{"id":76897,"date":"2019-05-07T21:46:12","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T21:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/07\/four-takeaways-from-the-4-star-general-at-army-futures-command\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:43:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:43:49","slug":"four-takeaways-from-the-4-star-general-at-army-futures-command","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/home\/2019\/05\/07\/four-takeaways-from-the-4-star-general-at-army-futures-command\/","title":{"rendered":"Four takeaways from the 4-star general at Army Futures Command"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Army Gen. John Murray, commander of the new Army Futures Command<\/a>, outlined top priorities for the Army as it grows its systems, and cited targets for improvement, when he spoke to military and industry leaders Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim of Army Futures Command is to provide concepts, capabilities and organizational structures for future soldiers to dominate a future battlefield<\/a>. The command works closely with the eight \u201ccross-functional teams\u201d that focus on top modernization priorities, those teams include: long-range precision fires, the Next Generation Combat Vehicle, Air and Missile defense, Future Vertical Lift, Army Network, Synthetic Training Environment, Assured Position and Navigation and Soldier Lethality<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are takeaways from Murray\u2019s talk at the Association of the United States Army on Tuesday, edited for length and continuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The top priority for future systems is adaptable growth.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murray told the audience that Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has made the ability to grow new systems over long periods a top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AFC commander offered the existing Bradley Fighting Vehicle as an example. The Bradley concept went on the drawing board in the 1960s but didn\u2019t come into the formations until the early 1980s. It has been incrementally upgraded for more than four decades to continue service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Next Generation Combat Vehicle must do the same. It will arrive with advanced capabilities but must continue to be upgraded and adapted. Specifically, its onboard power must be able to be increased as power needs on the future battlefield will be greater than they are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the one thing we know that\u2019s going to go up is you\u2019re going to hang more stuff on a vehicle and and it\u2019s going to take more and more power,\u201d Murray said. \u201cSo the ability for that vehicle to generate more onboard power was the number one growth requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And improvements won\u2019t wait on full fielding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Realistically, Murray said, the Army will be able to field about a brigade\u2019s worth of NGCVs each year under current budgets. That means 20 years before all Army ABCTs are fielded. But version two of the NGCV won\u2019t wait on version one in the fielding calendar. New iterations will fill the inventory as the vehicle advances.<\/p>\n\n\n\t