As the U.S. Army places heavy emphasis on modernization, service leaders are looking to harness more industry innovations that can help the branch create robust information and data sharing capabilities at a quicker speed.
Matt Benigni, chief data officer for the Army Futures Command, said during a recent Dcode webinar that he views digital transformation as “about adopting and gaining mastery of technologies and processes already established in industry.”
The Army Futures Command was established in 2018 as a public-private initiative to speed modernization for the service branch. Since its inception, the command has facilitated more than 20 modernization projects, and now, other Defense Department leaders are looking to replicate this model more broadly across the DOD enterprise.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and previous Wash100 Award winner, said “fundamental changes” and reorganization efforts must be made within the U.S. military if it is to take advantage of a “change of character” in modern day warfare.
“You look at what the Army did with Army Futures Command, for example. Can that be done at the joint level, at the DoD level?” Gen. Milley asked during a trip to Europe this week.
Some of the modernization efforts being pushed within the Army — and with the help of the Army Futures Command — include optimizing software factories. Benigni explained that software factories and rapid arms development will be at the heart of the major combat systems of the next two decades.
To learn more about the Army’s modernization priorities and innovation efforts, join GovCon Wire Events’ Second Annual Army IT and Digital Transformation Forum on June 9.
Dr. Raj Iyer, the Army’s chief information officer, is slated to keynote the timely forum. Register now to save your spot!
