1 September 2024

Army using ‘transformation in contact’ to make case for new weapons, formation decisions

Ashley Roque

Following a 500-mile air assault from Ft. Campbell, Ky., down to a heavily wooded training site in Louisiana, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division spent a chunk of August testing out new tech and formations against an opposing force dubbed Geronimo.

The early verdict: More equipment is needed to prepare for a drone-riddled battlefield, while the division needs to relook its logistics footprint for an island-hopping campaign in the Indo-Pacific.

“We just do not have the density or the quality of our counter-UAS [unmanned aerial systems] that we would really need … for the future fight,” 101st Commanding General Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia, told reporters Aug 22.

“I believe that we’re moving in the right direction, that the limited capabilities that we’ve gotten are better than they’ve been, but we just don’t have the density … we would want,” he later added.

Likewise, Sylvia said he is walking away from the event knowing that as his division prepares for a long-range air assault in an area like the Indo-Pacific region, it needs to be prepared to better spread out its forward arming and refueling points — more of a training and manning task.

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