Army releases 2019 modernization strategy

Army Futures Command today released the latest version of the service's modernization strategy, focusing on a multidomain force in 2035 and expanding on the first version published last year.

Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, director of AFC's Futures and Concepts Center, in charge of developing the modernization strategy, told reporters Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual meeting this new version follows the approval by former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley of the Multidomain Operations Concept, "which describes an Army in a much more aggregate manner."

He added the first iteration was largely focused on materiel modernization.

"So what this [2019] modernization strategy does is [it] looks at the problem holistically, and it nests why and where we need the materiel modernization alongside all the other elements of Army modernization, which includes doctrine, organizational structure, training, leader development, policies, personnel -- all of these things have to be holistically and in a synchronized manner evolved over time," he said. "And this modernization strategy describes that really complex roadmap over the next 10 to 15 years."

"We don't know the exact organizational structures, we know the capabilities and functions that have to exist to achieve MDO," Wesley said. "And right now, we're doing multiple iterations of experimentation and wargaming to see the optimum design of those structures."