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Soldiers Show Off Capabilities at Warfighter Exercise

U.S. Army officials highlight three new innovations tested during a Warfighter Exercise.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, commander of America’s First Corps, along with Command Sgt. Maj. Nema Mobarakzadeh (Mobar), and military members of Australia, Japan and the United States, salute during Yama Sakura 87’s closing ceremony at Camp Asaka, Japan, in December 2024. Credit: Staff Sgt. Brahim Douglas, 24th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

U.S. Army soldiers said three new technologies and programs exceeded expectations at the Warfighter Exercise that was conducted concurrently with the Yama Sakura 87 exercise, but they are still recommending that each capability receive upgrades to help military operations even more. Warfighters had the opportunity to gain firsthand experience with the Automated Munitions Tracker (AMT), TRACKR:LOG and Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) program and reported some changes that they say crews should develop and apply.

Firstly, soldiers want to see these tools create data sets that are more accessible, presentable and less confusing. They are asking that the data be produced in a single location rather than the current process of information being dispersed in a plethora of locations, an observation soldiers made during testing and experimentation. On the contrary, one large data-centric database that presents information clearly would benefit leaders and their staff significantly, according to Sgt. 1st Class Richard Fuentes, cyber network defender and project manager, I Corps Data Integration and Innovations Team.

“We need to get this onto a single pane of glass,” Fuentes said in an interview with SIGNAL Media. “So that way, commanders only have to go to one area, and the staff only needs to go to one area, and then they can execute decisions based off the data sets that are presented. And it’s presented in a way that makes sense to them.”

“So, both working on the user interface components as well as the ability to get these data solutions into program of record common operating pictures will be probably one of our biggest things that we’re going to need to improve on for this next period, and we are actively working towards that now,” Fuentes added.

Army leaders also need to address certain complexities and code-related issues involving the AMT device, according to Maj. James DiNatale, 26B, Signal Corps. Units struggled to connect AMT to the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS), otherwise known as the Army’s software for fires, because of its ability to coordinate, control and execute fires and effects, according to Danielle Kress and Maj. Henry Castillo, Army AL&T (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology) Magazine. The problem arose because warfighters were still using versions of AFATDS that were incompatible with AMT devices. Luckily for soldiers, this should be an easy fix, according to DiNatale.

“You have COMPO 2 units (the Army National Guard) and [COMPO] 3 units (the Army Reserves) with AFATDS that are not up to date, so we didn’t really anticipate that,” DiNatale said in an interview with SIGNAL Media. “So, we’re going to have to just do some basic re-coding of the database to be adaptable to those other systems. It’s not a huge issue; it’s an issue that will need to actually be addressed.”

AMT is a solution that gives warfighters more data related to fire missions. Now, only AFATDS and paper products store and track engagement-related information, and it can take up to 96 hours to get that information to commanders, according to Fuentes. With the AMT capability, commanders can see what they fired and with what type of munition, instead of only being able to see if a soldier fires, which is a game-changing capability, according to Fuentes.

Meanwhile, TRACKR:LOG is a program that uses available beacons and network transport to track commodities that are on the move. Before the creation of this innovation, crews used notebooks, papers and emails to track the data, and the process of getting the information into the hands of the corps took 12 to 18 hours. The program allows leaders to observe the location of commodities on the battlefield and track when the items arrive at their position. The capability gives commanders additional information they can use in their decision-making process that they have not had before, DiNatale added.

Finally, the MINC program was started by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a new data-sharing method. The goal of the capability is to guarantee that vital information reaches military leaders and warfighters at the right time, even in communicationally challenged environments, according to DARPA officials.

In addition to the successes showcased at the Warfighter Exercise, another benefit of these capabilities is that they are already being elevated and used by military officials, according to Fuentes. But leaders still have several logistical and technological questions that need to be addressed.

“Now, what we’re looking for is: How do we build this?” Fuentes said. “How do we take this First Corps-driven solution and nest it within the total Army requirements? How do we fight to win as an organization as a whole to meet other areas, and then also, how do we transition this over to a project manager office?”

“Between TRACKR and AMT, those are the two that we’re looking to transition over,” Fuentes said. “MINC is nice because you can use it. You can build it out however you want to; you can make modifications to it. There are developer components to this thing, and it is highly user-configurable, so the solution itself is limitless on where it can go.”

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Matthew W. McFarlane, I Corps commanding general, and Japanese Lt. Gen. Toshikazu Yamane, Ground Component Command commanding general, receive a briefing as part of Yama Sakura 87 and Warfighter 25-2 at Camp Asaka, Japan, in December 2024. Credit: Sgt. Griffin Payne, 24th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

I Corps officials are taking additional steps regarding the AMT device. They met with Cyber Center of Excellence personnel and pitched the idea that it be integrated into their training procedure so that warfighters in the field can become familiar and experienced with the system, according to Fuentes.

“We’re taking a solution that was developed in the field and pushing it directly over to the Cyber Center of Excellence,” Fuentes said.

“Why not take an emerging technology and solution and give it directly to the soldiers that are coming into the force, so they already are working on something that’s real, that’s tangible, that they are going to see when they actually deploy out to these areas?” Fuentes added. “And hopefully by the time we get this thing through and transitioned over, they’ll be using it consistently.”

The Yama Sakura 87 exercise and Warfighter Exercise took place in Japan in December 2024, marking the first time that the I Corps successfully conducted an Army Warfighter Exercise concurrently with Yama Sakura 87, according to I Corps officials. At the Army Warfighter Exercise, soldiers had the opportunity to experiment with better data storage and information-sharing systems, along with improved sensing equipment, among other capabilities, according to I Corps personnel.