REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – Senior leaders from across the Army and industry will provide in-depth discussions on “Designing and Sustaining the Army of 2040” at the upcoming Association of the United States Army Global Force Symposium March 28-30 in Huntsville, Alabama.

After a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Force Symposium returns to Huntsville as an in-person event that will explore the capabilities outlined in the Army’s Modernization Strategy to drive transformational change.

“Now more than ever, we must look at how we are structured currently and for the next 20 years to meet the challenges of the strategic environment and battlespace and provide speed, range and convergence to achieve dominance and overmatch,” said Army Materiel Command’s Commander Gen. Ed Daly.

The Army is changing its global posture, facilities and policies, enabling a more lethal, resilient and rapidly innovating force to grow the Army’s comparative advantages to achieve overmatch through integrated campaigning during cooperation, competition and conflict.

“We can’t wait 12 to 18 months to do a big, expensive exercise; we need to do that at the right point in time,” said Army Futures Command’s Commander General James Rainey. “The great exercises, the stuff we spend money and time on … is the best place to learn because that’s where our best commanders are.”

Army leaders are looking at all aspects of modernization, more than weapons systems, including training, processes, skillsets and infrastructure to support and sustain next-generation capabilities for large-scale combat operations within a contested logistics environment.

“Modernization is part of transformation but modernization and not transforming is going to end up with a bunch of kit without the right leaders, without trained units, without formational lethality,” said Rainey. “We need to outthink the Chinese, boldly maneuver ahead of them [The Army] needs to grab some ground and anchor it, so they wake up trying figure to out how they’re doing to keep up with us. I think that’s well within our capabilities as an institution.”

Designing the Army of 2040 is one of the overarching priorities of AFC, along with Delivering the Army of 2030 and prioritizing people. AFC drives transformation through integrated, organizational-focused solutions and experimentation.

At AUSA Global Force Symposium, Army and industry experts will explore how the force is targeting modernization of capabilities and capacities to meet these objectives, along with other Army objectives. To view the livestream coverage of AUSA Global Force events, visit https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/ausaglobal.