AUSTIN, Texas — Army senior leaders are eager to increase understanding and integration of new technologies into the force and offered insights on how they are tackling the challenge during a March 9 panel at the 2024 South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas.
The panel, “Transforming Our Future: Innovation, Tech and the Army,” featured the Hon. Christine E. Wormuth, Secretary of the Army and Gen. James E. Rainey, commanding general of Army Futures Command. Wormuth and Rainey kicked off the conversation with a discussion on how the Army has adapted to the shifting demands and possibilities presented by cutting-edge technologies.
“When we look at today and look to the future, I think what it’s going to be about for the United States Army is being prepared to fight high-tech adversaries or hybrid adversaries with a mix of high and low tech in urban environments,” Wormuth said.
She added that the Army’s focus extends beyond the land domain, which remains critical, to include multi-domain operations.
“It’s the land, it’s space, it’s cyber, it’s the information space — the Army now has to be able to operate in all of those domains, and to do that effectively, we’ve got to be able to leverage technology,” she said.
Rainey and Wormuth explained how the Army plays an essential role in deterring future conflict while also tackling climate issues and aiding in disaster response.
“We’re not just about protecting our country; we’re about, in many cases, trying to help others all around the world,” Wormuth said, adding that the Army is currently involved in U.S. Government efforts to build a pier offshore from Gaza that will be used in humanitarian relief activities.
“We do whatever the country needs us to do as an Army,” Rainey added.
Dcode Founder and CEO Meagan Metzger, who moderated the session, asked Wormuth and Rainey to describe how they saw tech making a difference on the modern battlefield.
“It would be an understatement to say that we’re in a disruptive period of time with technology,” Rainey responded. “I think it’s going to disrupt everything we do.”
“Using AI, space-based sensing, large language models to understand what is happening at an unprecedented capability is important to us,” Rainey continued, underscoring the necessity of ensuring both speed and accuracy in ethical decision-making and the protection of civilians.
Metzger also inquired about how the Army will use artificial intelligence to strengthen its force.
“Pursuing artificial intelligence capabilities ethically is a core part of the Department [of Defense’s] policy,” Wormuth replied. The integration of human input remains a core principle, she explained, and maintaining a human focus amid the push to rapidly employ artificial intelligence systems will continue to be a primary objective.
“Autonomous systems — air and ground — will never replace our humans,” Rainey asserted. “The art is: how do you offload risk onto machines — not to replace humans, but to optimize our humans to do the things that they’re only going to do.”
Developing Human Machine Integrated Formations is part of the Army’s answer to this question. Army scientists, researchers and leaders are prototyping and evaluating elements of these future formations through experiments like Project Convergence Capstone 4 and allied partner training and force sustainment scenarios.
Additional activities geared toward accelerating Army transformation include adapting acquisition procedures and business operations, strategically scaling new technologies and balancing future Army needs with present-day concerns.
“There’s a lot of support [from Congress] for wanting to help not just the Army, but all of the services bring in technology more effectively and more quickly,” Wormuth said.
She and Rainey further emphasized the importance of software and open architecture, private-sector partnerships and collaborative problem-solving in advancing force capabilities.
Wormuth added that the Army is evaluating and expanding how it engages with innovative companies, including through agile resources like the Army Applications Laboratory.
“We are really trying to look at our business models and think about how we can be more flexible and how we can do more work with nontraditional businesses,” Wormuth said.
The Army is also seeking to recruit and train Soldiers who possess — or would like to develop — tech savvy, in addition to those who are interested in more traditional infantry and operations roles.
“Now more than ever, I would say, data for the Army is as important as bullets or missiles,” Wormuth said.
“We need people with technology skills,” she stressed, adding “it’s not just in uniform. We have hundreds of thousands of Department of the Army Civilians who often are working alongside our folks in uniform in these areas, and there are opportunities there as well.”
According to Wormuth, the need for tech proficiency extends to senior Army leaders and policymakers, as well as to Soldiers operating in the field.
“More and more, we’re going to want to push that kind of expertise out to the tactical edge.”
Rainey highlighted how the business of improving the Army’s technological prowess will also be informed by the individuals who decide to join the organization in the years to come.
“The Army is your Army, it’s America’s Army, it’s everybody. It’s an all-volunteer force. It’s one of the greatest things we have,” he said.
“We depend on young men and women to decide that they’re going to do something with their life bigger than them. You can do it in uniform, out of uniform, you can do it full-time, you can do it part-time, and the next generations continuing to take some time to do something for their country and pay back all these privileges is really important to us.”
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A full audio recording of the Army’s March 9 SXSW panel is available on the SXSW website.
To learn more about Army Cyber and Technology Careers, Visit GoArmy.com to learn more about cyber and technology careers in the Army Cyber Corps and civilian opportunities.
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