Army to expand tech-equipping effort—and cut some programs

Updated on Oct. 16.

The Army will expand a new equipment-fielding initiative focused on drones, electronic warfare, and other modern tech to several more units, service leader Gen. Randy George said Tuesday. 

Two armored brigade combat teams, two Stryker brigade combat teams, and other units in the Guard and Reserves will all get new tech under the program, which George dubbed “Transformation in Contact 2.0.” Among them are the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, a Stryker brigade, and the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division, Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza said during a media roundtable on Wednesday.

The Army’s transformation-in-contact, or TiC, approach launched in February with the service flooding three brigades with drones, electronic warfare equipment, communications tech, and other technologies. The three brigades are the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division; 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division; and 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. 

The effort draws in part on lessons learned from Ukraine, where significant drone use has defined the battlefield and underscored the need for smaller command posts as well as counter-drone operations. 

The three original brigades now boast more than 140 drones, George said. The effort is running in tandem with Army efforts to hide in plain sight on the battlefield, which George said has resulted in the brigades reducing their electromagnetic and physical presence by nearly 90 percent. 

Transformation in Contact 2.0 will also equip “protection and sustainment” units by the end of fiscal year 2025, George said. 

Additionally, George said, the Army will focus on three other priorities: improving counter-drone systems, increasing the range and accuracy of Army long-range missiles and other forms of indirect fire, and modernizing Army munitions manufacturing. 

“We have to give every formation the right systems to sense, seek, and defeat enemy [drones] to enhance their protection and security,” George said. 

George also repeatedly emphasized that the Army could no longer afford to take a decade or more to field systems. “We cannot buy programs for ten years at a time anymore. Technology changes too fast.” 

Cuts coming

The chief of staff said his service will cut programs that don’t support transformation-in-contact efforts.

“There are also some things that we are going to stop buying: old, stand-alone tech that doesn’t connect to our network, equipment that can’t operate in our [transforming-in-contact] formations, all of the outdated stuff that isn’t survivable on the modern battlefield,” George said.

That could include the cancellation of programs of record, he added. 

In place of the old acquisition progress, George wants to buy more equipment in tranches, so the Army can purchase different systems from year to year to fulfill a defined need, such as drones. The method would allow the Army to buy whatever technology is newest, rather than committing to a single platform that may be outdated by the time it’s rolled out to the last brigade. 

“It should be clear to all of us that the days where we indiscriminately could buy an entire Army’s worth of inventory in a single program of record are gone,” said George. “We can’t afford to invest in obsolescence.”