The U.S.-built tanks, still painted in their AusCam camouflage scheme, had been loaded onto a commercial cargo ship in Geelong, Australia, in early May before beginning the long trek to the war-torn nation of Ukraine.

Accompanied by Australian tank crewmen, the armored behemoths arrived in an unidentified port in Europe, possibly Poland, before being serviced for delivery to Ukraine.

Australia’s Department of Defence then said on July 19, “Ukraine has now taken possession of the majority of these tanks, with delivery of the final tranche to occur in the coming months.”

Australia pledged to give Kyiv 49 Abrams tanks that it recently retired. Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, commented on X that “this powerful gesture of solidarity is more than military support – it’s a lifeline, a message that we’re not alone in our darkest hour.”

Valued at approximately A$245 million – around US$160 million – this gift comprises part of A$1.5 billion in assistance that Australia has promised since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The Abrams were modified for Ukrainian requirements before being shipped, with Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy noting that “these modified M1A1 Abrams tanks will deliver more firepower and more mobility to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

The M1A1 Abrams became available after the Australian Army started receiving batches of new M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks. Canberra ordered 75 of the latest Abrams variant in 2022.

Incidentally, the newer version of the tanks is enjoying a thorough workout in the ongoing Exercise Talisman Sabre, starting in Australia on July 13. One activity, demonstrating interoperability between Australia and the U.S., saw four M1A2 Abrams and an M88A2 recovery vehicle craned aboard an American landing craft.

This activity took place in Townsville on July 19, with the U.S. Army landing craft USAV Paulus Hook moving the armored vehicles south to Gladstone port.

Asked about the importance of Australia rehearsing such amphibious movements, Lt. Eugene Lynch – who is a troop commander from D Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the Australian Army – told Defense News: “It’s extremely important. Our focus is on the Indo-Pacific region, and our near region is characterized by archipelagos and the littoral environment. So, it’s absolutely essential to our ability to project force into the region for defense.”

Lynch said the M1A2 SEPv3 represented a significant upgrade over the M1A1, and Australian tankers were therefore “extremely excited” to get their hands on the new kit.

“We know it’s the best,” he enthused.

Asked whether tanks had become less relevant on contemporary battlefields, Lynch immediately alluded to Ukraine. “I think that the production runs in every single tank factory on Earth would disagree. When a tank shows up on the battlefield, it’s the highest-priority target.”

The move aims to expand production of a key munition and comes as part of a larger effort to increase production capacity and restore the U.S. industrial base for military equipment.

“The Army must transform and get war-winning capabilities into the hands of soldiers now, including key munitions,” said Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. “The Army remains committed to delivering relevant munitions at speed and scale to our soldiers, the joint force, and allies and partners. It is not lost on us that a key component of victory on the battlefield starts in our production facilities.”

The projectile facility is reportedly in the final stage of production. It is where the 155mm munition bodies are filled with explosive material, assembled and then packed. The Camden facility contains two new load, assemble and pack lines for high-explosive projectiles.

Once fully operational the lines will be able to produce approximately 50,000 rounds each month.

That’s part of another effort to increase total monthly output of 155mm projectiles to 100,000. The new facility opened on April 22.

“Today is the result of a robust partnership between industry, local, state, and federal government teammates,” said Pat Mason, a senior service official standing in for the job of assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. “All parties worked quickly and flexibly to accelerate the construction you see around you.”

Former Army acquisition chief Doug Bush told Defense News back in October that shoring up all the 155mm parts and material production by the end of 2025 was a major goal.

“There’s going to be a lot of ribbon cuttings between now and the end of the year,” Bush said at the time.

The Pentagon is investing billions to ramp up the capacity of 155mm munition production as it seeks to replenish munitions sent to support Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion. The move also ensures the United States has sufficient artillery stockpiles should those rounds be required in another conflict.

The Army planned to spend $3.1 billion in FY24 supplemental funding to increase artillery shell production.

Before the Russian-Ukraine War the U.S. production capacity came in at around 14,400 of the artillery shells each month. But as Ukrainian forces burned through the artillery ammunition the United States recognized that replenishment could not be adequately accomplished with the existing infrastructure.

As of October, the Army was able to produce an estimated 40,000 artillery shells each month.

Before this move, a single plant in the Pennsylvania city of Scranton had been the lone source of 155mm artillery shell production. The Army has added both a new plant in Mesquite, Texas, and the loading and packing lines in Camden, Arkansas, to meet the growing demand.

Meanwhile, another loading and packing facility is planned to stand up in Parsons, Kansas, Bush said.

In addition to General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, the Army has also contracted with IMT Defense in Ontario, Canada, for an additional artillery shell production facility.

In 2023, the service awarded $1.5 billion in contracts to companies globally to procure bulk energetics like TNT and IMX-104 explosive as well primers and fuses.

The service’s Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition broke ground Feb. 5 on a 6.8 mm ammunition production facility at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri, according to an Army release.

Current plans show the facility being completed by 2026 and fully operational by 2028, officials said.

The move aims to give the service its own production line for the 6.8 mm cartridge, which is the caliber the Next Generation Squad Weapon is chambered for, both in its rifle and automatic rifle configuration.

The XM5 and XM250, respectively, are replacing their counterparts, the M4 carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, among the close combat forces. Both are chambered in the legacy 5.56 mm cartridge.

The Army is leading the project, while the Marine Corps and Special Operations Command have been closely involved in the development of the weapon and round in recent years.

Lake City has been a major source of small arms ammunition for the Army and other services for decades. Historically, the plant has produced 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm, .50 Browning Machine Gun, and 20 mm ammunition.

During the height of the post-9/11 wars, from 2007 to 2018, the plant produced nearly 1.4 billion rounds, according to Northrop Grumman.

“It is not lost on me that victory on the battlefield begins in our production facilities,” Maj. Gen. John T. Reim, program executive officer for armaments and ammunition, said in a statement. “Lake City has been central to our nation’s ammunition production since 1941, and this new facility builds on that proud and historic legacy.”

The 6.8 mm round delivers the distance and energy on target of the larger 7.62 mm round but at a lighter weight and with better accuracy, according to Army officials.

Currently, rounds for the Next Generation Squad Weapon are being produced by Sig Sauer, manufacturer of both the rifle and automatic rifle variants.

Ammunition manufacturer Olin Winchester will operate the new plant. The facility will span 450,000 square feet at the Missouri site, according to the Army.

The operation will include manufacturing systems for cartridge cases and projectiles, quality controls, packaging and testing laboratories. According to the release, industries in the Kansas City, Missouri, region will support an estimated 90% of the work.

When the facility hits operational status, it is expected to produce 385 million cases, 490 million projectiles and 385 million loading and packaging operations rounds each year.

There are about a dozen units in the fielding pipeline for the Next Generation Squad Weapon in fiscal 2025. They include:

• From October to December, the Army Reserve’s 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment at Fort Shafter, Hawaii; elements of the 25th Infantry Division, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; the Army’s Ordnance School, at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia.
• From January to March, the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky; 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, at Fort Bliss, Texas.
• From April to June, the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Georgia.
• From July to September, the 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division with the Minnesota Army National Guard; multiple 10th Mountain Division battalions.

Last October, the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division was one of the units to conduct live-fire testing of the weapon. The “Red Curahee” soldiers ran tactical patrols after having run shooting ranges at limited visibility, according to the Army.

The squad-sized elements put the weapon through its paces on terrain at their home station of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. At the time, Maj. Craig Hymel, the battalion executive officer, explained the culminating event.

“The squad live [fire] will be the last event in conjunction with the stress shoot that participants execute,” Hymel said. “At which point, the Operational Assessment Team is going to collect and finalize all the data.”

At a previously scheduled talk at the Association of the U.S. Army, the leading nonprofit support organization for the service, George spent most of his 45-minute time slot discussing changes the Army is making to its force design.

But near the end of the talk, audience questions centered on President Donald Trump’s various executive orders and on recent reports of actions taken involving retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former Army chief of staff and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Trump recently signed a flurry of executive orders focused on the military, one of which directs Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops, likely setting in motion a future ban on their military service. Hegseth started in the position Monday.

Other orders would roll back diversity programs, create a space-based missile defense system and reinstate troops who were booted for refusing COVID-19 vaccines.

One audience member at George’s talk Wednesday asked the general if he had concerns about the orders.

“We are working through all of that stuff just like we normally do,” George said. “And I think you hear from this morning, we’re really focused and haven’t had any difference, really focused on transforming the Army.”

Col. Dave Butler, George’s spokesman, responded to Army Times in an email following the event, stating that the service is enacting and implementing all of Trump’s and Hegseth’s policy decisions.

“We are reviewing and responding to every order diligently and swiftly to ensure we meet the needs of our soldiers while effectively implementing the directives of our commander in chief,” Butler wrote. “Civilian control of the military is a cornerstone of our democracy. The Army will continue to move out and execute the orders given to us by the people elected to run this country.”

At the end of the talk, Eric Schmitt, national security correspondent for The New York Times, asked George for his personal thoughts on reports that Milley had his security clearance revoked and that officials had ordered an inspector general investigation into alleged misconduct by Milley while he was serving as chairman.

Following his retirement, Milley, who served as the top uniformed officer during Trump’s first term in office, has been a vocal critic of the president’s actions and demeanor.

Hegseth directed the inspector general to “conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding Gen. Milley’s conduct so that the secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination,” a Pentagon spokesman said late Tuesday.

In a separate statement, Defense Department Chief of Staff Joe Kasper stated that “undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security, and restoring accountability is a priority for the Defense Department under President Trump’s leadership.”

Schmitt asked if any actions against Milley might have a “chilling effect” on military leaders such as George or others.

“I know we’re not going to chill making sure our formations are more lethal, continuing the things that we need to do to transform and make changes and be focused on doing that,” George said. “And I know that’s where the staff is at, is focused on that as well.”

Military Times reporter Leo Shane III contributed to this article.

Under a contract with U.S defense firm Science Applications International Corporation, an initial purchase of 18 mobile command vehicles, or MCVs, will be delivered to Marine littoral regiments’ medium-range missile firing units between January and July of next year, according to a Marine Corps release.

The Corps’ current program budget has another 18 MCVs headed to the service in August through early 2026.

The MCV is platform-mounted to the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV, which replaces the Humvee in some Army and Marine units.

As fixed positions on the battlefield become increasingly vulnerable, the release states, mobile systems like the MCV and JLTV are essential to maintaining an edge in the current threat environment.

The MCV combines a shelter integrated on the JLTV platform with upgraded communication capabilities and expanded access to fires command and control networks, according to the release.

Lt. Col. Joshua Faucett, product manager for fire support systems, noted the MCV’s “strategic, operational advantage” in equipping Marines with capabilities critical for a future fight.

“The MCV is a prime example of how we are adapting to meet the needs of the modern battlefield and we’re receiving deliveries less than six months after award — that’s a testament to the hard work of our acquisition team and industry partners,” Faucett said.

The Marines also use the MCV-equipped JLTV for the Marine Air Defense Integrated System and on its new ship-killing missile system, Navy-Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System.

The service requested $340 million in its most recent budget to buy 674 JLTVs, according to a July Congressional Research Services report. Marines received their first JLTVs in early 2019.

Elsewhere in the Corps, personnel at the Marine Depot Maintenance Command production plant at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia, conducted the service’s first organic rebuild of a JLTV engine at a Defense Department depot, according to a release.

The modified Duramax 6.6-liter diesel engine has specialized components and a proprietary engine control module specifically designed for combat conditions.

However, those features also make testing and repairing vehicles more challenging.

Experts noticed earlier this year that the vehicle was burning through engines faster than they’d planned. But the Army, as the main buyer of JLTVs, controls the new engine inventory. And the Marines must pay about $61,000 for each.

“The hardest part wasn’t rebuilding the engine itself — it was communicating with the computer,” said Jim Dupree, a heavy mobile equipment mechanic at the depot. “Once we cracked that, everything else fell into place.”

By rebuilding worn engines in-house, the depot could save as much as $40,000 per unit.

The new ability also lets the Corps remain ‘Semper Gumby,’ or Always Flexible, by having another supply line.

The Army on Monday clarified comments made by its top enlisted soldier at last week’s Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition about the service’s approved PT uniform.

“We’re redesigning the Army PTs,” Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer said last week. “We’re not going to get locked into the same T-shirt, [where] everybody is just going out and buying a new T-shirt anyway for their unit.”

But on Monday, Weimer told reporters he was referring to the Army providing additional options for soldier workout clothing, not a wholesale revamp of the iconic soldier PT gear.

Instead, the Army wants to give soldiers more comfortable options if they need them without spending Army money redesigning or issuing a new PT uniform, he said.

Those options will be presented to Army senior leaders by the end of 2025, the service clarified.

Either way, Weimer said, the black and gold design is here to stay.

Weimer said the goal of providing additional options emerged after frequent soldier feedback regarding the comfort and fit of the existing PT clothing.

“It really comes down to fit,” Weimer said. “It’s about performance and functionality.”

Sgt. Maj. Rob Haynie, senior enlisted soldier at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, began leading the service’s review of options about two months ago and will continue that through next year.

So far, Weimer and Haynie said, some of the biggest complaints are about how the shorts fit, including problems with fabric bunching.

Small features also mean a lot, and soldiers griped about a lack of shorts pockets for stowing ID cards.

As Haynie gathers soldier feedback, his team will review existing, available options from the clothing industry, he said. A finalized list of types of PT clothing that meet the Army’s regulations and standards and maintain uniformity among the troops will then be delivered to Army senior leaders for review.

Soldiers will still get their PT uniforms issued at basic training and use that clothing through their Advanced Individual Training, Weimer said. But once they join their unit, they could have the option to get some different gear.

The 2025 review could wind up giving soldiers additional options for each of their basic PT gear clothing items, officials said.

The current basic gear includes short-sleeve and long-sleeve T-shirts, shorts, pants and a jacket, all in the black and gold color scheme, according to Army regulations.

Additionally, soldiers may wear calf or ankle-length socks, athletic shoes, a fleece watch cap, a compression shirt, shorts and a reflective belt for inclement weather conditions.

The service previously changed the PT uniform in 2017 when it switched from the black and gray design it had used for years to the current black and gold color scheme, among other changes.

Whatever gear gets approved for soldiers to add to their training wardrobe should provide options that better-fit soldiers’ comfort and performance needs while maintaining a uniform appearance, Weimer said.

The potential workout clothing options fall in line with several non-issue items that are approved for wear. The Army allows soldiers to select from an approved list of protective eyewear, and to choose between different types of combat boots to find the best fit.

Some units also allow soldiers to wear unit-specific, command-approved T-shirts that showcase the specific unit for their PT uniform.

Details are scant as the service is currently developing the new design and features of the standard PT gear.

But a new uniform is on its way, said Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer on Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.

“We’re redesigning the Army PTs,” Weimer said. “We’re not going to get locked into the same T-shirt, [where] everybody is just going out and buying a new T-shirt anyway for their unit.”

While the design details aren’t yet available, the arrival time sounds clear.

Weimer said the new design will roll out in 2025.

The top enlisted soldier sees the gear as essential to the warrior ethos he and senior Army leaders are trying to instill.

The current gear doesn’t “represent who we are as warfighters,” Weimer said.

The Army, primarily through Program Executive Office-Soldier, is testing new gear in the coming months as it finalizes the new design.

The new gear dovetails with the service’s new emphasis on total health through it’s Holistic Health and Fitness program.

The H2F program was initially aimed at bringing an expert team in physical, mental, spiritual, sleep and nutrition help to the 111 select brigades by 2030.

“If we’re going to be fit, then we’re also going to look good at the same time and rep the Army brand,” Weimer said.

But Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George sped up that delivery up to reach the same number of brigades sooner and to expand the program to all Army brigades by Fiscal Year 2032.

The Army last redesigned its PT gear in 2017, when it switched from the yearslong black and gray uniforms to a black and gold scheme soldiers currently use.

Front line units in Ukraine see an issue with their equipment and send notes to translators, who soon share those with the U.S. military. Then, operating from one of seven stations in Poland, American forces schedule video calls with the Ukrainians to help them repair the weapons.

This is the process for the Army’s virtual repair mission to help keep equipment working as long and as close to the front line as possible in Ukraine.

The equipment in the shop ranges from howitzers to tanks, and repairs can take anywhere from hours to weeks. Altogether, soldiers assisting with it said, the work is helping Ukraine keep its weapons in working order, and teaching the U.S. how to repair on the fly.

“The capability is forward. They’re able to fix forward just with some backup support on the telephone,” said Lt. Col. Nicholas R. Gauvin, a member of the Army’s 16th Sustainment Brigade, on a video call from Poland at one of the Army’s seven stations where they help troubleshoot such issues.

The brigade tents look like small warehouses, filled with the same equipment that Ukrainians are handling on the front lines. Since this June, the 16th Sustainment Brigade has operated the facilities as part of the Remote Maintenance and Distribution Center-Ukraine, or RDC-U.

When the Ukrainians have an issue and share it with the translators, the team in Poland consults with their technical manuals — like a maintenance book kept in a car’s glove department. They then tinker with their own equipment, trying to recreate the same issue the soldiers are having on the front lines. From there they can discern the root issue.

On occasion, these problems surpass the Army’s technical expertise. In those cases, the 16th relies on a team of 276 contractors from the companies that build the equipment the Ukrainians are using on the front lines. On one call from Poland, two engineers from the British defense giant BAE Systems discussed repairs to the M777 howitzer — a system they had worked on for 20 years.

The engineers spend much of their time writing or filming what they call “white papers,” an index of video clips and technical documents translated into Ukrainian and then shared with soldiers on the front. Amid more enduring problems, the Army will hold meetings as necessary with their counterparts to resolve the issue.

‘In the fight’

Speaking on the show floor of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference, Col. Matthew Alexander, of the 16th Sustainment Brigade said that Ukraine has 172 towed artillery systems, like the M777, donated by the U.S.

Aside from small, commercial-style drones, these howitzers have been one of the defining weapons of the war so far. America recently donated its millionth 155mm artillery round, compatible with the M777, Alexander said.

“We’re seeing them put rounds through that particular weapon system more than any U.S. unit has seen,” he said.

The volume itself presents an opportunity for the U.S. Army, Alexander argued.

On one end, it can better study the needs of artillery warfare. Both sides in the conflict are firing so many rounds back and forth that they’re wearing through the barrels of their launchers. The only facility that makes those in the U.S. is in Watervliet, New York, and Ukraine’s demand far exceeds their supply.

Alexander said the Ukrainians are helping expose these bottlenecks in America’s defense industry and how the weapons themselves manage wear. For example, the maintenance team has helped study the effect of firing a NATO-class round through a U.S. system, which rattles the chamber more than an American shell would.

The other main lesson the Army is learning is how to quickly repair equipment under duress. America hasn’t fought a war in which its logistics are threatened for decades, instead engaging in counterinsurgency wars such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon has since started to prepare for the risk of larger wars against countries like Russia or China that could threaten these supply lines.

The tele-maintenance occurring in Poland right now is a chance to practice operating under imperfect conditions.

“They are finding new ways to bring something out of the battle… something that we thought may be irrecoverable,” Alexander said of the artillery systems Ukraine has been able to salvage.

That said, the Ukrainian military has had varying levels of success learning to repair western weapons.

It’s performed better with its batteries of howitzers than the 30-odd Abrams tanks America has donated. In response, the Army has tried to more thoroughly train Ukrainians on repairs that go beyond normal services, like a broken track or turret rather than an oil change.

When those larger issues appear, Alexander said, the tanks have to go back into U.S. hands across the border. He cautioned against reading too far into that level of expertise though; Alexander expects it to improve.

“When we first started, there was a bit of back and forth of them passing equipment back to the area in Poland. Now not a single M777 platform comes out of Ukraine,” Alexander said. “We’re also learning things as a U.S. Army: how to repair our equipment and keep it in the fight.”

This story has been updated with further information from the Army.

Guardsmen are generally restricted to serving 39 days each year, and in that time, soldiers must practice everything from physical training and small arms marksmanship to knocking down aerial threats or planning how to move a brigade across the globe.

Stubbs challenged his leaders to find new ways to approach collective training.

“If we are ready for combat as a large organization, we will be ready for anything,” Stubbs said.

Stubbs painted a picture, noting that 84 years ago, the Army watched as the German military swept across Europe, Italian troops marched through Africa and Japan took island after island in the Pacific.

Then, the following year, the Japanese military struck Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the United States entered World War II.

“In some ways, we are where our nation was in October 1940,” Stubbs said.

While noting that war is avoidable and work that the Guard is doing in its overseas deployments and training is helping to deter such an event, Stubbs said the state of the world gives the limited training time that the Guard uses a greater sense of urgency.

Stubbs said that Guard and active Army leadership are weighing ways to change training to fit the needs of the Guard as it transforms while continuing its homeland defense and disaster response missions.

One concept, which has not yet been approved, could involve a 15-day combat training center rotation instead of a 30-day rotation. Those exercises are culminating events that stress test battalions, brigades and, recently, divisions, alongside their support units and enablers.

Finding new ways to deploy some personnel early to a training center such as the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California or the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana would mean a portion of a Guard unit’s staff working alongside an active Army unit at the center for the end of their rotation as the Guard unit arrives to begin their stint.

Then, other parts of the Guard unit would fall in later in the rotation so that the unit gets exposure to all aspects of building and deploying a combat unit.

That type of training is also very limited for the Guard as it gets two training center rotations allotted to them each year, one for NTC and one for JRTC.

The Guard has 27 brigade combat teams. At that rate, a brigade might not return to the training centers for a full rotation for more than a decade.

This past year the Army conducted its first division headquarters rotations to the training centers with in-person support from enabler units such as logistics and medical formations.

The Guard will soon be doing that type of training both at home station and at the training centers.

Stubbs dubbed the effort part of the Guard’s larger work of campaigning while also modernizing. A big component of both efforts is training the leaders of such units.

Much of that is done in a live setting, as the Guard has done for years in its Sinai support mission, which sends U.S. troops to serve in the Sinai Peninsula between Israel and Egypt.

The Guard also leads the Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine, which supports combat training for Ukrainian partners as they fight in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Those rotations alleviate the strain on the deployed active Army forces while also giving Guard leaders real-world responsibilities, Stubbs said.

The decades-long State Partnership Program also exposes most Guard units to partner training and overseas missions by pairing certain Guard units in their state with a partner nation. The two train and visit each other routinely each year as part of their regular annual duties.

“It’s micro-campaigning but it delivers macro-type results,” Stubbs said.

But leaders aren’t learning from scratch. Many of the operational and strategic-level leaders, such as those in the rank of colonel and above, cut their operational teeth on the counterinsurgency and counterterrorism missions of the Global War on Terror, said Maj. Gen. Dale Lyles, the adjutant general for the Indiana National Guard.

Lyles said the Guard has spent the past two decades “projecting power, mobilizing soldiers, building formations and sending them into contested environments.”

Maj. Gen. Stephen Osborn, adjutant general for the Iowa National Guard, said a specific feature that’s going to be important for the Guard is understanding the employment of these larger units.

“Time is probably the biggest constraint,” Osborn said. “So how do we focus on how to change how we train for large-scale combat?”