Futures Command (AFC) was established in 2018 as a peer of
FORSCOM,
TRADOC, and
Army Materiel Command (AMC), the other Army commands (
ACOMs—providing forces, training and doctrine, and
materiel respectively).[21][22] The other Army commands focus on their readiness to "Fight tonight" when called upon by the nation. In contrast, AFC is focused on future readiness[23] for competition with near-peers, who have
updated their capabilities.[24][25]
AFC declared its
Full Operational Capability (FOC) in July 2019,[26][27] after an initial one-year period.[28]
The FY2020 budget allocated $30 billion for the top six modernization priorities over the next five years.[29] The $30 billion came from $8 billion in cost avoidance and $22 billion in terminations.[29][30]
Over 30 projects[31][32] are envisioned to become the materiel basis needed for overmatching any potential competitors in the
continuum of conflict over the next ten years,[33][34] in Multi-domain operations (
MDO).[35][36][37][38][39]
Transition to multi-domain operations (MDO)
We're moving out and there's no turning back. We've shown the will to act over the last year, and now we have to show the will to follow through.
— Then-Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy[40][41]
Friendly forces (denoted in black)[42] operating in Multi-domains (gray, yellow, light blue, dark gray, and dark blue) —Space, Cyber, Air, Land, and Maritime respectively— cooperate across domains, working as an integrated force against adversaries (denoted in red). These operations will disrupt these adversaries, and present them
multiple simultaneous dilemmas to encourage adversaries to return to competition rather than continue a conflict.[43]
According to Secretary McCarthy, there will be three elements in Futures Command:[44]
Futures and Concepts:
assess gaps (needs versus opportunities,[45] given a threat).[44] Concepts for realizable future systems (with readily harvestable content)[46][47]: for definitions of terms, such as '6.3' will flow into TRADOC doctrine, manuals, and training programs.
Combat Development: stabilized concepts.[46][47] 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 of acquisition.[48] (See
#Value stream)
Combat Systems: experiments, demonstrations, and prototypes.[49] Transition to the acquisition, production, and sustainment programs of AMC.[49][50]
Then-Secretary of the Army, Mark Esper emphasized that the 2018 administrative infrastructure for the Futures and Concepts Center (formerly
ARCIC) and
United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) (formerly
RDECOM) remains in place at their existing locations.[51] What has changed or will change is the layers of command (operational control, or OPCON)[52] needed to make a decision.[51]
You've got to remain open to change, you've got to remain flexible, you've [got] to remain accessible. That is the purpose of this command.
Under Secretary McCarthy characterized a
Cross-Functional Team (CFT) as a team of teams, led by a requirements leader, program manager, sustainer and tester.[54]
Each CFT must strike a balance for itself amid constraints: the realms of requirements, acquisition, science and technology, test, resourcing, costing, and sustainment.
A balance is needed in order for a CFT in order to produce a realizable concept before a competitor achieves it.[17]
CFTs[17][55] for materiel and capabilities were first structured in a task force, in order to de-layer the Army Commands. Each CFT addresses a capability gap, which the Army must now match for its future:
there can be a Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID), for each CFT.[Note 1] Initially, the CFTs were placed as needed; eventually they might each co-locate at a Center of Excellence (
CoE)
listed below. For example, the Aviation CoE at Fort Rucker, in coordination with the Aviation
Program Executive Officer (PEO), also contains the Vertical Lift CFT and the Aviation CDID.
Modernization reform is the priority for AFC, in order to achieve readiness for the future.
The CFTs will be involved in all three of AFC's elements: Futures and concepts, Combat development, and Combat systems.[56] "We were never above probably a total of eight people" — BG Wally Rugen, Aviation CFT.[57] Four of the eight CFT leads have now shifted from dual-hat jobs to full-time status. Each CFT lead is mentored by a 4-star general.[57]
Although AFC and the CFTs are a top priority of the Department of the Army, as AFC and the CFTs are expected to unify control of the $30 billion-dollar modernization budget,[58][27] "The new command will not tolerate a zero-defects mentality. 'But if you fail, we'd like you to fail early and fail cheap,' because progress and success often builds on failure." —Ryan McCarthy:[59] Holland notes that prototyping applies to the conceptual realm ('harvestable content') as much as prototyping applies to the hardware realm.[46][47]
A 2019
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report[60] cautions that lessons learned from the CFT pilot[17] are yet to be applied; Holland notes that this organizational critique applies to prototyping hardware, a different realm than concept refinement ("scientific research is a fundamentally different activity than technology development").[46][47]
Joint collaboration on modernization
The Secretaries of the Army, Air Force, and Navy meet regularly to take advantage of overlap in their programs:[61][62]
Hypersonics — The US Army (August 2018) has no tested countermeasure for intercepting maneuverable
hypersonic weapons platforms,[63][64] and in this case the problem is being addressed in a joint program of the entire Department of Defense.[65] The Army is participating in a joint program with the Navy and Air Force, to develop a hypersonic glide body.[66][67][68][69][70][71][72] The Long range precision fires (LRPF) CFT is supporting
Space and Missile Defense Command's pursuit of hypersonics.[70][73][74] Joint programs in hypersonics are informed by Army work;[75][76] however, at the strategic level, the bulk of the hypersonics work remains at the Joint level.[77][78][79][80][72] Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) is an Army priority, and also a DoD joint effort.[76] The Army and Navy's Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) had a successful test of a prototype in March 2020.[81][80] A wind tunnel for testing hypersonic vehicles will be built in Texas (2019).[82] The Army's Land-based Hypersonic Missile "is intended to have a range of 1,400 miles".[71]: p.6 [72] By adding rocket propulsion to a shell or glide body, the joint effort shaved five years off the likely fielding time for hypersonic weapon systems.[61][83] Countermeasures against hypersonics will require sensor data fusion: both radar and infrared sensor tracking data will be required to capture the signature of a hypersonic vehicle in the atmosphere.[84][85][86]
The ability to punch-through any standoff defense of a near-peer competitor is the goal which Futures Command is seeking.[107][38][108][109] For example, the combination of F-35-based targeting coordinates, Long range precision fires, and Low-earth-orbit satellite[110] capability overmatches the competition, according to Lt. Gen.
Wesley.[111]Multi-domain operations (MDO) span multiple domains: cislunar space, land, air, maritime, cyber, and populations.[112]: minute 17:45 [113][114][115] Echelons above brigade (division, corps, and theater army) engage in a
continuum of conflict.[116][35][117][118][88][119][98][72] Critical decisions to meet this goal will be decided by data from the results of the Army's ongoing tests of the prototypes under development.[108][70]
For example, in Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF), the director of the LRPF CFT envisions one application as an
anti-access/area denial (A2AD) probe; this spares resources from the other services;[120] by firing a munition with a thousand-mile range at an adversary, LRPF would force an adversary to respond, which exposes the locations of its countermeasures, and might even expose the location of an adversary force's headquarters. In that situation an adversary's headquarters would not survive for long, and the adversary's forces would be subject to
defeat in detail. But LRPF is only one part of the strategy of overmatch by a
Combatant commander.
In August-September 2020. at Yuma Proving Ground, the US Army engaged in a five-week exercise to rapidly merge capabilities in multiple-domains. The exercise prototyped a ground tactical Network, pushing it to its limits of robustness[121] (currently 36 miles on the ground, and demonstrated 1500-mile capability above the ground, with
kill chains measured in seconds) in the effort to penetrate
anti-access/area denial (A2AD) with long-range fires. Longer-range fires are under development, ranging from hundreds of miles to over 1000 miles, with yearly iterations of Project Convergence being planned.[122]
Penetrate phase: satellites detect enemy shooters
Dis-integrate phase: airborne assets remove enemy long range fires
Kinetic effect phase: Army shooters, using targeting data from aircraft and other sensors, fire on enemy targets.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. James C. McConville will discuss the combination of MDO and JADC2 with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown.[121]
Partners
AFC is actively seeking partners outside the gates of a military reservation.[28]: minute 6:07
Multiple incubator tech hubs are available in Austin,[123]
especially Capital Factory, with offices of
Defense Innovation Unit (DIUx) and
AFWERX (USAF tech hub).[124] Gen. Murray will stand up an Army Applications Lab[Note 2] there to accelerate acquisition and deployment of materiel to the Soldiers, using
Artificial Intelligence (AI)[125] as one acceleration technique; Murray will hire a
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for AFC.[126][127] Gen. Murray, in seeking to globalize AFC,[128] has embedded U.S. military allies into some of the CFTs.[129][27]
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Modernization[130][131] — The Secretary of the Army has directed the establishment of an Army AI Task Force (A-AI TF) to support the DoD Joint AI center. The execution order will be drafted and staffed by Futures Command:[125][132]
Army AI task force[133][134] (its relationship with the CFTs is
cross-cutting, in the same sense as the Assured Position, Navigation, Timing (A-PNT) CFT and the Synthetic Training Environment (STE) CFT are also cross-cutting) will use the resources of the Army to establish scalable machine learning projects at Carnegie Mellon University
the
Army CIO/G-6 will create an Identity, Credential, and Access Management system to efficiently issue and verify credentials to non-person entities (AI agents and machines)[135]
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.[136][137] Funding will be assured for the Fiscal Year 2019.[61][138]
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)AlphaDogfight: Trials of eight AI teams, which began learning how to fly in September 2019. In August 2020 the eight AI agents faced each other, in a series of simulated fights. The simulations included the g-forces which limit a human (accelerations greater than 9 g's will cause most forward-facing human pilots to black out— AI
agents are not subject to these human constraints). The champion AI agent eventually met a human F-16 fighter pilot in simulated combat on 20 August 2020.[142] On 20 August 2020, the champion AI agent consistently defeated a human F-16 pilot in a series of
dogfights.[143]
DoD's Joint AI Center (JAIC) is providing a Joint Common Foundation, a cloud-based AI toolkit for any DoD organization (viz., Futures Command) to use.[144] JAIC is seeking to curate the
flood of data at DoD[145][46] to allow systematic, reliable datasets which are usable for machine learning.[146]
Adaptive Distributed Allocation of Probabilistic Tasks (ADAPT) is a DARPA model for testing AI-to-human communication in a toy environment. [147]
Futures Command will stand up Army Software Factory in August 2021, to immerse Soldiers and Army civilians of all ranks in modern software development, in Austin.[148][149] Similar in spirit to 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 Al Work Force Development program and this Software Factory will complement the Artificial Intelligence Task Force.[148][150]
AFC is seeking to design signature systems in a relevant time frame according to priorities[Note 1] of the Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA).[56] AFC will partner with other organizations such as Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (
DIUx) as needed.[75][151]
If a team from industry presents a viable program idea to a CFT, that CFT connects to the Army's requirements developers, Secretary Esper said, and the program
prototype is then put on a fast track.[152]
The Secretary of the Army has approved an Intellectual Property Management Policy, to protect both the Army and the entrepreneur or innovator.[153][154]
For example, the Network CFT and the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications—Tactical (PEO C3T) hosted a forum on 1 August 2018 for vendors to learn what might function as a testable/deployable[155] in the near future.[156][102][157] A few of the hundreds of white papers from the vendors, adjudged to be 'very mature ideas', were passed to the Army's acquisition community, while many others were passed to
CERDEC for continuation in the Army's effort to modernize the network for combat.[158] Although some test requirements were inappropriately applied, the Command post computing environment (CPCE) has passed a hurdle.[159]
While seeking information, the Army is especially interested in ideas that accelerate an acquisition program, in for example the
Future Vertical Lift Requests for Information (RFIs): "provide a detailed description of tailored, alternative or innovative approaches that streamlines the acquisition process to accelerate the program as much as possible".[160] In January 2020 the current Optionally manned fighting vehicle (OMFV) solicitation was cancelled when the OMFV's requirements added up to an unobtainable project;[161] In February 2020 Futures command was now soliciting the industry for do-able ideas for an OMFV.[161]
Need for modernization reform
Between 1995 and 2009, $32 billion was expended on programs such as the
Future Combat System[162] (2003-2009), with no harvestable content by the time of its cancellation.[163] The Army has not fielded a new combat system in decades.[164][92][165][166][33]
Secretary of the Army Mark Esper has remarked that AFC will provide the unity of command and purpose needed to reduce the requirements definition phase from 60 months to 12 months.[167][23][52]
A simple statement of a problem (rather than a full-blown requirements definition) that the Army is trying to address may suffice for a surprising, usable solution. —General Mike Murray, paraphrasing Trae Stephens[41]: minute 41:50 (One task will be to quantify the lead time for identifying a requirement; the next task would then be to learn how to reduce that lead time.—
Gap analysis )[28]: minute 11:00 [168][169][6] Process changes are expected.[168][46] The development process will be cyclic, consisting of prototype, demonstration/testing, and evaluation, in an iterative process designed to unearth unrealistic requirements early, before prematurely including that requirement in a program of record. The
ASA(ALT) Bruce Jette[170] has cautioned the acquisition community to 'call-out' unrealistic processes which commit a program to a drawn-out failure,[171] rather than failing early, and seeking another solution.[172]
Secretary Esper scrubbed through 800[173] modernization programs to reprioritize funding[174] for the top 6 modernization priorities,[58] which will consume 80% of the modernization funding,[175] of 18 systems.[175] The Budget Control Act will restrict funds by 2020.[176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183][184][29][30][185][186][187] Secretary McCarthy has cautioned that a stopgap 2019 Continuing resolution (CR) would halt development of some of the critical modernization projects.[188][189] Realistically, budget considerations will restrict the fielding of new materiel to one Armor BCT per year;[190] at that rate, updates would take decades.[190][186] The Budget Control Act (BCA) expires in 2022.[191][192] The "night court" budget review process realigned $2.4 billion for modernization away from programs which were not tied to modernization or to the 2018 National Defense Strategy.[193] The total FY2021 budget request of $178 billion is $2 billion less than the enacted FY2020 budget of $180 billion.[193][194][195][196][197][198][199]
The
CIO/G6 has targeted Futures Command (Austin) in 2019 as the first pilot for "enterprise IT-as-a-service"-style service contracts; General Murray now (July 2019) has a sensitive compartmented information facility in his headquarters, as a result of this pilot.[26] Two other locations are to be announced for 2019. Six to eight other pilots are envisioned for 2020. However, 288 other enterprise network locations remain to be migrated away from the previous "big bang" migration concept from several years ago, as they are vulnerable to near-peer cyber threats.[200][201]: minute 16:50 The CIO/G6 emphasizes that this enterprise migration is not the tactical network espoused in the top six priorities (a 'mobile & expeditionary Army network').[200][202]
After AFC, the following G6 service contracts are high priority:[200]
By February 2020 the Vice Chief of Staff could assess that Army modernization was perceptibly speeding up.[203]
Progress toward MDO
The CG of Army Futures Command (AFC) is set to announce full operational capability (FOC) 31 July 2019.[204][205]
XM1299[206][207] Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) a descendant of the
Paladin self-propelled howitzer.
Picatinny Arsenal In September 2020 an AI kill chain used a
hypervelocity munition launched from such a howitzer to intercept a cruise missile surrogate.[208]
The
Army G8 is monitoring just how producible (Milestone C) the upcoming materiel will be; for the moment, the G8 is funding the materiel.[32] Follow-up on Modernization reviews is forthcoming, on a regular basis, according to the G8.[209][210][211]
Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) is a systematic program to extend the artillery's range.[213] In 2018 tests showed the range was doubled.[214][215]
The current Paladin (
M109A6) cannon range is doubling (M109A7).[216]: minute 2:30 [217] An operational test of components of Long range cannon (LRC) is scheduled for 2020.[218] LRC is complementary to Extended range cannon artillery (ERCA),[218][213] the XM1299 Extended Range Cannon Artillery howitzer.[206][219][207] Investigations for ERCA in 2025: rocket-boosted artillery shells:[214] Tests of the Multiple launch rocket system (MLRS)
XM30 rocket shell have demonstrated a near-doubling of the range of the munition, using the Tail controlled guided multiple launch rocket system, or TC-G.[220] The TRADOC capability manager (TCM) Field Artillery Brigade - DIVARTY has been named a command position.[Note 3]
An autoloader for ERCA's 95-pound shells is under development at
Picatinny Arsenal,[206] to support a sustained firing rate of 10 rounds a minute from ERCA.[219] A robotic vehicle for carrying the shells is a separate prototyping effort at Futures Command's Army Applications Lab.[206][221]
The Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) is slated to replace the Army Tactical Missile System
(ATACMS) in 2023.[214] PrSM flight testing is delayed beyond 2 August 2019, the anticipated date for the expiration of the
INF Treaty, which set 499 kilometer limits on intermediate-range missiles.[222] (David Sanger and Edward Wong project that the earliest test of a longer range missile could be a ground-launched version of a
Tomahawk cruise missile,[223] followed by a test of a mobile ground launched
IRBM with a range of 1800–2500 miles before year-end 2019.[223][224]) The 2020
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)[225] was approved 9 December 2019, which allows the Pentagon to continue testing such missiles in FY2020; Paul McCleary points out that Congress will still need an Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) for the prospective missile acquisitions.[224] The Lockheed PrSM prototype flew its 10 December 2019 first launch at White Sands Missile Range, in a 150-mile test, and an overhead detonation; the Raytheon PrSM prototype is delayed from its planned November launch,[226] and Raytheon has now withdrawn from the PrSM risk reduction phase.[227] The PrSM's range and accuracy, the interfaces to HIMARS launcher, and test software, met expectations.[226][228][229]
For targets beyond the PrSM's range, the Army's
RCCTO will seek a mid-range missile prototype by 2023, with a reach from 1000 to 2000 miles.[230]
The Long range hypersonic weapon (LRHW) will use precision targeting data against anti-access area denial (A2AD) radars and other critical infrastructure of near-peer competitors by 2023.[231][72] LRHW does depend on stable funding.[210][69][232]
Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) 7.0 is the vehicle for an Multi-domain task force's artillery battery very similar to a
THAAD battery: beginning in 2020, these batteries will train for a hypersonic glide vehicle which is common to the Joint forces.[67] The Long range hypersonic weapon (LRHW)[231] glide vehicle is to be launched from
transporter erector launchers.[67][233][69] Tests of the Common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB) to be used by the Army and Navy were meeting expectations in 2020.[81]
In August 2020 the director of Assured precision navigation and timing (APNT) CFT announced tests which integrate the entire fires
kill chain, from initial detection to final destruction. William B. Nelson announced the flow of satellite data from the European theater (Germany), and AI processing of AFATDS targeting data to the fires units.[114][115]
In September 2020 an AI kill chain was formulated in seconds; a hypervelocity (speeds up to Mach 5) munition,[234] launched from a descendant of the
Paladin, intercepted a cruise missile surrogate.[208][235]
Three flight tests of LRHW are scheduled in 2021.[236]
At
Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), Firestorm (a Project Convergence AI node)[243][244][245] sent targeting coordinates to Remote Weapons Stations, which were proxies for the Robotic Combat Vehicles and Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicles. A
CROWS was slewed to the aimpoint, awaiting the human commander's order to fire.[246] Firestorm aids and partakes of the
Common operational picture (COP) shared by the AI hub at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.[246][247] Satellite-based, F-35 based, and Army ground-based targeting data were shared in real-time during Firestorm's operation with the AI hubs to produce effects at YPG.[248][249]
Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (
AMPV): in Limited User Tests[238] General purpose variant supports
Blue force tracking[50]: p.40
An Advanced Powertrain Demonstrator, compact enough for AMPVs, Bradleys, OMFVs, or RCVs, can generate 1,000 horsepower from diesel.[251] Alternatively, the demonstrator can generate electrical power: 160 kiloWatts for SHORAD high-energy lasers, or for propulsion of a 50-ton vehicle in quiet mode, for brief periods.[251]
A ground mobility vehicle competition, bids closing 26 October 2018[252]
The
JLTV was approved for full rate production in June 2019.[253] Joint Modernization Command (JMC) is supporting a TCM Stryker study on the optimum number of JLTVs for light infantry brigades.[254]
AFC's Futures and concepts center is proposing a strategy to guide the electrification of the GCVs, using the JLTV as an example for a step-by-step pathway and transition plan for electrification.[255][256][256][46][47]
The Maneuver CDID (MCDID) is undertaking the requirements development for electrification of Tactical and Combat Vehicles in September 2020;[257] General Wesley had previously announced a plan in April 2020 for the modernization of Tactical and Combat Vehicles using the JLTV electrification plan as a prototype template of the electrification process.[257][46]
Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF):[258][259] approved by
joint requirements oversight council.[238] Two vendors were selected to build competing prototype light tanks (MPF), with contract award in 2022.[260] A unit of 82nd Airborne Division will begin assessment of prototype MPFs beginning in March 2020.[261]
Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV):[152] soliciting input, in requirements definition stage; the 2018 requirement was that 2 OMFVs fit in a C-17.[238][262][46][47] A request for proposal (RFP) for a vehicle prototype was placed 29 March 2019.[152][263] On 16 January 2020 the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle solicitation was cancelled, as a middle tier acquisition in its early stage; the requirements and schedule are being revisited.[161] The FY2021 budget request has been adjusted accordingly.[192][264]
An Army development team will not be an OMFV competitor as of 17 September 2020.[265]
Robotic Combat Vehicles (RCVs):[266][152][242][246] General Murray envisions that by FY2023 critical decisions will be made on RCVs after years of experimentation.[108][267]
The FVL CFT has secured approval for the requirements in all four of its Lines of Effort:[270][271]
Future Vertical Lift will use the DoD modular open systems approach (MOSA),[12][272] an integrated business and technical strategy in FARA,[273][274][275][276][277] and in FLRAA:[278][279][160] Both FLRAA and FARA are to enter service by Fiscal Year 2030.[280]
Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD): prototypes by two teams to replace
UH-60 with
Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA).[281] The tilt-rotor FLRAA demonstrator by Bell is flying unmanned (October 2019); it logged 100 hours of flight testing by April 2019.[282] Both Bell and Sikorsky-Boeing received contract awards to compete in a risk reduction effort (CDRRE) for FLRAA in March 2020.[283][282][284] The risk reduction effort will be a 2-phase, 2-year competition. The competition will transition technologies (powertrain, drivetrain and control laws) from the previous demonstrators (JMR-TDs) of 2018–2019 to requirements, conceptual designs, and acquisition approach for the weapon system.[283][285] The Aviation PEO would then be able to present an acquisition strategy to the Acquisition Executive (potentially a full and open competition for FLRAA in a future Fiscal Year).[283][286][287]
The
Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) is smaller than FLRAA. The Army issued requests for proposals (RFPs) for FARA.[288] RFPs were due in December 2018;[289][290][274][291] in April 2019, the Army awarded 5 Other transaction authority (OTA) contracts[292] to vendors with a Milestone C in 2028.[293][294] Each agreement spans the entire acquisition process, from design, to prototype, to flight test, to low-volume production, to fielding, to full-rate production (Milestone C);[293][295] but each agreement is subject to cancellation, if need be. Competing FARA demonstrators will also be built by Bell, and by Sikorsky, in three year efforts beginning in 2020.[296][297]
Future tactical unmanned aircraft systems (FTUAS): drones which do not require runways.[298][299][300][301]
Under Secretary McCarthy notes that Soldier feedback remains an item for discussion in the Future Vertical Lift CFT.[302][42]UH-60s are serving as surrogate FARAs for experiments designed to pierce the enemy's anti-access/area denial (A2AD) environment, and bring a mesh network forward.[271]
Mobile, Expeditionary Network: In Fiscal Year 2019, the network CFT will leverage
Network Integration Evaluation 18.2[303] for experiments with brigade level scalability.[304] Integrated Tactical Network (
ITN) "is not a new or separate network but rather a concept"—PEO C3T.[305] Avoid overspecifying the requirements for Integrated Tactical Network[50][305][306][307][308][309][310] Information Systems Initial Capabilities Document. Instead, meet operational needs,[311][304][127] such as interoperability with other networks,[312][201]: minute 26:40 [310] and release ITN capabilities incrementally.[313][50][305]
Up through 2028, every two years the Army will insert new capability sets for ITN (Capability sets '21, '23, '25, etc.).[314][50][305] and take feedback from Soldier-led experiment & evaluation.[315][316][317][13][318]
Firestorm was made possible by a
mesh network — improvising an MEO, and then a GEO satellite link between JBLM to YPG.[250] There are plans to have a Project Convergence 2021.[122]
Five Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) awards have been granted to five vendors via the Network CFT and PEO C3T's request for white papers. That request, for a roll-on/roll-off kit that integrates all functions of mission command on the Army Network, was posted at the National Spectrum Consortium and FedBizOpps, and yielded awards within eight months.[319][Note 2] Two more awards are forthcoming.
The Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO)'s Emerging Technologies Office structured a competition to find superior AI/Machine Learning algorithms for electronic warfare, from a field of 150 contestants, over a three-month period.[320][Note 2]
The Multi-Domain Operations Task Force (MDO TF) is standing up an experimental Electronic Warfare Platoon to prototype an estimated 1000 EW soldiers needed for the 31 BCTs of the active Army.[321][87]
An Army leader dashboard from
PEO Enterprise Information Systems is underway.[322][323] The dashboard has been renamed Vantage.[324] Cloud-service-provider agnostic
abstraction layers are in use, which allows merging the staff work in G-3/5/7 for cyber/EW (electronic warfare), mission command, and space.[325] The "seamless, real-time flow of data" across multiple domains (land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace) is an objective for G-6, as well as the sensor-to-shooter work at Futures command.[326][325][327]
Fort Irwin, Fort Hood, Joint Base San Antonio, and Joint Base Lewis McChord have 5G experiments on wireless connectivity between forward operating bases and tactical operations centers, as well as nonaircraft Augmented reality support of maintenance and training.[328]
Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (
IBCS)[50]: p.42 second limited user test is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of FY20.[331][332] On 1 May 2019 an Engagement Operations Center (EOC) for the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) was delivered to the Army, at Huntsville, Alabama.[333] IAMD[334][335] is intended to integrate the following:
Lower tier air and missile defense sensor (
LTAMDS)[331] —PEO RCO is accelerating LTAMDS experimentation by downselecting to two competitors with award by 2023[336][Note 2][337] The fielding aim for LTDAMDS is 2022.[338]
LTAMDS uses gallium nitride (GaN) RF elements. It replaces the Patriot radar,[339][340] fits on a C-17, and feeds data to IBCS.[337][338]
Maneuver short-range air defense (
MSHORAD)[331][345] with laser cannon prototypes in 2020,[346]High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator (HEL-TVD) 2019 fielding 50 kW lasers on Strykers[106][231] in 2021 and 2022 to two battalions per year.[90][347][348]
F-35,[349] Aegis, Patriot, LTAMDS, and
THAAD radars will interoperate.[339][86] On 30 August 2019 at
Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein atoll,
THAAD Battery E-62 successfully intercepted a medium range ballistic missile (MRBM), using a radar which was well-separated from the interceptors;[350][351] the next step tested Patriot missiles as interceptors[334] while using THAAD radars as sensors;[350] a THAAD radar has a longer detection range than a Patriot radar.[350] THAAD Battery E-62 engaged the MRBM without knowledge of just when the medium range ballistic missile had launched.[350][351]
In July 2020 a Limited user test (LUT) of IBCS was initiated at WSMR; the test will run into mid-September.[352] The LUT was originally scheduled for May but was delayed to handle the COVID-19 safety protocols.[332] The first of several LUTs of IBCS, by an ADA battalion was successfully run in August 2020.[353] IBCS successfully integrated data from two sensors (Sentinel and Patriot radars), and shot down two drones (cruise missile surrogates) with two Patriot missiles in the presence of jamming;[353] In the week after, by 20 August 2020 two more disparate threats (cruise missile and ballistic missile) were launched and intercepted;[354][355] the ADA battalion then ran hundreds of drills denoting hundreds of threats for the remainder of the IBCS tests (the increased effort occupied the entire unit);[356] the real-world data serve as a sanity check for
Monte Carlo simulations of an array of physical scenarios amounting to hundreds of thousands of cases.[357][358] IBCS created a "single uninterrupted composite track of each threat" and handed off each threat for separate disposition by the air and missile defense's integrated fire control network (IFCN).[359] The same battalion running the LUT, for both IBCS, and LTAMDS radar, is scheduled to run the Initial Operational Test & Evaluation (IOTE) in 2021,[352][360] and running well into 2022.[358]
Although on 21 August 2019 the Missile defense agency (
MDA) cancelled the $5.8 billion contract for the Redesigned kill vehicle (RKV),[361][362][363][86] the Army's
100th Missile Defense Brigade will continue to use the Exo-Atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV). The current
Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) programs continue per plan, with 64 ground-based interceptors (GBIs) in the missile fields for 2019.
C2BMC (Command and Control Battle Management and Communications), was developed by the Missile defense agency (as a development organization) and is integrated with GMD, as demonstrated by FTG-11 on 25 March 2019.[364]: 15:00
The TRADOC capability manager (TCM) for Strategic Missile Defense (SMD) has accepted the charter for
DOTMLPF for the Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT).[365][91]
Next-generation squad weapon: Expect 100,000 to be fielded to the Close Combat Force:[15] Infantry, Armor, Cavalry, Special Forces, and Combat engineers. Tests at Fort Benning in 2019. —Chief of Staff Milley[371]
Nine thousand systems, with two drones apiece are being purchased over a three-year period for the 9-man infantry squads heading to Afghanistan.[372]
Enhanced night vision goggles (ENVG)-B, will be fielded to an Armor brigade combat team (
ABCT) going to South Korea in October 2019[373][374][15]
Synthetic training environment (
STE)—a CFT devoted to an augmented reality system[375][376] to aid planning, using mapping techniques, even at squad level[377][378] will begin fielding by 2021.[379][380][381] In October 2019 the Synthetic Training Environment (STE) prototype is being used by Special Operations for planning actual missions.[382][383]
Headquarters (HQ) and commander
On 13 July 2018, U.S. Army Secretary
Mark Esper said AFC's headquarters would be based in
Austin, Texas.[384]
AFC spreads across three locations totalling 75,000 square feet;[385] one of the locations in a
University of Texas System building at 210 W. Seventh St. in downtown Austin,[386][387] on the 15th and 19th floors.[388] The UT Regents will not be charging rent to AFC until December 2019.[388] The command began initial operations on 1 July 2018.[389]
On 16 July 2018, Lieutenant General
John M. Murray was nominated for a fourth star and appointment as Army Futures Command's first commanding general.[390][391]
His appointment was confirmed 20 August 2018[392] and he assumed command during the official
activation ceremony of AFC on 24 August 2018, in Austin, Texas.[385]
Notes
^
abcd
The capabilities as prioritized by the Chief of Staff, will use
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the realms of requirements, acquisition, science and technology, test, resourcing, costing, and sustainment, using CFTs for:
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
^
abJP-1 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.
^In, for example
Waverider hypersonic weapons delivery, China has flown a Mach 5.5 vehicle for 400 seconds, at 30 km altitude, demonstrating large-angle deviations from a ballistic trajectory, as well as recovery of the payload. See
^
abcJen Judson (20 August 2019) US Missile Defense Agency boss reveals his goals, challenges on the job Increase the discrimination of the radars and other sensors. Use Large aperture sensors. Use Space-based missile sensors. An SM-3 Block IIA missile test against ICBM is scheduled for 2020. Plan out the detection, control and engagement; the sensors, the command-and-control, the fire control, and the weapons (the kill vehicles).
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.
United States
United States Army
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