{"id":8081,"date":"2026-03-26T17:56:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/well-go-40-army-wants-good-enough-tech-it-can-reshape-for-battle\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T17:56:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:56:23","slug":"well-go-40-army-wants-good-enough-tech-it-can-reshape-for-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/well-go-40-army-wants-good-enough-tech-it-can-reshape-for-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019ll go 40%\u2019: Army wants good-enough tech it can reshape for battle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama\u2014<\/strong> Nine months ago, the 4th Infantry Division\u2019s commander told an audience that he would be perfectly happy to take a piece of tech that does 60 percent of what the Army needs and let his soldiers\u2019 feedback inform the remaining 40. On Wednesday, he said he\u2019d like to switch those ratios.<\/p>\n

Gen. Pat Ellis and his soldiers have been helping the Army develop its next-generation command-and-control software as the service tries out its new approach to acquisition, taking existing technology and putting it into the field as developers stand by to integrate soldier feedback.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll go 40 percent,\u201d Ellis said at the AUSA Global Force Symposium. \u201cWe don’t want the product to be perfect. The soldiers actually want to be active participants in the development process.\u201d<\/p>\n

That approach wouldn\u2019t necessarily work everywhere, he added, but it makes sense for software development at least.<\/p>\n

The Army is doing something similar with its M1E3 Abrams tank and XM-30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle: delivering the bones of the vehicles to soldiers, whose feedback will inform what they need in terms of software, sensors and weapons.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a drastic departure from the Army\u2019s past acquisitions model, which involved long lists of requirements and a \u201cblack eye\u201d if a company didn\u2019t deliver exactly what the Army had asked for, the service\u2019s Portfolio Acquisition Executive for C2\/counter-C2 said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so a test report that may say that it’s not effective or effective with limitations, I mean, this was a significant emotional event for a lot of programs, and I think we’ve really kind of like short-circuited that,\u201d Joe Welch said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no longer an expectation of perfection out of the gate, Welch added, and the Army is working hard with vendors to communicate that an offering that still needs work is no longer going to put them out of the running.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, you know, as you just heard, there’s a preference that it’s that it’s not,\u201d Welch said. \u201cBecause perfect, in some ways, means that, well, then you’re done iterating on it. You’re done making it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

During 4th ID\u2019s Ivy Sting series to test out NGC2, Ellis said, he has convened so-called \u201csolution summits\u201d to talk about challenges and next steps with soldiers, vendors and even potential vendors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bring everybody in and say, let’s talk about this problem. Some folks are on the contract. Some folks are not,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just talk about, \u2018Hey, look, we’ve done airspace management, we’ve done chat functionality, we’ve done maps, we’ve had a lot of these challenges that we’re seeing.\u2019 And this lets everybody kind of talk about and kind of hear where the industry partners will go in that space.\u201d\n\n<\/svg><\/p>\n<\/div>\n