With the proliferation of drones presenting an “inflection point” in how war is waged, the Army must completely rethink how it is transforming to meet enemy capabilities, senior Army leaders said.

“As we view it, war in the last couple of years in human history has hit an inflection point … and will no longer look like what it has for the past two millennia,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said May 7 at a hearing before the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense.

Testifying alongside Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, Driscoll said the Army needs to empower soldiers with the tools they need to “fight and overcome any enemy in war,” which will require “a complete rethink” of how soldiers are trained and equipped.

Using the recently canceled M10 Booker armored vehicle as an example of how the Army “got it wrong,” Driscoll said Army senior leaders must “own that” and move out quickly to establish better processes, improve the way it involves industry partners and keep costs down.

With soldiers now providing greater input and innovation in how new systems are developed, they are transforming and ready to “move out,” George said, adding that it’s change at the higher levels of the Army that is presenting the greater challenge.

“The biggest risk here is not changing and not changing fast enough,” George testified. “Everywhere [Driscoll] and I go, when we talk to our soldiers, it’s like, ‘OK, let’s move out.’ ”

Addressing the ubiquity of drone warfare in the Ukraine conflict with Russia, Driscoll told the panel that drone training is now part of basic training, where the Army’s youngest soldiers are learning to consider overhead threats.

Driscoll and George also testified that other changes such as smaller command and control posts and concealment on the battlefield are top priorities, as are unmanned aircraft systems and counter-unmanned aircraft systems.

“The Army has for a very long time said, ‘We own the night,’ and a lot of our offensive capabilities were built around the fact that we own the night,” Driscoll said, “That is no longer sufficient with drones and all of the other sensors. The moment a human being starts to move, the enemy knows.”

When it comes to drones, speed also is critical. In Ukraine, observers have noted that drone software is updated every two weeks, Driscoll said. “Today, with our current systems, we might be able to pull it off in 18 months at scale,” a hindrance that may have a solution in artificial intelligence, he said.

George testified that, in addition to developing systems that have a lower electromagnetic signature, the Army also will equip its formations with drones and autonomous systems. He said the Army is going to have to change the way it’s organized.

“Drones are going to be in every formation, we’re going to have autonomous systems everywhere, in every formation, whether it’s to protect, detect or attack, those things are going to be in every kind of formation,” George said.