Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer meets with Col. Joshua Glonek, commander of 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, during a visit to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, on Jan. 30, 2025. Weimer watched soldiers from the brigade experiment with a range of new combat technology during an exercise. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)
HOHENFELS, Germany — U.S. soldiers launched small drones in search of enemy positions on the Army’s sprawling Bavarian training grounds this week, testing an array of new technology that is expected to transform how American ground forces go to war.
Troops engaged in a monthlong exercise are subjecting new aerial systems, communications equipment and unmanned vehicles to the rugged forest terrain of the Joint Multinational Readiness Center.
“There’s not another army that I know of that intentionally takes a brigade, throws it in this crucible, and torches it like we are doing right now on purpose,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said Thursday. “That’s how serious we are about the profession.”
The service’s top enlisted leader, Weimer was on hand to watch exercise Combined Resolve, running through Feb. 16. The exercise is testing a revised Army fighting strategy called transforming in contact, which seeks to glean lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war and quickly incorporate them into Army formations.
A key part of the plan is empowering junior soldiers to experiment with technology and tactics in ways Army units haven’t in the past.
As part of this effort, Weimer met with the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, one of three major brigades involved in the initiative. It’s spent the past six months fielding and testing new technology while spread across Europe.
Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer talks to 10th Mountain Division soldiers about their experiences with new network and signal equipment Jan. 30, 2025, at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany. The soldiers were gaining familiarity with the wide range of innovations as part of the new Army fighting strategy known as transforming in contact. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)
Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer visits the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, on Jan. 30, 2025, to talk with soldiers participating in exercise Combined Resolve. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. soldiers are lifted via a tether by an Army Black Hawk helicopter Jan. 30, 2025, at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, during a medical hoist operation. The training is part of exercise Combined Resolve, which gives the soldiers practice in the Army's new fighting strategy, transforming in contact. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. soldiers drive in a convoy at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, during exercise Combined Resolve on Jan. 30, 2025. Troops in the monthlong exercise received a visit that day from Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer, who was watching the application of the service's new fighting strategy, called transforming in contact. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)
The brigade commander, Col. Joshua Glonek, said the soldiers have begun receiving the advanced communication systems and drones such as the Ghost-X.
“It doesn’t take long to get soldiers proficient on these new systems,” Glonek said Thursday.
The biggest aspect of the battlefield adaptations is advancing troops’ ability to communicate, according to Glonek.
The soldiers are using new networks that incorporate low-orbiting satellites and LTE towers, which in turn enable soldiers to communicate over chat, voice and video.
The signals can travel father and connect to the drones, while the new systems the soldiers were trying are said to be more reliable than current ones.
In addition, Glonek said, soldiers are fielding more drones than have ever been used at the Combat Training Center in Hohenfels. They have them at the company, battalion and brigade levels.
Better battlefield mobility is yet another element of transforming in contact. Lighter squad vehicles enable faster repositioning of forces, and unmanned transport vehicles allow supplies to be transported by remote control, Glonek said.
Exercise Combined Resolve marks the first time soldiers have used these systems as a combined brigade in Europe, according to Glonek.
While the brigade adapts to the new technology, there have been challenges along the way.
“There’s a lot of learning curves that come with all this new equipment,” said Sgt. Sage Lockwood, a signal operations support specialist for the brigade. “Stuff isn’t working all the time, but there’s some ingenuity. There’s fixes.”
Transforming in contact is set to continue into 2026, integrating commercial assets into various exercises throughout Europe and the U.S.
Traditionally, the Army followed a four-year acquisition process for new equipment. That timeline has been dramatically shortened under the new framework, Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, commanding general of V Corps, said in a recent Army statement.
Later this year, the Army plans to scale up the effort by adding units up to the division level and introducing more advanced technologies, according to the statement. Those plans include the Vilseck-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
The goal of transforming in contact is to ensure that soldiers have the equipment and know-how to adjust to combat conditions in time.
“The character of war is changing at a speed we’ve never seen before,” Weimer said Thursday. “The lessons we observed from the Ukraine war … really identified that we’ve got to get faster at staying competitive with the technology that’s changing.”
During his visit to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, Weimer emphasized the importance of testing this technology in Europe, where terrain and operational conditions differ significantly from those in the U.S.
“If you’re going to change, you’ve got to experiment,” he said. “You’re going to experiment. You’re going to fail and you’re going to learn.”
