{"id":36586,"date":"2019-01-28T13:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T13:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/01\/28\/secretary-mark-esper-talks-us-army-renaissance-moving-fast-and-prepping-for-oversight-hawks\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:48:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:48:03","slug":"secretary-mark-esper-talks-us-army-renaissance-moving-fast-and-prepping-for-oversight-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2019\/01\/28\/secretary-mark-esper-talks-us-army-renaissance-moving-fast-and-prepping-for-oversight-hawks\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretary Mark Esper talks US Army renaissance, moving fast and prepping for oversight hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Army has a spotty history when it comes to large acquisition programs. Secretary Mark Esper himself referred to the Future Combat Systems and Comanche helicopter in the context of grand failures. But more than a year into his tenure, with the formation of Futures Command and the launch of 31 programs, the Army is on track for transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense News interviewed Esper while traveling with him to Redstone Arsenal and Fort Rucker in Alabama, focusing on the great potential and natural risks of going bold and going fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s been talk of an Army renaissance. What progress has been made since you came on board? Is it fast enough? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By nature, nothing\u2019s fast enough for me. I\u2019ve been on board 14, 15 months. My focus last year was making sure our Futures Command got up and running. So, check that box. I\u2019m confident now under Gen. [John] Murray, where Futures Command is going, its trajectory. So this year is going be the year I focus on talent management. We got a good foundation last year. We picked a leader, Gen. [Joseph] McGee, who\u2019s in charge of that right now, and he\u2019s building a team. I gave them a timeline with a number of tasks to complete, things like defining the vision and defining the end state, and some other near-term tasks to report back. I want to begin implementation by the end of this year. I want to move quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The standing up of Futures Command seemed rapid by defense standards.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a year of change last year. We set up Futures Command, the [cross-functional teams] are fully staffed, up and running. We\u2019re showing progress on their 31 programs. We put out the modernization strategy spring last year. I mean, there is a lot happening on the modernization front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You estimated about $25 billion would need to be shifted to top modernization priorities over the next five years. Can you offer a breakdown by program?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The platforms end up becoming the things that cost a lot \u2014 you know, like the next-generation combat vehicle, aircraft, things like that. But you\u2019ll start seeing the moves when our budget comes out. Certainly for 2020. I don\u2019t know how much you\u2019ll see beyond that, but we freed up a lot of money certainly in the 2022, 2023 time frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019ve said, writ large, if you step back and you look at the [Future Year Defense Program], we want to keep building readiness between now and FY22; during this time, we\u2019re going put a lot of dollars in S&T, which we\u2019ve done. And then around the 2022 time frame, we\u2019ll hit that readiness mark, and then we\u2019ll level out. We want to sustain that readiness mark, which means I could really put the focus and the dollars behind production. We now harvest that research and development and move it to production around the 2022, 2023 time frame. That\u2019s where we\u2019re going to need a bulk of the dollars because the prototypes for [the next-generation combat vehicle], [future vertical lift] will be working their way through at that point in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have support from Congress both in terms of funding, but also the desire to go fast? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, for the leadership, yes. I think there’s bipartisan support for the reforms we are making, and the timelines we are on, and I’m hopeful and optimistic that Congress will give us the budget we need to do that. I think everybody recognizes that many of these systems are reaching or have reached the end of their lifetime, and now’s the time to make the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We tried to show Congress that we were serious and committed to doing this, by really digging into our budget. I mean, the chief and I spent together 50-plus hours going through our equipment budget alone. And then we went through our manning budget, our training budget, our installation budget \u2014 dedicating a lot of time to making sure we prioritize our projects, our programs and activities, and using those at the lower end of the list to pay for what\u2019s most important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a lot of the modernization efforts you\u2019re talking about, and the prototyping, and the fast rollout mean accepting a degree of risk, which is not something the Pentagon or Congress are prone to do. So how do you deal with that?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, nothing\u2019s perfect. Even every successful program has missteps. I\u2019m sure we will make our fair share. My challenge is to make sure I\u2019ve looked at each one, assess it and find out whether we managed risk well. Were they smart decisions? But I\u2019ve got to give people room to make some mistakes, to experiment, to be bold, to not be risk averse \u2014 and then defend that. Or hold them accountable, depending on what makes sense. So we\u2019ll see. Like I said, there will be missteps. We\u2019ll probably see schedules slip here and there. We may run over budget here and there. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m accepting that, but I\u2019m not naive enough to think that\u2019s not going to happen. That\u2019s why on these six modernization priorities, every week the chief and I get briefed by one of the CFTs. He and I are constantly engaged, monitoring the CFTs and their progress. I go out and I visit the CFTs, like I did today [Jan. 15] with Future Vertical Lift. Then I go on our top programs, some of which are CFTs, a few of which are not. But like today, for integrated battle command system, I go see the suppliers of our key systems, particularly those that are having some problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, or IBCS, has some challenges. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has; I think they\u2019re on the right path now. We\u2019re doing everything that makes sense from an oversight perspective, to make sure these top programs are getting sufficient attention, that I\u2019m on top of them. \u201cWhat do you need from me? What do you need in terms of money, authority, people to make the program successful?\u201d That tends to be my theme as I go around, or I continue to give them guidance \u2014 move more quickly, whatever the case may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The test is when the first big screwup happens. All the eyes will turn to me, and the vice, and the chief, the commander, and how will we react? And it\u2019s obviously going to depend [on] was it an honest mistake, or whatever the case may be. But it will be how we react and how we deal with those above us who react. I\u2019m committed to not overreacting because the most important thing, again, is the culture. If we\u2019re risk-averse, things will always be slow and things will always be less than satisfactory. We\u2019ve got to be willing to take risk, and in some cases, it\u2019s cost. In some cases, it\u2019s schedule or performance. But we\u2019ve got to be able to work on a less-than-perfect solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too often now, people are getting high grades by following the checklist, even though the outcome is not the right outcome. I want to evaluate people on the outcome, not the checklist. I want people who say: \u201cYou know, items 23 through 34 make no sense. So we\u2019re going skip those.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Secretary of the Army Dr. Mark T. Esper gets a tour of a Northrop Grumman facility during a visit to Redstone Arsenal Jan. 15, 2019. (U.S. Army\/Staff Sgt. Nicole Mejia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When you were in industry, how was the cooperation and communication with the Army?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not good. I know the complaint of industry was they did not have good access to the Army at nearly any level. One of my objectives coming in was to change that. I want to engage CEOs, or I want to engage program managers. \u201cTell me what\u2019s going on. I can\u2019t fix a problem unless you tell me what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a partnership with industry. That means some days I\u2019ll pat them on the back, and other days I\u2019ll take a performance payment if need be, or in the case of Boeing where we [may stop] accepting aircraft. But the lines of communication have to stay open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you feel that\u2019s filtering down from you at the top? Is it part of the transformation that\u2019s happening across the Army?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, when I meet with CEOs, when I have dinner with them, I ask that question, and they tell me \u201cyes\u201d for the most part. And if there are areas that they find frustrating, I kind of go at them. I\u2019m smart enough to realize it takes time for the message to get down. The message has to be repeated multiple, multiple times. Then, assuming everybody or mostly everybody\u2019s received the message, it takes time for them to act on it. There\u2019s some people who are risk takers who will just jump right on it. Others will kind of enter the pool a little bit more slowly, but they\u2019ll go up to their ankle and say: “Okay, now I\u2019m going up to my knees.\u201d Then there\u2019s some who will never be on board. We have to figure out how to deal with them down the road. But when I sat with industry two months ago and [the Aerospace Industries Association], I said to them: \u201cThe hardest part of all of this will be changing the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the priority in terms of missile defense for the Army?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Defense Strategy tells us we\u2019re in an era of great power competition. That\u2019s correct, and so we need to be prepared to fight and win against strategic competitors. Russia and China could become adversaries in the future. What that means is I need to rebuild, build up my heavy forces, and we\u2019re doing that now. We\u2019re now converting two [infantry brigade combat teams] to [armored brigade combat teams] \u2014 another thing that changed. But we\u2019re putting back into these units high-end capabilities, artillery and in this case short-range air defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had to pick a priority on air missile defense, it\u2019s restoring that capability back into our heavy maneuver units. And we\u2019re doing that now. And then, this interim mobile short-range air defense, a strike-based system, I think is 2020, 2021. I need to get that back into the maneuver force to deal with the short-range air defense threats, whether they are drones or they could be attack helicopters, you name it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the backbone of the entire Army air missile defense system will be the IBCS because it will allow us to integrate all the Army sensors and shooters on the battlefield into IBCS to maximize our visibility of the battlefield, and what\u2019s the best sensor and best shooter to deal with the threat. And it\u2019s a very capable system. I sat at a terminal and watched how it worked and played with the system. And so that will really maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of the system. That system also has the capability to work with the Navy and the Air Force. And we\u2019ll have to build that capability on the top, and it gives us a much broader air defense picture and allows us to prevent blue-on-blue types of incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, again, mobile short range is very, very important; but IBCS is critical as we eventually upgrade our radars for lower-tier air missile defense and build other capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The network has also hit some trouble spots. What do you hope to accomplish in the next two to three years?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The network is hard and it\u2019s different. It\u2019s different because, unlike the next-generation combat vehicle or IBCS or long-range precision fires, the most capable and the most advanced technologies will likely be found in the commercial sector. We\u2019re faced with chasing technologies that likely will change every year or 18 months. The challenge is to make sure we can build a network that is \u2014 you know the buzzwords \u2014 reliable and mobile and has all the capabilities we need using commercial products, mainly software over hardware. That\u2019s not something I think that you\u2019ll ever see a big major rollout for. There\u2019s never going be [the equivalent of] a next-generation combat vehicle [rollout], where we pull away the curtain and there it is \u2014 and \u201cta-da,\u201d we name it after somebody, and everybody says: \u201cAh, that\u2019s it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The network is something that would grow and mature and evolve over time as we pull technologies from the private sector into the Army. I\u2019ve seen that already. As I\u2019ve visited units, they\u2019re using tactical radios. I have seen it in command posts where we used to have server stacks that were like a refrigerator and a half high, they\u2019re now down to the size of DVRs. I can see it in terms of technology getting smaller, more mobile and more capable. You\u2019re not going see one big bang, where it comes out as a system reveal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a sense, they tried that with WIN-T.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know, WIN-T kind of gets put in a category sometimes, like [Future Combat Systems] or Comanche, but it\u2019s really not. WIN-T is a great system if you\u2019re at a stationary base fighting \u2014 I don\u2019t know \u2014 the Taliban. But it\u2019s too big and bulky and clunky, and it\u2019s too easily intercepted, and everything else, if you have to fight a near-field threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s traditional players that would always be involved in a tactical network. But have you engaged with some of the nontraditional players? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve engaged with them all. I do dinners every week with industry. We have a lot of conversations there. So we find innovations coming from them; I find innovation coming from the field, where soldiers are getting rid of this, and getting free of that and putting stuff on trailers, and they\u2019re finding solutions. And when this comes up with soldiers at town halls, I try to tell them: \u201cLook, in my day, the radio I used in Ranger School was the same radio I had eight years, nine years later as a company commander in Italy.\u201d That\u2019s not going to be the case. I tell them: \u201cAt any one point in time, you will use different radios in your units, and when you go to your next unit a few years later, you\u2019re going to have different radios, and you\u2019re just going to have to get used to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re used to upgrading their iPhone every single year.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, this generation \u2014 they have a great deal of versatility in terms of understanding technology and adapting, so I think it\u2019ll be less of a challenge for them than it was for my generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is the Army working to improve engagement with foreign companies? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve said on the record and privately we want the best product. I\u2019m certainly willing to buy a foreign product from an ally. And if they have a better product, I\u2019ll go that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other thing I tell them is: \u201cArmy Futures Command is open for business, so go to Austin, and Gen. Murray will meet with you.\u201d We\u2019re always looking for good ideas. We\u2019re not turning people away. We\u2019re looking for the best ideas, to ensure our soldiers have the tools, equipment and weapons they need when they need them to fight. I mean, we just came from Fort Rucker. Those aircraft that you saw on the airfield were Lakotas [built by American Eurocopter, a division of Airbus Group]. There\u2019s a prime example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expectation is that you’re going to partner with a U.S. company, and it’ll mostly be made in the United States. And that’s not an unreasonable ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of progress has been made with the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator. But considering the Army\u2019s plan to ultimately develop two helicopters at once, how do you manage the risk?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the model where industry put in $4 for every dollar we put in is a great model. I think they made a lot of progress. We obviously have one flying and one soon to fly, and other models are out there as well. So there\u2019s a great deal of potential. And you know, the notion that we are developing two aircraft at once \u2014 having talked with the CFT leader this morning \u2014 they\u2019re not going to be concurrent. They\u2019re like near simultaneous. If we go that route, I think it is manageable, but we\u2019ve got to take it all one step at a time. There\u2019s the risk of managing it. The funding has to be there. The technology obviously has to be ready. We\u2019re going to need to run through the prototypes, have a competition; all those various factors may give us confidence that we can manage both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’re doing multiple programs right now simultaneously at different levels. We’re doing Bradley upgrades and Abrams upgrades, and the Stryker double-V hull. But I take the point that somebody would make that these are two new programs. Again, we\u2019ve got to see how long it plays out. It’s something I’m aware of, I’m focused on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen. Mark Milley has supported everything you\u2019ve been trying to achieve. How will Army leadership ensure continued momentum as he moves on from his role?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m confident the next chief will pick up the ball and run with it just as hard. And there\u2019ll be a good rapport there as well. I mean, the undersecretary\u2019s not moving, and Gen. Murray\u2019s not moving. You\u2019ve got to manage succession, and we certainly wouldn\u2019t bring somebody on board or elevate somebody that wasn\u2019t on the same wavelength when it comes to running the modernization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any expectation on when someone will be announced?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all a set of dominoes. I don\u2019t want to get ahead of all these announcements, but how about this? Months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fair. You might have seen that your name has been floated as a contender for defense secretary. Do you have any comment?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look, I\u2019m having a great time as secretary of the Army. For me, I started off as a young kid from Pittsburgh, going to West Point and joining the Army and swearing that oath. It\u2019s just fantastic for me to come back and be in a position now where I can make a difference. And I think we\u2019re making a difference, and I\u2019m very happy and feel honored to be in the position I\u2019m in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So have any conversations happened?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know what’s on anybody’s minds, but I’m just telling you I’m having a great time and I just want to keep moving forward implementing our vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you\u2019re trying to accomplish in the Army is pretty transformative. Could you see that vision extending across the Defense Department?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My way is to really get into the details and really take a hard look at what we\u2019re doing, and rack and stack each of them to make sure that it\u2019s the best use of that next dollar we have. I know it\u2019s not a bottomless barrel of dollars. We have to do everything we can to be good stewards of the taxpayer\u2019s dollar, to be good stewards of the money that Congress gives us. And before we go to them asking for more, I want to make sure I\u2019ve done everything I can with what they have given us to build the most ready and lethal Army. So that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do, and that\u2019s what I trust the other services are doing as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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