Army looking for ways to fund ‘transformation in contact’ 2.0 effort
WASHINGTON — Now that lawmakers have signed off on a full-year continuing resolution (CR), US Army officials are weighing their options for how to pay for the second iteration of the service’s “transformation in contact” effort — one that they plan to be larger than last year, according to a three-star general.
“Is a full-year CR going to have an impact? Yes, it is,” Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Karl Gingrich told an audience today during the McAleese defense programs conference.
“Is it going to have a dramatic impact? In my opinion, no,” he added. “And why is that? Because we have worked with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] OSD, and we really appreciate Congress and the allocation of replenishment funding.”
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George launched the TiC effort last year, as a fundamental backbone of his service’s attempt to get new technologies into the hands of soldiers faster. At its core, the concept is that, rather than waiting for technologies to be proven out in safe research and development spaces for years before going out to the field, George wants to see soldiers operating these systems in real world conditions to better understand and develop how they can be used.