AUSTIN, Texas – The Army National Guard, which celebrated its 385th birthday Dec. 13, plays an integral role in furthering Army Futures Command-led initiatives to modernize how Soldiers fight.
“The Army National Guard is making a profoundly important impact at Army Futures Command and modernization writ large,” said Maj. Gen. John. M. Epperly, deputy commanding general for the National Guard at Army Futures Command.
National Guard Soldiers participate in Futures Command activities at all levels of the command, from headquarters to the organization’s eight Cross-Functional Teams (CFTs), which coordinate and accelerate priority modernization programs.
Epperly, who is responsible for synchronizing Guard priorities, policy guidance and resources within Army Futures Command, emphasized the command’s CFTs “are rapidly delivering revolutionary combat capabilities with decisive overmatch” and that “the Army Guard is a big part of that.”
“Army Guard Soldiers bring incredibly useful expertise and experience in disciplines such as data analytics and secure application development,” Epperly explained.
The Army National Guard is also a key player when it comes to testing new capabilities, participating in informative Soldier touchpoints that occur as part of the acquisition and development process and piloting newly adopted weapons systems and technologies.
The involvement of National Guard Soldiers in modernization activities “symbolizes a commitment to teamwork that ensures the Total Army is postured to win in 2035 and beyond,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Hawkins, senior Guard advisor at Army Futures Command.
“The collaboration of the Guard into AFC ensures a partnered approach to future solutions and a true understanding of the second- and third-order effects of effectively integrating the Army of tomorrow,” Hawkins said.
National Guard Soldiers will soon field two of the Army’s first four Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) prototypes, which can extend the lethality and range of the force’s long-range precision fires.
The Guard will also receive Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) systems, which defend maneuvering forces against unmanned aircraft systems, rotary-wing and residual fixed-wing threats, as early as fiscal year 2024.
“We’re also on a fast track for the Guard to field directed energy weapons to these formations,” Epperly said.
In addition, Army modernization efforts are supported by officers from the National Guard’s Acquisition Management Office, who work in Army Program Executive Offices, including at acquisition-focused commands.
Participation in modernization is occurring across the Guard and in multiple states. The Virginia Army National Guard is partnering with the Soldier Lethality CFT in the development of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), for example, and Soldiers from the Florida, Oregon, Massachusetts and Tennessee National Guard are providing MEDEVAC Interior Upgrade (MIU) feedback to the Future Vertical Lift CFT.
The Texas Army National Guard is coordinating with the National Security Innovation Network and Futures Command’s Army Applications Laboratory (AAL) to identify and tackle challenges specific to National Guard missions. The effort seeks to explore low-cost digital tools and other resources that would better enable distributed operations and training and increase leader bandwidth. National Guard coordination with AAL is also helping to advance the development of sensor and situational awareness technologies to support Guard-led border security missions.
“The really important takeaway is that the Army National Guard is modernizing right alongside active counterparts,” Epperly said. “Army senior leaders have really insisted modernization be able to field a multi-domain capable force by 2028 and a multi-domain ready force by 2035 across all components. That’s already starting to happen in the Army Guard.”
“I’m just so proud of our Guard Soldiers in these modernization and acquisition roles,” Epperly added. “They are making a strategic impact on the future lethality, readiness and relevance of the total Army.”