platforms and technologies increase the maneuverability, range, endurance, lethality, and survivability of Army aircraft, providing joint commanders with increased operational reach and effectiveness against near-peer competitors. Our new acquisitions process has put the onus on industry to innovate and invest early, allowing the Army to “fly before we buy.” The Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) closes the gap left by retirement of the Vietnam-era Kiowa. Two prototypes will fly in FY23 followed by a year-long flight demonstration. The Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) will replace the UH60 Blackhawk with increased speed, range, payload, and endurance. We expect initial FLRAA prototypes in FY25. Future vertical lift will leverage advances in Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) technology to develop Air Launched Effects (ALE) with a wide array of payloads and extended communication mesh networks with a fielding plan in FY24.
Army Network
The Army network modernization underpins Project Convergence as the Army’s contribution to Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control. It provides necessary information technology (IT) infrastructure to link the right sensors to the right shooters through the appropriate command and control node. In FY21, we will field more than 150 units with new technologies while simultaneously developing the next capability set of equipment. The Army is also modernizing current Global Position System (GPS) receivers to meet current and emerging threats by providing the Joint Force with advanced assured precision, navigation and timing (APNT) systems. Included are modernized receivers that meet congressional mandates to transition to Mcode GPS and integrate alternative APNT technologies for our ground combat platforms, dismounted Soldiers, precision weapons and munitions, and aviation systems. We are fielding the first generation mounted APNT systems to our forward deployed formations with a second generation ready not later than FY23. Additionally, the Army continues to invest in space-based technologies that close operational gaps in ​deep sensing and targeting activities. We are coordinating with partners in the Intelligence Community and private industry to enhance Army access to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space-based sensing and link with national-level capabilities to provide tactical-level sensor to shooter capability to combat formations.
Air and Missile Defense
Air and missile defense capabilities defend the Joint Force, allies, and partners against manned and unmanned air and missile threats. The Army’s integrated air and missile defense capabilities will protect joint forces from adversary aircraft, missiles, and drones to protect the force and enable operations. This includes both theater systems and tactical / short-range air defense like the Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (MSHORAD) which defeats aerial threats to the maneuver force with a mix of kinetic capabilities. The Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) is developing a Directed Energy (DE) M-SHORAD variant that utilizes a 50kW class laser. We will field four DE prototypes for experimentation and further development. Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) will defend fixed and semi-fixed assets primarily against cruise missiles and Unmanned Aircraft Systems as well as fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Based on the authorization in the 2021 NDAA, the Army is currently preparing two Iron Dome batteries for operational deployment at the end of FY22. This spring the Army will conduct a shoot-off to inform our decision on the enduring IFPC solution. RCCTO is also working on two IFPC variants, a High Energy Laser (HEL) and a High-Powered Microwave (HPM). The IFPC-HEL uses a 300kW-class HEL to defeat Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (RAM) threats and is on track for demonstration. The IFPC-High-Powered Microwave is being developed with the Air Force to produce the Tactical High Power Microwave Operational Responder (THOR) in FY21 with a prototype expected in FY24. The Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) initial operational capability is 3QFY22 with fielding. IBCS is a revolutionary command-and-control system that streamlines sensor to shooter linkages for air and missile defense engagements—and once fielded with enable optimized employment of the Patriot force. This enhanced tracking system delivers an unambiguous view of the operating environment, allowing commanders and air defenders to make critical decisions within ​seconds. The Lower-Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) will deliver the next generation sensor that leverages the capabilities of the Patriot Missile Segment Enhanced (MSE) interceptor and is fully integrated into IBCS.
Soldier Lethality
Soldier Lethality improvements to weapons, sensors, body armor, and training will deliver decision dominance and overmatch at the level where it matters most-, allowing individual Soldiers to quickly understand and react to emerging situations. With ReARMM, we are incorporating Guard and Reserve units into the fielding schedule much earlier and more broadly than in past modernization efforts. The Army seeks continued Congressional support for the rapid prototyping, development, and procurement of the Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) Rifle and Automatic Rifle, Enhanced Night Vision Goggles (ENVG), Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) - Heads-Up Display (HUD) 3.0, and the Synthetic Training Environment (STE). By 1QFY22, we’ll equip the first unit with IVAS. In 4QFY22, we will equip the first unit with the Next Gen Squad Weapon Rifle and Automatic Rifle, as well as General Purpose Ammo. STE efforts that complement IVAS include the Squad Immersive Virtual Trainer (as part of IVAS) and the STE Information System that includes: One World Terrain, Training Simulation Software, and Training Management Tools.
In addition to our six priorities, the Army understands the need for considerable investment in long-term research to deliver science and technology solutions. The Army is aligning its laboratories towards modernization and partnering with over 250 research institutions. The Army’s priority research areas are: disruptive energetics, Radio Frequency (RF) electronic materials, quantum research, hypersonic flight, artificial intelligence, autonomy, synthetic biology, material by design, and advanced manufacturing.
The Army is also investing in deep sensing and analysis to provide intelligence support to long range precision fires and commanders’ situational awareness during Joint All-Domain Operations. We will continue to drive intelligence modernization by acquiring capabilities and capacities across the Space, Aerial, Terrestrial, and Foundation Layers nested with and in support of the Army’s six modernization priorities. ​We will continue to leverage the Intelligence Community (IC), other Services’, and commercial partner enterprise-level Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance collection programs to provide timely, accurate, and relevant intelligence to support Army targeting efforts and enhance commanders’ decision making.
The Army is not just modernizing concepts and materiel. We require continued budget support to modernize infrastructure and execute workload in our Organic Industrial Base (OIB) of depots, arsenals, and ammunition plants, along with our power projection and Mobilization Force Generation Installations to better project power from and into contested environments. We must be able to address the risk of new and emerging cyber, information, and physical threats that can thwart our ability to project power by disrupting installation operational capabilities and the supply chains supporting our forces, whether from malign actors or nature. Our installations must be resilient to disruption and modernized in support of the modernized Army force. The Army is investing significant time and resources to mitigate the effects of climate change on our installations. We are establishing energy and water resilience, efficiency, and affordability across our installation enterprise. In the past five years, energy programs, partnerships and initiatives recognized a cost avoidance or savings of more than 14 percent, every installation has added a full-time energy manager position, and 16 of 26 Army OIB depots, arsenals and ammunition plants have transitioned from fossil fuels to clean energy alternatives. We are also partnering with private industry to implement energy and utility savings contracts that maximize the latest technology to drive efficiency and reduced costs, with 99 agreements currently in execution.
The Army is also not modernizing in a vacuum, but in partnership with our sister Services. We have completed two Army-Air Force Warfighter Talks and one Army-Air Force-Navy joint session to ensure the Army’s Project Convergence initiatives remains synchronized with the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System and the Navy’s Project Overmatch to meet the unique needs of each Service. As we work to stand-up a Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) in Europe later this year, our Indo-Pacific aligned MDTF continues to synchronize effects with the Joint Force during multiple exercises. The MDTF’s All-Domain Operations Center enables Joint training, to include hosting ​Carrier Strike Group-3 for the Navy’s Fleet Synthetic Training – Joint exercise and connecting to the Navy’s Continuous Training Environment network. During INDOPACOM’s Pacific Fury 21, the MDTF validated its ability to virtually synchronize long range fires and effects with the Joint Force. The MDTF will participate in USINDOPACOM’s upcoming Northern Edge and Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) Simulation Experiment (SIMEX) in May before rotating into the Indo-Pacific later this summer to participate in joint exercises with PACAF, PACFLT, and MARFORPAC.
Strengthening Alliances and Partnerships
America does not fight alone. Alliances and partnerships are among the greatest sources of our military strength. This global landpower network is DoD’s foundation for competition, creating inroads and maneuver space for Joint and whole-of-government strategic engagement. As a people organization, the Army is uniquely qualified to maintain and expand this vital network, especially given that partner militaries and their senior leaders are predominately land force-centric. Our roadmap for building and strengthening relationships spans a range of activities that include military and key leader engagements, education and training programs such as the Department of State’s International Military Education and Training (IMET) and International Professional Military Education (IPME), security assistance through Title 22 Foreign Military Sales, and advise and assist capabilities. Boots on the ground deter would-be adversaries, and small, scalable engagements with our Allies and partners open doors to the access and presence we need to compete effectively. The Army’s new Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFAB) demonstrate our commitment to alliances and partnerships and our capability to compete.
Last year we completed the activation of all six SFABs, five in the Regular Army and one in the Army National Guard. Since then, 5th SFAB has already completed missions with multiple partners across the Indo-Pacific theater, including elements of the Thai, Indonesian, and Indian armies. Later this year, many of those partners will join their American counterparts in combined exercises at the National Training Center. Engagements such as these are vital, not only for interoperability, but in recognition that ​Cold War-era exclusive allegiance to a single great power no longer exists. Many if not all of our allies and partners maintain concurrent relationships with both the United States and our competitors and potential adversaries. We cannot take for granted these relationships and the vital access and presence they provide us.
Closing
The men and women of the United States Army are the greatest Soldiers in the world. The Army is cultivating cohesive teams, maximizing talent, sustaining tactical and strategic readiness, progressing through our greatest transformation in over 40 years, and strengthening our alliances and partnerships. We are leading the way in developing and fielding high technology for the Joint Force. We are opening operational and strategic doors in the Indo-Pacific and Europe. We are succeeding through calibrating our force posture around the globe to assure our partners and deter would-be adversaries. And we need your continued support. With timely, adequate, predictable, and sustained funding, we will remain ready to fight and win our Nation’s wars—now and into the future.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse