Latest news with #Feltey
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
First armor brigade conducts combat center rotation with new tools
The Army recently put its first armor brigade through a combat training center rotation under its new Transformation in Contact initiative. The 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division launched Exercise Combined Resolve this past week in Hohenfels, Germany, at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center. The brigade is the first armored unit to conduct the new Transformation in Contact modernization effort. The initiative seeks to deliver new equipment to operational units as they prepare for major training events and deployments. The aim is to gain feedback and make adjustments to deployment needs while continuing the regular readiness preparation that operational units undergo for standard deployments. This Army division will change how armor brigades and divisions fight The initiative began with three infantry brigades, one each from the 101st Airborne Division, 25th Infantry Division and 10th Mountain Division. Those units saw the addition of Infantry Squad Vehicles, drones, sensing and strike capabilities. The work resulted in changes to the structure of the infantry brigade, which have since been dubbed 'Mobile Brigade Combat Teams.' Final decisions about the layout of those brigades have yet to be made. The TIC initiative continues with this armor brigade and seeks to raise those changes to the division level also, officials said. 'Raider Brigade is spearheading the Army's Transforming in Contact initiative and experimenting with new capabilities to enhance battlefield effectiveness while deployed to Europe,' said Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division. 'The lessons learned through this exercise will help inform the Army how an armored brigade combat team fights on future battlefields.' Exercise Combined Resolve pairs U.S. and NATO forces with partner nations to validate interoperability. The armor brigade used a variety of recently acquired unmanned robotic systems, counter drone tools and electromagnetic decoys during the training. The 1st ABCT's participation in TIC is structured around four key phases: adapting how the unit fights, integrating emerging technologies, reorganizing formations to suit mission needs and rapidly incorporating new capabilities as they become available, according to an Army release. Maj. Gen. Thomas Feltey told Army Times in April that his unit, 1st Cavalry Division, oversaw training for 3rd BCT, 10th Mountain Division during that unit's Germany rotation. The experience helped kickstart TIC work in the cavalry unit. But, Feltey said, the armor units have their own characteristics separate from the traditional dismounted infantry units. 'An ABCT has a lot of different moving pieces,' Feltey said. 'Our battlespace is much larger, and things move faster.' Feltey plans to convene senior armor leaders for feedback on how to reconfigure the units and their assets to capitalize on the new tech and approaches to fighting fast with armor. These sessions will be called 'Iron Horse sprints,' he said.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This Army division will change how armor brigades and divisions fight
As soldiers with the 1st Cavalry Division continue to offload their equipment from their recent Europe rotation, they're blazing a path and planning for a new kind of armored unit they will be at the heart of creating. Soldiers with the division will help the Army determine how to reorganize an Armored Brigade Combat Team to fight with new equipment, farther-reaching sensors and increased firepower — with the division at its back. Maj. Gen. Thomas Feltey spoke with Army Times recently about his division's work under the Army's 'Transformation in Contact' initiative. The move seeks to modernize and evolve formations as they prepare for real-world deployments. The effort was announced in 2023 and began with three infantry brigades: the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division; 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division; and the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. Over the course of the next year, the three brigades added sensors, drones and a host of other enabling technologies, while also reconfiguring the makeup of various brigade elements to streamline communications and ramp up the infantry brigades' capabilities. The Army has since entered the TIC 2.0 phase, which will focus on heavy units such as the 1st Cavalry and its ABCTs. Feltey told Army Times that the division oversaw training for the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain, while the infantry unit was in Germany. That helped give them a start on what was required for such transformative work. 'No one's ever starting from zero, we're continuing to move forward and not standing in place,' Feltey said. This exercise is shaping the long-term future of Army infantry brigades Through the course of the transition, the infantry units built new versions of units, dubbing them Light Infantry Brigade and Mobile Infantry Brigades, respectively. Those concepts had been developed in certain Army planning circles and were adjusted through the training and experimentation by the infantry units. But the armor units are drawing up their own plans for what a new type of armor brigade might look like. 'An ABCT has a lot of different moving pieces,' Feltey said. 'Our battlespace is much larger and things move faster.' While ubiquitous drone coverage helped infantry units, various kinds of drones will be needed for the longer-reaching, longer-ranging armored units, for example. The division's artillery, air cavalry squadron and electronic warfare units have all been designated as part of the transformation. Feltey is convening a host of senior armor leaders to assist in feedback on how to reconfigure the units and their assets to take advantage of new tech and novel approaches to fighting fast with armor. These sessions are called 'Iron Horse sprints,' he said. The timelines are a little longer for the 1st Cavalry Division. The culminating event for their TIC work will happen at a National Training Center rotation in Fort Irwin, California, in 2027. That's in part because the division is also modernizing its main equipment, with the A4 variant of the Bradley and the A7 variant of the Paladin artillery system. It's also on track as the next unit to receive the new Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, Feltey said. The two-star expects to see communications upgrades, much like the infantry units did with systems such as the Integrated Tactical Network, Star Shield satellite communications and the Mobile User Objective System, an improved UHF satellite communications system. While the armored units will receive more drones for better reconnaissance, they will need more striking capabilities from those drones, he said. 'We don't have the ability to suppress everything while we're moving now, so that's one of the problems we're trying to solve,' Feltey said. A key part of the process will be hooking the division assets into what the brigade needs when it needs it. The division expects to have units training at the company level with new assets and formations by early 2026 and battalion-level training to commence in the summer of 2026, ahead of the 2027 event.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fort Cavazos Celebrates Soldiers Return with Uncasing Ceremony
FORT CAVAZOS, Texas (FOX 44) — A sense of pride and excitement filled the air today as Fort Cavazos held an uncasing ceremony to mark the completion of the First Cavalry Division's 10-month deployment to Europe. Despite the rain, the ceremony drew an enthusiastic crowd of friends, family, and military leaders from across Fort Cavazos, eager to welcome the soldiers back home. Commanding General of the First Cavalry Division, Major General Tom Feltey, emphasized the significance of the event, stating that the ceremony symbolized their return to their home station after an extensive rotation to Europe in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. 'It symbolizes our return back to our home station. So what happened when we left Europe is we actually cased our colors as we turned over responsibility to the First Armored Division, another Texas-based unit out in El Paso, Texas. So we cased our colors and then we carried them until we came back here,' Feltey explained. The four brigades and division heads deployed to Europe in the spring of 2024. Throughout the deployment, the division maintained combat readiness through various training exercises. General Feltey emphasized the importance of their mission and the strong bond the soldiers formed with their international allies. 'All of our soldiers, whether they were engaging with local communities in Eastern Europe or working alongside different militaries, were representing the United States. It was an incredibly important mission, not only for us but for our allies,' Feltey said. Division Training Officer Jared Ray shared his reflections on the deployment, acknowledging both the challenges and rewarding experiences of serving in the European Command area of operations. 'EUCOM was an extraordinarily busy place. And once I gained an understanding of it, it was interesting to see how all the connections went, how we synchronized the rhythm of how the units in Europe work,' Ray said. While the deployment was undoubtedly tough, many soldiers, like Ray, expressed how staying in touch with family back home helped ease the strain of separation. Frequent FaceTime calls and phone conversations allowed service members and their families to maintain a sense of closeness despite the distance. 'This was our first deployment as a family… What I really appreciated was the Lancers and Iron Horse and First Brigade,' said Ray's wife, Fern. 'They definitely were focusing on family and let us communicate and stay in contact with each other. So we got to do some face time and then phone calls almost daily. So that was really nice,' As the First Cavalry Division soldiers return to Fort Cavazos, their families are looking forward to reunion celebrations. Many are planning welcome-home parties to commemorate the return of their loved ones. Fern Ray, along with other families, expressed their excitement and joy at the thought of reuniting. With the successful completion of their deployment, the First Cavalry Division is now back on U.S. soil, ready to continue its mission of protecting and defending the nation's interests. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
