The Army wants lighter body armor and weapons as well as a future fighting vehicle to restore a greater degree of tactical ability in future combat, according to a top general.
Director of Army Capabilities and Integration Center (ARCIC) and Deputy Commanding General, Future, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said Tuesday reducing the weight soldiers must carry will help provide “overmatch” capability. McMaster said the Army has prototyped an automatic weapon that weighs in at seven pounds.
Photo: BAE Systems
Other ways of reducing soldiers’ carrying weight is through cases of tapered ammunition and to “give them a ride,” McMaster said, by acknowledging the need for a “future fighting vehicle” to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, which is built by BAE Systems.
“What combat vehicles are we developing that will get (fresh) soldiers into the fight under advantageous conditions,” McMasters said during a presentation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in downtown Washington. “I think we have to acknowledge that armored vehicles are a key element of our differential advantage over our enemies.”
McMaster said it is time to pursue the future fighting vehicle because the Bradleys will become obsolete by the time the replacement vehicle is fielded. Though the Army, he said, should also pursue short-term incremental upgrades across its vehicle fleet such as the latest forward-looking infrared (IR) radar capabilities and improved vehicle power, the future fighting vehicle should remain the service’s long-term priority. In addition to better power and IR capabilities, the Army is interested in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, McMaster said.
The Army is also using better use of data to help improve leader development, training and education, McMaster said. The service, he said, established a Training Brain Operations Center (TBOC) at TRADOC, which he said generalizes data from previous conflicts and provides it as a training support package. McMaster said this part of the Army shifting away from an old method of analyzing a mission, where it considered only itself and the enemy, to a new method that considers the Army in context of civilian populations and complex social, political and religious tribal dynamics.
McMaster said the Army is improving realism in training by emphasizing advanced cognition capabilities under advanced situational awareness to develop leaders under what the service calls “naturalistic decision making.”
“(This is) how we immerse leaders in very realistic environments in situations they’re likely to encounter,” McMaster said. “So their first mission is like their 100th.”
The Army in late October released its Operating Concept for 2020-2040. It guides future force development by identifying first order capabilities that the Army needs to support U.S. policy objectives and provides the intellectual foundation and framework for future force development. The concept cites mobile protected precision firepower, improved lethality of munitions and better logistics as key focus areas.