{"id":36872,"date":"2018-05-22T22:10:35","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T22:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/05\/22\/socoms-next-five-year-plan-will-transform-the-force\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:58:19","slug":"socoms-next-five-year-plan-will-transform-the-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2018\/05\/22\/socoms-next-five-year-plan-will-transform-the-force\/","title":{"rendered":"How a five-year US special ops plan will transform the force"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TAMPA BAY, Fla. \u2014 The next five-year development and acquisition plan for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/sofic\/2017\/05\/17\/us-army-special-ops-commander-lifts-curtain-on-2035-strategy\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Special Operations Command will be transformative<\/a>, its commander said at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference on May 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plan will include ways to sunset legacy systems to make way for cutting-edge priorities that allow the force to stay ahead of complex and capable adversaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn this rapidly evolving environment for the purpose of future combat development, we should consider the technology and platforms that today\u2019s [special operations forces] use as legacy systems, already legacy systems whose sunset is nearly upon us,\u201d Gen. Raymond Thomas said. \u201cIncremental improvements to legacy systems will not give us the advantage we need for future successes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By this time next year, Thomas said he will have approved the five-year plan, also known as the Program Objective Memorandum, that will drive special operations force development for the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Major questions over what the future holds for major platforms will be decided. \u201cIn this POM we will address our future fixed-wing and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/aaaa\/2017\/05\/01\/army-special-ops-little-bird-helo-here-to-stay-until-future-vertical-lift\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"\">rotary-wing requirements<\/a>,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the plan will lay out a path forward on surface and subsurface mobility and ground mobility, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, \u201cwe will define our investment in SOF-specific space and cyber programs, precision weapons, and cutting-edge communications networks,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/sofex\/2018\/05\/07\/us-and-middle-east-special-ops-forces-must-improve-cooperation-info-sharing\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EagerLion.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">3 ways US and Mideast special ops could better counter regional threats<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Gen. Raymond Thomas talks successes and challenges for joint special operations forces at the Middle East Special Operations Commanders Conference in Amman, Jordan.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The commander emphasized that decisions and discussions held at SOFIC will \u201cbe a major factor\u201d in deciding what technologies special forces will use in the future fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are challenged together to make decisions of this import while facing a more rapid cycle of technological advancement,\u201d Thomas said, adding that the command must also come up with new and more effective ways of doing business to accomplish its missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Transforming the force is critical, Thomas said, because of the challenges special forces face evermore so require increased lethality, maneuverability and survivability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The force will require improved body armor, ballistic helmet systems and communications gear of a quality that will \u201cexceed our adversaries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The force will also need lighter, farther-ranging and more accurate weapons, Thomas added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe future battlefield will, however, require more from our enterprise than these,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Special ops forces must be able to make decisions more quickly, which means data that comes through must be timely and accurate, according to Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey are operating at the edge of communications and logistic networks,\u201d he said, \u201cplagued with bandwidth and signature constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The challenge now is to develop and field systems that enable the operator to quickly make decisions and take action appropriately and consistently, Thomas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe standard for success in this endeavor is beyond where we are today,\u201d he added. \u201cOur acquisition processes, the speed of development and timeline from conception to deployment in these critical domains are out-cycled by the trends and speed in the private sector technological development.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The next five-year SOCOM plan will make major decisions on future capability and carve a path forward to get such capability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,29,14,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3330],"class_list":["post-36872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-land","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"JBBOL72WVFHNBDYE5ZXOH64VRQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/land\/2018\/05\/22\/socoms-next-five-year-plan-will-transform-the-force\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How a five-year US special ops plan will transform the force - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The next five-year SOCOM plan will make major decisions on future capability and carve a path forward to get such capability.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a five-year US special ops plan will transform the force\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The next five-year SOCOM plan will make major decisions on future capability and carve a path forward to get such capability.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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