Latest news with #RandyGeorge
CNBC
3 days ago
- Automotive
- CNBC
Gen. George on the Army's push into new tech
CNBC's Morgan Brennan speaks exclusively with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George about his plans for rolling out new technology like autonomous Infantry Squad Vehicles and hundreds of drones to make the Army more effective and lethal than ever before.
CNBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
How the Army is cutting costs and rethinking policy to move faster on new tech
In western Louisiana, a Black Hawk helicopter ride away from the Fort Johnson military base, sits a vast complex of wilderness that the U.S. Army uses to train soldiers for combat. The expanse, what the Joint Readiness Training Center's calls the "Box," stretches 242,000 acres. It was there that the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division recently completed a two-week rotation and that the service's top military official, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, paid servicemembers a visit. "We immerse our units in the training that's here. We have a professional opposing force that also has the latest technology, and this is where we learn, adapt and transform," George told CNBC. "This is our fourth brigade that we have basically brought through here and we are completely changing the technology that they're using, how they're organized, and then how they operate." The 1st Brigade is a new type of military unit: a "transformation in contact" (TIC) brigade. The Army stood up the concept a year ago, and this one represents the most modern to date, equipped with artificial intelligence-enabled platforms, SpaceX Starlink internet connectivity, retrofitted autonomous vehicles and nearly 400 drones. "What makes this one unique is the scale," said Trevor Voelkel, commander of the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team. "The technology has improved, and we're trying to maintain pace with that." George, whose military career spans four decades, said the Army is on the cusp of a "paradigm shift," ushered in by TIC brigades. Last month, America's oldest military branch unveiled the Army Transformation Initiative in what is expected to be its biggest restructuring in at least a generation. Greenlit by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and spearheaded by both George and his civilian counterpart, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, the initiative enables the Army to trim some jobs and reposition others. It also calls for shifting more defense dollars to products that can be made quickly and cheaply as battlefields become more autonomous and as "exquisite weapons systems" like tanks and aircraft that cost millions to make have proven to be vulnerable to drone strikes. Part of the reimaging is an effort to expand beyond the rigid, years-long acquisition process that has defined defense procurement and helped perpetuate legacy programs — whether services like the Army want to continue investing in them or not. "We know our formations want to move faster, and we are trying to get the whole system to move much more rapidly," said George. "A big part of that is stop buying the things that we know are not going to be as effective on the battlefield so that we can infuse our formations with the things that really will be." Army leadership has talked about improvements to bureaucratic processes for years, but it's been slow going. What makes this initiative potentially different is an extended continuing resolution coupled with a flurry of presidential executive orders — and the existence of the Department of Government Efficiency that could help a deeper cultural shift take root. "There's just so much change happening inside the Army, inside the [Defense] Department that wouldn't have been possible a couple years ago," said Katherine Boyle, a general partner at investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, who cofounded the firm's American Dynamism practice and has invested in startups like Anduril. "To see that culture of change, and that culture of DOGE-ing oneself, of cuts, of making sure that you're spending money in the right way, of innovation really hitting different agencies, I think, it's in some ways very hopeful for people who are building new technologies who want to work with the government," Boyle said in a recent interview with CNBC. In the Box, the TIC brigade soldiers were supplied with 40 new technologies from 10 different companies — many of them not traditional defense contractors. Engineers and executives from the companies were embedded alongside the soldiers to troubleshoot issues and ensure changes could be communicated back to production lines in real time. Take Skydio, the largest commercial drone maker outside of China, which sells products to the Army. Its drone wasn't flying the full range advertised during testing in the Box. "We were able to discover that it wasn't some crazy electromagnetic issue. It was actually an issue in the settings where the drone was set on low power," said Mark Valentine, president of Skydio's global government business. "So instead of going through weeks of trying to understand how that happened, within 24 hours, we were able to identify the default setting was low power, set it on high power, and that solved the problem." Then there's the example of autonomous vehicles. The Army has a fleet of 100,000 Humvees acquired and sustained over decades. The service needs new capabilities, and General Motors is manufacturing new infantry squad vehicles (ISV) based off a modified Chevy Colorado. Driscoll asked why commercial self-driving tech couldn't be adapted for military vehicles, and in 10 days startup Applied Intuition had retrofitted a GM ISV to be autonomous and to the Box it went, according to Applied Intuition cofounder and CEO Qasar Younis. "I think we can move faster than we are," George said. "Our troops can handle the move. They can go fast and so what we've got to do is break down all the bureaucracy … to make sure that we're moving at the speed that we need to for them." "Nobody's still using the VCR. We don't need to continue to buy a VCR just because somebody sells it," he said. "We need to have the latest technology that's on the battlefield."
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'This would make great TV': How Donald Trump got the parade he wanted
In June 2024, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and his aides were at a Virginia military base where the service was putting on one of its live-action shows for kids and families. The event -- a decades-long tradition known as the "Twilight Tattoo" -- was a spectacle. Soldiers from ceremonial units reenact the history of the Army, complete with Revolutionary War garb, music, theatrical vignettes and military pageantry, all meant to serve as a kind of salute to Army soldiers and their families. George and his top communications adviser, Col. Dave Butler, were attending with several media executives, when one of them leaned over. "This would make great television," the executive said, according to Butler. MORE: Democrats slam military parade as Trump's multimillion-dollar 'birthday party' George and his staff had already been talking about how to celebrate the Army's 250th birthday. Maybe, they thought, the National Park Service would let them host one of their live-action shows on the National Mall, the officials thought. After President Donald Trump took office and the June 14 birthday was getting closer, the Army began to toss around more ideas. One idea was to add tanks or other iconic Army equipment to an exhibit parked on the National Mall where tourists could learn about the Army's history of fighting the nation's wars. MORE: Trump warns 'any' protesters at military parade will be 'met with heavy force' Butler said he doesn't remember who first broached the idea of turning the Army's show into a parade. But once the idea was floated, no one seemed to push back. By June, the Army had a plan of what they would include: 6,700 soldiers, 150 vehicles, including dozens of tanks, 50 aircraft flying overhead including World War II-era planes and high-tech weaponry like rocket launchers. Trump, a former media executive himself, seemed game to the idea. One official involved in the planning described it like "knocking on an unlocked door." "We wanted to reintroduce this nation's Army to the American people," Butler said. "To do that, we thought we needed to be in their living rooms and on their phones. We needed something that would catch the national eye." MORE: What to know about 'No Kings Day' protests across US to counter Trump's military parade As the Army prepares for its birthday parade in downtown Washington on Saturday, not everyone is on board. About 6 in 10 Americans say that Saturday's parade is "not a good use" of government money, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The White House has not released an estimate of the parade's cost, with only the Army's portion of moving troops and equipment expected to cost up to $45 million. Security is expected to add significantly to the price tag. Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Army veteran who deployed with the Illinois National Guard during the Iraq War, said the money would be better spent on helping troops pay for essentials like child care. "Donald Trump's birthday parade has nothing to do with celebrating the Army's 250th birthday -- it's to stroke his own ego and make taxpayers foot the bill," said Duckworth. Duckworth and other Trump critics also note a military parade is often associated with countries like Russia and North Korea, where dictators march its soldiers and equipment through their streets. Advocates are organizing protests in cities other than Washington -- dubbed the "No Kings" protests. MORE: Trump's military parade: What to know about the Army anniversary event Trump, who turns 79 on Saturday, said he wants a military parade to show how great the country is. The president first pushed the idea in 2017 after attending the Bastille Day parade and celebration in France, saying he wanted to "try and top it." That effort was canceled after price estimates topped $90 million. When asked Thursday what he hopes the public will remember about the American parade, Trump said, "How great our country is, very simple, and how strong our military is." "We have the strongest military in the world," he added. According to Army officials involved in the planning effort, including Butler, the White House helped the Army plan the birthday celebration as an event focused on the Army's service to the nation. There are no plans currently, for example, to sing the president happy birthday. The president also is not expected to speak, leaving much of the festivities to the soldiers. According to the schedule, Trump will watch the tanks and soldiers march down Constitution Avenue from a viewing stand near the White House. Toward the end of the event, he will receive a flag from a soldier who will parachute on to the White House Ellipse. After that, the president will give the oath of enlistment to some 250 soldiers. The event concludes with fireworks over the Tidal Basin. Still, there are some of Trump's fingerprints on the event. In the final days leading up to the event, the White House made an unusual request. Trump, they said, wanted the Air Force to bring its fighter jets to the Army's party. If weather allows, the Thunderbirds will now do a flyover. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly defended the move to let the Air Force participate in the Army's birthday parade. "The President wants the Army Birthday Parade to feature the strength, talent, and creativity of all our military servicemembers," she said in a statement. "The Thunderbirds flyover will inspire patriotism and awe for all who attend!" 'This would make great TV': How Donald Trump got the parade he wanted originally appeared on
Axios
11-06-2025
- Business
- Axios
U.S. Army can't "continue to buy VCRs" amid global security shift
The U.S. Army Transformation Initiative trotted out by service leaders last month is just the tip of the iceberg. There will be additional pivots, debates, cuts and media appearances. Why it matters: "The risk is in not changing," Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George told Axios during an interview in his Pentagon office. "We've got to get better by 2026," he said, shrugging off longer-term ambitions like the Army of 2030 or 2040. "I think we have to be improving on a day-by-day, week-by-week basis." State of play: The changes introduced May 1 — combining Army Futures and Training and Doctrine commands, shifting to mobile brigade combat teams, axing AH-64D Apaches and M10 Bookers and more — are colloquially known as "1.0." There's "going to be 2.0 and 3.0," George said, "and that's how we need to look at it." He did not say what each iteration might comprise or target. Officials have claimed ATI will save some $48 billion over the next five years. Context: The goal is to produce a force that can shoot and kill more accurately from farther away while also being harder to detect, especially on the electromagnetic spectrum. "World events will tell you that we need to make adjustments," George said. (We spoke just days after Ukraine's surprise Spiderweb drone assault.) "We don't want to continue to buy VCRs just because that's what people are producing." Between the lines: Expect the fruits of canceled programs to be applied elsewhere.
Mint
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Ukraine's drone attack exposes Achilles' heel of military superpowers
Ukraine's audacious drone attack wounded and embarrassed Moscow, but it also exposed a threat to Kyiv's Western allies: Low-cost, high-tech strikes can deliver an increasingly potent punch to even the most heavily defended world powers. Inexpensive drones such as those Kyiv used to attack dozens of Russian warplanes parked at airfields far from Ukraine on Sunday have become a cornerstone of what strategists call asymmetric warfare, where two sides square off with mismatched military power, resources or approaches. For years, the U.S. and its partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization prevailed in that imbalance thanks to their wealth and advanced technologies. Now, a combination of technological advances and innovation-spawning armed conflicts has flipped the equation, leaving Washington and its allies behind on developments. For military commanders, the pace of change has meant an upheaval on a scale unseen since World War II. 'We're going to have to be more agile. Drones are going to constantly change," U.S. Army chief of staff Gen. Randy George told a conference on Monday. Ukraine's attack was 'a really good example of just how quickly technology is changing the battlefield," he said. Thanks to cheap commercial drones and other digital devices, rebels, terrorist organizations and threadbare militaries like Ukraine's can achieve returns on military investments of a scale almost unimaginable a few years ago. Ukraine said it launched 117 small drones in Sunday's attacks on four Russian bases. The drones it employed sell for about $2,000 apiece. Even including the operation's other expenses, Kyiv still probably spent well under $1 million to destroy aircraft that would cost well over $1 billion to replace—something Russia has little ability to do in the near future. Kyiv amplified the impact through propaganda, releasing video images of the attack hours after it was carried out. The ease with which information spreads online now gives covert operations a potentially destabilizing element of psychological warfare previously impossible on a global scale. Widespread deployment of dual-use technologies—including commercial drones and networking software similar to that used by ride-sharing services—has played a big role in allowing Ukraine to thwart Russia's initial large-scale invasion in 2022 and hold on against a much larger military power. Some of what the Ukrainians have learned was on display in the recent attack. Kyiv's spy agency was able to execute the covert operation largely thanks to their grasp of the latest developments in military uses of civilian technologies, such as apparently using public cellphone networks to guide drones. During the war, both Russia and Ukraine have made leaps in drone design, defenses against them and electronic warfare. That face-off has presented other countries with a case study in the intensity—technological and military—of future conflicts. 'We are trying to learn every single lesson that can possibly be learned about modern warfighting and how quickly it can evolve and how we must innovate and be technologically nimble to address those threats that evolve over time," said U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker on Wednesday. The Army plans a massive increase in its use of drones, part of a broader shift in the Pentagon from large, expensive systems. The U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan deployed with great effect sophisticated uncrewed aircraft including the RQ-4 Global Hawk—which has a wingspan similar to a Boeing 737 passenger jet—and the MQ-9 Reaper, which can launch rockets designed for use by jet fighters. Both cost millions of dollars per aircraft. Now the U.S. is rolling out a fast-changing array of smaller, expendable units and applying lessons from attacks like Ukraine's. Ukraine has made leaps in drone design during the war. 'It's another example of how warfighting technology continues to advance and evolve, allowing armies to reach deeper with offensive capabilities, reducing an adversary's critical assets, and reducing the cost curve of deterrence," said Army Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, who is helping lead the change. Similar efforts are under way across NATO countries, including Germany, Europe's largest economy but long home to one of the alliance's slowest-changing armed forces. German Chief of Defense Carsten Breuer, the country's highest-ranking military officer, said that a pivotal lesson of the war in Ukraine is the need to speed up and shorten the innovation cycle. 'In Ukraine they have a direct link between industry and the front line," he said in an interview. 'We have to do this without having a front line." He said that in late March the German military decided to acquire a type of drone, and that the so-called loitering munitions should be deployed with troops by year-end, marking a dramatic acceleration. But procurement and distribution are only a start. Ukraine's attack also showed advances in operations and military tactics. Iraq was one of the first places where commercial drones were turned into weapons. Irregular warfare is hardly new. Though the Ukraine war is highlighting how armies can use technological advances and covert operations to get a leg up on more powerful opponents, terrorists and other rebel groups have for years employed such tactics against their enemies. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were the most extreme example of irregular, asymmetric warfare: They had historic repercussions at minimal financial cost for the organizers. Even so, they required suicidal assailants. Drones and other new technologies allow potentially massive impact for attackers who remain anonymous and out of danger. 'What it comes down to is, how can we remove the human and let a piece of technology do it instead?" said Mike Monnik, chief executive of DroneSec, a threat-intelligence company tracking drone attacks worldwide. Ukraine's strikes are part of a worldwide trend, said Monnik. Among the first fighters to turn commercial drones into weapons were Islamic State forces in Iraq, roughly a decade ago. Early in its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas sent slow, inexpensive drones to neutralize Israel's sophisticated automated guard towers along its border with Gaza. Houthi rebels in Yemen have used relatively simple uncrewed systems to inflict costly damage on world shipping and Western navies. Many more drone attacks go unnoticed. In Myanmar, rebels modified a $600 agricultural drone bought on Alibaba with unguided rockets, making it 'almost a miniature attack helicopter," and a criminal gang in Israel exploded a drone packed with explosives outside the 13th-floor window of a rival gang leader in an assassination attempt, Monnik said. Ukraine used comparable innovation with the added twist of quickly posting videos as evidence of success for maximum international impact. 'It really is that psychological element," said Monnik of the videos. The goal is to rally support for Ukraine's cause and to scare Russia into thinking, 'now we need to search every truck or protect every air base" because no target is out of the small systems' reach, he said. Advanced wireless technology doesn't only benefit underdogs. Israel last year carried out hugely sophisticated covert attacks on Hezbollah militants in Lebanon by detonating explosives hidden in their walkie-talkies and pagers. It triggered the explosions remotely. A funeral in Lebanon last year after Israel staged an attack on Hezbollah by detonating explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies. Write to Daniel Michaels at
