{"id":949,"date":"2024-01-03T02:02:57","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T02:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=949"},"modified":"2024-01-03T02:02:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T02:02:57","slug":"rainey-c2-defensive-measures-key-to-next-generation-warfighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=949","title":{"rendered":"Rainey: C2, Defensive Measures Key to Next-Generation Warfighting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ARLINGTON, Va. \u2014 On Dec. 13, Army Futures Command Commanding General Gen. James E. Rainey spoke to Army stakeholders, supporters and media about Army transformation activities as part of an Association of the United States Army featured speaker coffee series in Arlington.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on how modernization efforts have evolved in the five years since AFC\u2019s founding, Rainey shared that the command\u2019s scope has grown to encompass \u201coverall responsibility for the entire transformation portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remain convinced that it was a bold move and it was the right move for the Army to stand up Army Futures Command,\u201d Rainey said.<\/p>\n

He emphasized that the command works hand-in-hand with Army Training and Doctrine Command, Army Materiel Command, Army Forces Command and the Office of the United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology to create, evaluate and develop new concepts, systems and equipment for the Army and Joint Force, with essential support from Congress.<\/p>\n

In looking ahead to priorities for 2024 and beyond, Rainey highlighted the need to continue investing strategically in command and control and defensive measures, given their weighty importance in shaping tomorrow\u2019s warfighting landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep getting better, get lighter,\u201d Rainey said of current network capabilities.<\/p>\n

AFC is also looking at ways to make data more available and user-friendly as part of next-generation C2 efforts, and Rainey acknowledged that the future force will require commanders, Soldiers and Department of the Army civilians alike to be data literate or data fluent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the potential to reinvent and really develop a data-centric command and control system,\u201d he said, stressing the need for a more \u201ccomplex, adaptive, systems-to-systems approach to warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that if we move to a truly data-centric approach to fighting, it\u2019ll revolutionize most of warfare, primarily deterrent value. Somebody being willing to attack into the face of a lethal, data-driven capability, it would be pretty foolish.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Rainey, future deterrence and defense measures will include advanced air and missile defense technologies and integrated offensive and defensive fires, along with measures that improve adaptability and endurance of formations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to preserve our people and our ability to do maneuver warfare,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rainey underscored the criticality of maintaining and strengthening Soldier lethality, in part by leveraging human machine integrated formations, or HMIF, to optimize battlefield outcomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur best weapon system we have is still the Soldier; best formation we have is still the rifle squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Protecting Soldiers in combat and further enabling them to do what only humans can do will require smart investments in transformational machine capabilities, particularly those that capitalize on mobility and can increase lethality and survivability, Rainey explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAutonomous and robotic systems are going to disrupt the land domain, starting now,\u201d Rainey said, detailing how technology available today can help mitigate risks to Soldiers by placing robots in traditionally higher risk positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the ability and I think the moral responsibility to not trade blood for first contact with the enemy,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n

Rainey shared that the Army has already started to prototype an HMIF light infantry platoon at Fort Moore, Georgia, as well as a heavy infantry version at the National Training Center, California. The formations will incorporate robots and configurable payloads designed to augment human capabilities in modern but realistic ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take robots and try and replace humans or combat vehicles, you\u2019re on a vision quest, and it\u2019s going to take a long time. If you take humans and robots and put them together in a coherent formation, you start solving all the problems in both directions,\u201d Rainey said.<\/p>\n

With continuous transformation as a chief Army priority, AFC has increased its experimentation and analytic efforts by approximately 20 percent in 2023, Rainey reported. Upcoming experiments include the joint, multinational Project Convergence Capstone 4, which will take place at Camp Pendleton and Fort Irwin, California, in early spring 2024.<\/p>\n

The command is also developing the Army\u2019s next warfighting concept that will inform future planning actions and address institutional challenges. The draft concept has drawn insights from future study initiatives and current conflicts like those taking place in Ukraine and Gaza. This includes honing the Army\u2019s ability to \u201clook at things that are happening in the world and move into a rapid acquisition of capability,\u201d Rainey said.<\/p>\n

In addition, AFC is conducting a tactical fires study and recently reached full operational capability of its Contested Logistics Cross-Functional Team, which is focused on predictive logistics, alternative power, demand reduction and autonomous and robotic resupply.<\/p>\n

The command continues to support enduring priorities as well, such as the Army\u2019 signature modernization efforts, which fall under the categories of long-range precision fires, next generation combat vehicles, future vertical lift, network, air and missile defense, and Soldier lethality.<\/p>\n

During the coffee series conversation, Rainey spoke to audience members, including industry representatives, about the importance of supporting support rapid acquisition \u2013 \u201cthe need to transform, be agile, be adaptive inside the next two years\u201d \u2014 as part of the Army\u2019s overall transformation effort, noting that technologies such as loitering munitions and company-level unmanned aircraft systems could provide pivotal effects. He explained that the Army is working to incorporate such capabilities within a doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities and policy framework, to ensure appropriate training, sustainment and leader development. At the same time, the Army is also eyeing frameworks for 2025-2030 and leap-ahead capabilities for 2030-2040.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the real opportunity, where things are fundamentally going to change,\u201d Rainey said of the latter.<\/p>\n

By Maureena Thompson, Army Futures Command<\/em><\/p>\n

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ARLINGTON, Va. \u2014 On Dec. 13, Army Futures Command Commanding General Gen. James E. Rainey spoke to Army stakeholders, supporters and media about Army transformation activities as part of an Association of the United States Army featured speaker coffee series in Arlington. Reflecting on how modernization efforts have evolved in the five years since AFC\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-army"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions\/951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}