EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AND MODERNIZING THE ARMY
The EDA program is a natural complement to the Army’s modernization and divestiture goals.
“We’re in the midst of the largest and most successful modern- ization campaign since the Cold War,” said Williams. “Keep in mind that during the Cold War, we only had the Soviet Union to contend with. Today, we are up against larger and more powerful adversaries, a more diverse and technologically advanced group of rivals who are trying to outpace us not only on traditional battlefields, but on the new frontiers of space and cyberspace.
“Tis is not the time to not get this right,” he said. “Te Army cannot afford to waste time or resources that are needed to keep us ahead of the competition.”
GROWING CAPABILITY In order to support modernization and divestiture efforts, Williams said his EDA team has established security assistance storage sites (SAS2) at MDRS locations and plans to add more sites within the U.S. to support Army National Guard and Army Reserve as well as overseas sites to support the U.S. European Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
“At security assistance storage sites, as quickly as a unit can sign items off their books, we can transfer it to the partner, who starts paying the bill,” Williams said. “Tere are no storage and prep- aration fees to pay. We’ve already done the legwork. Based on combatant command goals and partner requests for their areas of operation, we know materiel is needed.” It’s an extremely proac- tive approach that began saving the Army and partners millions of dollars over the last few years, even before MDRS and R2E were piloted.
Te program is growing. Williams added, the EDA team has been working with the National Guard, Reserves and sister services to address Army shortages and fulfill partner nation requirements. Te State Partnership Program is taking on a much broader and more relative role, as demonstrated in recent North Carolina National Guard and Moldova cases. Excess small arms, tactical vehicles and trailers obtained from the North Carolina National
Guard will be transferred to Moldova as part of a USASAC EDA case that will be completed sometime this year. Moldova and North Carolina have been partners for 28 years.
Te National Guards of all 54 states and territories participate in the State Partnership Program, linking the Guard with partner nation’s military, security forces and disaster response organiza- tions in a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship.
“From our perspective, proactive and predictive EDA and the SAS2 initiative is one of the most important things that’s being done to win the “war on excess,” Williams said.
CONCLUSION During the mid-June Army Modernization and Equipping Conference (AMEC), updates on the EDA mission set and its alignment to Army force modernization and divestiture were presented. Te AMEC is held semiannually at Redstone Arsenal and allows senior leaders from the four major Army commands and Headquarters Department of the Army staff to review equip- ment fielding and synchronize distribution and displacements with Army priorities. At the most recent AMEC, leaders also discussed how the Army could better pair EDA with current Presidential Drawdown Authorities actions to provide more flex- ibility on timing and cost impacts.
“Our goal is to run in the background, leveraging opportunities for viable equipment to build partner capacity while saving the Army time and money,” Williams said. “Now more than ever, time and money are resources we can’t afford to waste. Every item we obtain allows Soldiers to focus on their readiness responsibil- ities, like fielding and training on new equipment and doctrine.”
For mor e informat ion
https://www.army.mil/usasac.
ADRIANE ELLIOT has served as a journalist, editor and public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army for 28 years, both on and off active duty in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She is trained in journalism, photography and public affairs from the Defense Information School.
on USASAC, go to
https://asc.ar my.mil
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