Top Army general outlines plans for new brigades, new technologies

The Army must look to the future — and new, emerging technologies that could change the way soldiers fight — even as it continues to build its readiness to fight today, the service’s top general said.

“The near future, in terms of readiness, is a pretty straightforward affair,” said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. “From now to 2020, more or less, what you see is what you’ve got.”

Any advancements or improvements in equipment or technology will be marginal in the near-term, he said.

“You’re not going to see going from a smoothbore musket to a rifled musket,” Milley said. “That kind of leap ahead is unlikely [in the near-term]. But that kind of leap ahead is likely in 2025 to 2050.”

That period, which Milley refers to as the deeper future, is something the Army must already be working on, he said.