HUNTSVILLE — In his first visit to Redstone Arsenal as the Army’s top civilian, Secretary Dan Driscoll said he was encouraged by the collaboration among the federal agencies on the sprawling installation.
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt hosted Driscoll and U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran on Monday to tour the Army’s capabilities on Redstone Arsenal. Moran (R-Kan.) is chair of the Subcommittee for Aviation, Space and Innovation.
“It’s always an honor to showcase Alabama’s cutting-edge capabilities at Redstone Arsenal,” Britt (R-Montgomery) said. “I’m grateful to Secretary Driscoll for prioritizing a visit to Huntsville early in his tenure as Army secretary. Redstone plays an invaluable role in American national security by supporting several branches of the U.S. military, with a primary emphasis on the U.S. Army.
“Redstone is indispensable to advancing this mission of ensuring America’s military readiness and unmatched lethality. I’m proud to champion Redstone’s critical work and be an advocate for our service members in the Senate.”
The group visited the Army Materiel Command headquarters, the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, Program Executive Office Missiles & Space, and Program Executive Office Aviation, where they were briefed on the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft.
In March, Driscoll launched the Army Transformation Initiative, which prioritizes cutting programs and positions deemed “obsolete,” while bringing in the private sector to “innovate.”
“Small and medium businesses around the country are going to be able to create things for the United States Army, and if it is the best, we’re going to put it on to our new platforms going forward,” Driscoll said. “Things like open AI and these other big tech companies that are in the news every single day, we are not quite ready at scale to be a customer of theirs, but we think in the next six to 12 months, we will be in that because a lot of the work that’s happening down here.”
Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, senior commander of Redstone Arsenal, and deputy commanding general and acting commander of Army Materiel Command, said for initiatives like integrating open architecture and building a “data layer” into new Army systems, “This is the place to do that.”
Driscoll, who also serves as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said improvement will come from more communication with other agencies, such as Redstone’s partnerships with NASA, the FBI and ATF.
“One of the things Lt. Gen. Mohan and his team have been telling is they did an incredible job of how they permitted it and structured it, and how they spent,” Driscoll said of the FBI’s expansion on Redstone. “And so, we’re actively asking the FBI on our future projects to come teach us and help us.”
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