1. The Futures Center—Transforming While at War
Good morning. It’s indeed a pleasure for me to be here and to have the chance to speak to you today.
For those of you unfamiliar with our organization, I welcome the opportunity to introduce the Futures Center and how we are involved in transformation and building the Future Force.
Yogi Berra once said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” I couldn’t agree more, but that is our mission as the Army’s Architect of the Future Force.
We are off to a great start, and each day we learn something new from our collaborative work with OSD, Joint Forces Command and the other Services.
Our focus is on the future, but we will continue to pay close attention to emerging operational insights from the current force and explore ready Future Force capabilities for possible insertion into the Current Force.
The Futures Center—Transforming While at War
National Defense Industrial Association
22 April 2004
MG Robert Mixon Deputy Director, Futures Center US Army Training and Doctrine Command
TRADOC: Where Tomorrow’s Victories Begin

2. Agenda War Is Now “Business as Usual” Futures Center Core Competency
Partnering for Success
Integrating Capabilities
Spiraling Capabilities Forward
Challenges

3. Foreseeable Future – Nation at War
364,000 soldiers overseas in 120 countries
South Korea
31,600 SOLDIERS
We are a Nation at War, and it is essential to understand the kind of war we are currently waging.
The United States military overwhelms its enemies
In response, our enemies are developing their own asymmetrical means. In fact, our enemies are almost perfectly asymmetrical.
The enemy is highly adaptive and self-organizing, and he presents only fleeting targets for lethal force.
Our tactical forces have adapted to meet the challenge.
Soldiers and Leaders have performed magnificently, and it is a testament to their adaptability.
To remain relevant and ready we must transform across the full integrated spectrum. We must rapidly change to meet a future we did not foresee, and we must do this in the midst of fighting a war with forces deployed globally.
GEN Schoomaker has given us a challenging mission mandating we employ a methodology that: 
First and foremost, enables Soldiers today;
Increases the speed at which we compile, assess, and incorporate the hard lessons learned by Soldiers and leaders;
Integrates change in a manner that enhances combat effectiveness and readiness; and
Remains vigilant to safeguard our Soldier's preeminent advantage in the future.
NOBLE EAGLE
21,400 SOLDIERS
As of 29 Mar 2004
JTF-GTMO
1,600 SOLDIERS
OEF-AFGHANISTAN
11,500 SOLDIERS
OEF-Philippines
40 SOLDIERS
JTF-BRAVO
300 SOLDIERS
KFOR/ SFOR
3,500 SOLDIERS
OTHER OPERATIONS
& EXERCISES
3,800 SOLDIERS
OIF-IRAQ
122,500 SOLDIERS
MFO
680 SOLDIERS
- 20 of 33 (60.6%) Active Component Brigade Combat Teams deployed overseas in FY04
- 15 of 45 (33%) Enhanced Separate Brigade battalions deployed overseas in FY03
Component Army Strength Currently Deployed
- Active: , ,000
- Reserve: , ,000
- National Guard: , ,000
- Total: 1,042, ,000
Enable the Soldier today
Increase our responsiveness
Transform while “in contact”
Maintain focus on Future Force
TRADOC
“Architect of the Future”

4. Futures Center Core Competencies
An integrating center designed to:
Assess the Future
Link Joint and Army Concepts and Experimentation
Build operational architectures
Validate Science and Technology
Take ownership of Studies and Analysis
Integrate capabilities
Current to Current
Future to Current
Current to Future
Futures Center Oversight
As the Army’s primary integrating agency for Futures development, we have combined the historical strengths of TRADOC with those of the Objective Force Task Force to focus Future Force development efforts.
As such we:
Explore likely aspects of the future operational environment, always mindful to maintain a dialogue that questions the underlying assumptions that guide development efforts;
Actively seek to link Army with Joint operational concepts and experimentation in the areas of Force Application, Protection, Focused Logistics, Battle Space Awareness and Battle Command;
Build operational architectures that provide coherence both internally and as importantly with our Joint and potential multi-national partners;
Prioritize requirements and validate/focus of science and technology to minimize efforts that don’t contribute to advancing us towards Future Force capabilities;
Integrate an inherently hybrid force across all time frames; and
Provide Army leadership with prioritization and resourcing recommendations through the Quarterly Futures Review (QFR) process.
Battle Lab Input
Battle Lab Input

5. Partnering for Success
The Army
Staff
Multinational Forces/
Bi-Lateral Staff Talks
Academia/
Think Tanks / Media
The functional relationships of TRADOC extend well beyond the confines of the Army.
TRADOC plays an integral role in the developments and initiatives with OSD, US Joint Forces Command, and other Commands and Services.
Critical external links are those we maintain with Academia, the R&D community, Industry, and Materiel Developers.
Much of that work done with these organizations and agencies is conducted within the Futures Center – work that spans the lifecycle from concept development and experimentation to fielding capabilities.
Consolidating this work and these responsibilities within the Futures Center will ultimately accelerate the spiraling of future Force capabilities into the Current Force.
Joint Forces
Command /
Major Commands
Research &
Development
Office of SECDEF/
Other Military Services
Materiel Developers/
Industry
Congress

6. Integrating Capabilities
Integrating…Three dimensions - “Future Combat Systems cascading effect”
Current to Current
Fill capability gaps in current operations
Apply lessons learned
Create modular, capabilities-based unit designs
Future to Current
Spiral forward selected capabilities from Future Combat Systems into the Current Force
Current to Current
Lessons are discerned from on-going operations across the world….most notably in Iraq and Afghanistan, but from anywhere the US Army is operating.
Lessons will be evaluated across the full range of DOTMLPF to determine mechanisms for improving the capabilities of the Current Force.
We are hard at work today to create modularity in our Current Force. Modularity allows for greater capacity for rapid packaging and responsive and sustained employment to support combatant commanders.
 Future to Current
The Army has made major investments in Science and Technology.  Much of it focused on the generation of the Future Combat System.  
We are staying the course in the development of the FCS.
We will apply mature technologies to enhance the capabilities of the Current Force, when the magnitude of enhancement warrants the turbulence of changing the force, to the degree that the enhancements are affordable. 
This added degree of capability is represented by the diagonal line within the large arrow depicted on this chart to show enhanced capabilities within the Current Force, even as we march towards generation of the Future Force.
Current to Future
Last, we know that much of what exists in the Current Force is good.  After all, the US Army is the most formidable ground force in the world today. 
Therefore, good ideas, and good capabilities which exist today will carry forth into the Future Force, be it materiel or doctrine, or TTP, or organizational design….whatever works and remains relevant across the DOTMLPF.
Current Force
Future Force
Current to Future
Push proven, good ideas from Current Force into Future Force

7. Spiraling Future Capabilities to the Current Force
Lessons Learned
The process of identifying and accelerating selected Future Force technologies for fielding to the Current Force is fundamental to our success in enhancing the relevance and readiness of our Army.
The Army must continue to develop Future Forces while simultaneously spiraling-in Future Force capabilities to enhance the effectiveness of the Current Force.
We use every avenue possible to inform and prioritize our support to the current fight. This includes, but is not limited to:
Department of Defense guidance;
Joint Operational Concepts;
Lessons learned and feedback from Combatant Commanders;
On-going programs and Focus Area insights;
Emerging technologies; and
The collegial work of academia and think tanks.
We preserve our resources by leveraging Army, Joint and other service prototyping and experimentation efforts.
As advances in science and technology expand the realm of the possible, we will use sound judgment as to when best to select and field a capability.
Our Soldiers deserve every advantage we can provide; and
We must ensure that the gain in capability is not offset by a disruption caused by integration.
We accomplish this by:
Synchronizing our concept development and experimentation efforts with those of Joint Forces Command and our other Joint partners; and
Vetting in the comprehensive review provided by the Quarterly Futures Review (QFR).
Rapid Prototyping
Joint Experimentation
Science and Technology
Ready Future Force Capabilities
Enabling Soldiers
Relevant & Ready
Today
Assess
Prioritize
Future Combat System
Joint Expeditionary Mindset
Resource
Army Focus Areas

8. Challenges Assessing an unpredictable future
Transforming an Army at war
Integrating a Future Force with hybrid capabilities and characteristics
The challenges we face are significant, but surmountable. 
We must do all this within the context of an unpredictable future. This means we must adapt how we do our business. Much like our tactical forces we in the Futures Center must see first, understand first and act first.
Transforming while “in contact” heightens the importance that we integrating our solutions right the first time;
A positive consequence of the intersection of our current-level of engagement and maturation of information technology is the speed with which we are able to compile and assess lessons learned as they emerge. The challenge is to then quickly apply that hard earned knowledge into tangible results;
Not unrelated to transforming while at war, we must remain mindful to ensure that we don’t unhinge future developments as we spiral Future Force capabilities into the Current Force;
Army and Joint transformation are dynamic and maturing concurrently, thus we have an urgent need to ensure we are fully in tune with the entire Joint community;
Our forces are better trained, led and equipped than ever before, but that does not imply that we have provided all that they need or deserve. We have to find solutions that allow them to do their job better.