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The Army Future Study To Aid Transition To Future Force

November 3, 2011

By Ann Roosevelt, courtesy of Defense Daily

The Army Chief of Staff's Unified Quest 2012 Future Study Plan is under way and aims to help senior leaders determine the challenges and opportunities and provide insights and recommendations to help prepare the current force as it moves into the future, a top general said.

Unified Quest is part of the Army Campaign of Learning (CoL), one of the priorities of the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC), part of Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

"What's so important is the connection between the Campaign of Learning and the concepts," which are the foundation of how the Army operates, fed by the national military strategy, said Lt. Gen. Keith Walker, TRADOC deputy commanding general, Futures, and ARCIC director. "The Campaign of Learning is a series of experiments, seminars, studies and wargames that are developed as a result of the concepts," he said in a recent interview.

Unified Quest aims to drive service change by taking key concepts, the most critical military problems called the Army Warfighting Challenges, and examining them in deep detail in
experiments, seminars, wargames, and research.

The result of all this effort is to find what is required to develop the future force and ensure those issues are integrated into concepts and capability developments.

More broadly, the purpose of Unified Quest is to inform near-term program, policy, doctrine and strategic decisions impacting the Army of 2020.

The Army just concluded the Unified Quest Alternative Futures Symposium, and will continue through a number of events, including looking at "What the Army Must Do," and "How the Army must Fight," that culminate in the Army Future Game and senior leader seminar in late spring.

This year, Unified Quest examines mid-to long-range strategic settings and explores ideas about future conflict and has several goals for the varied events.

One goal is to examine and refine the strategic narrative for the Army of 2020 based on an assessment of the operational environment and national strategy demands. Another task is to evaluate the Army Concept Framework in alternative futures to see if they are sufficient and to recommend revisions for subsequent concept updates. The work is also to determine future Army capabilities for ground combined arms maneuver/wide area security in the context of the Defense Planning Guidance and the Quadrennial Defense Review strategy.

Another key task is to determine future enabling capabilities to meet operational demands in the 2016-2028 time period. Further, a key task is to assess 21st century training and readiness challenges and to explore capabilities for a revolution in training to ensure an adaptable army fighting as part of a joint force.

The next UQ12 event convenes at Ft. Sill, Okla., in mid-November, a Junior Leader Forum that will examine the Profession of Arms.