An RCV light at desert testing. (Original image by Savannah Baldwin/ US Army; Code image by Markus Spiske via Pexels; Graphic by Breaking Defense)
WASHINGTON — US Army leaders spent the year teasing changes both big and small. After kicking off 2024 with an aviation upheaval and revamping artillery plans, they foreshadowed additional changes to acquisition programs and policy alike.
Here are my five top Army stories from the past 12 months, ranging from red tape hamstringing soldiers from using smaller drones to Army leaders butting up with tech challenges developing a fleet of future robotic combat vehicles.
[This article is one of many in a series in which Breaking Defense reporters look back on the most significant (and entertaining) news stories of 2024 and look forward to what 2025 may hold.]
1. Army cancels FARA helicopter program, makes other cuts in major aviation shakeup
It was just over a month into 2024 when Army leaders blew up their aviation portfolio — development of the next generation Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) was dead. That announcement came two decades to the month after the service ended plans to procure the RAH-66 Comanche and nearly 16 years after it terminated work on the ARH-70A Arapaho, both aircraft designed to replace the Kiowa — the same helicopter FARA was supposed to, finally, replace.
2. US Army takes on most effective counter-drone system yet: Red tape
Every time a US Army soldier loses or breaks a drone — regardless of its size or price tag — they are saddled with reporting paperwork, a mandatory investigation and possibly a loss of pay. That red tape has left soldiers hesitant to fly smaller drones and the service officials looking to reclassify ones tipping the scales below 55 pounds as expendable.
3. Army looks to limit early Robotic Combat Vehicle missions to keep soldiers out of harm’s way
Army plans to team up soldiers with machines kicked into high gear this year with part of that push centered around the revamped Robotic Combat Vehicle program. But questions about the service’s autonomy approach coupled with the state of technology, mean it is relying on a radio “tether” that can break if soldiers in control vehicles are too far behind the robots, obstacles get in the way or an adversary is jamming the signals. As a result, too many troops are needed to control those ground robots and they are in the line of fire.
4. Army open to replacing Microsoft as prime under ‘IVAS Next,’ industry sources say
The Army and Microsoft are still teamed up on the futuristic mixed-reality goggles dubbed the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS). However, change is afoot after multiple years of starts and fits with the heads-up display. Several tech companies, for example, spent 2024 preparing to jump into the IVAS Next competition after receiving briefings from the service about a decision to recompete the prime contractor position.
5. Inside the US Army’s race to apply Ukraine lessons to future Abrams, Bradley replacement
Loitering munitions and cheap one-way drones inside Ukraine have left a string of combat vehicles from both sides of the conflict destroyed in battle. The US Army leaders are using the conflict as a crash course in how their own tactics and technology could end up on the wrong side of a war, while also rushing to incorporate lessons into the development of tracked combat vehicles like the Abrams tank and Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
