Army special operations forces are transforming for the future by increasing multidomain capabilities, growing asymmetric lethality and expanding the ability to compete and win in the information space, senior special operations leaders said.

There are some 36,000 soldiers in U.S. Army Special Operations Command, at least 2,500 of whom on any given day are deployed to as many as 70 countries, Brig. Gen. Kirk Brinker, acting commanding general, said Oct. 14 during a Warriors Corner presentation at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2025 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

Continuous transformation will enhance the broad suite of capabilities within the command, he said.

At the 75th Ranger Regiment, leaders have modernized how the regiment recruits, assesses and selects its soldiers, in part by using artificial intelligence to “see the inventory of talented personnel who meet the same profiles and subscribe to the ideals of Rangers in our formations,” said regimental commander Col. Kitefre Oboho.

Lethality is being enhanced throughout the regiment, including in its embedded logistics, sustainment and protection skill sets. The Rangers also are focusing on interoperable communications between Rangers and other special operations forces and an enhanced ability to target over the horizon.

“Our goal is to ensure that the Army's Ranger regiment can reach out and touch any adversary no matter where they may be,” Oboho said.  “There's no such thing as denied territory to the Ranger regiment.”

Col. Steve Smith, commander of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers, said new tactics, techniques and procedures are being developed to operate in denied areas, to include leveraging the cover of darkness, weather, low altitude flying and flying into areas where there are no enemy systems.

The 160th also is leveraging technology to increase survivability by seeking to extend the range of aircraft through aerial refueling and collapsible fuel systems inside the aircraft, “because if you go to ground, you’re vulnerable,” Smith said.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Wortham, commanding general of the 1st Special Forces Command, explained that transformational changes are being made in force structure, technology and training within the Army’s irregular warfare maneuver capability.

Legacy Shadow platoons, which conducted intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions using the since retired RQ-7B Shadow unmanned aircraft system, have been replaced with Special Operations Robotics Detachments manned with specially trained soldiers. The command also is enhancing and synchronizing its space, cyber, signals intelligence and electromagnetic capabilities, and changing its training to provide scenarios in a contested environment against a peer enemy.

At the Special Operations Center of Excellence, new courses in electromagnetic warfare, robotics, information warfare and signals intelligence have been established, and the Captain’s Career Course now includes instruction in artificial intelligence.

“I'm one of 11 centers of excellence across the Army, all led by two-stars, everything I just talked about I'm doing hand-in-glove with all of those other commanders and all the commanders up here on the stage,” said Maj. Gen. Jason Slider, commander of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. “We are driving change.”

— Gina Cavallaro