United States Army Futures Command

United States Army Futures Command (AFC) is a United States Army command aimed at modernizing the Army. It focuses on six priorities: long-range precision fires, next-generation combat vehicle, future vertical lift platforms, a mobile & expeditionary Army network, air & missile defense capabilities, and soldier lethality. AFC's cross-functional teams (CFTs) are Futures Command's vehicle for sustainable reform of the acquisition process for the future.

Futures Command (AFC) was established in 2018 as a peer of FORSCOM, TRADOC, and Army Materiel Command (AMC), the other Army commands (ACOMs). The other ACOMs focus on their readiness to "Fight tonight" when called upon by the nation. In contrast, AFC is focused on readiness for future combat with near-peer competitors, who have updated their capabilities while the United States military has been fighting insurgents since 2001.

Full operational capability (FOC) for AFC is projected to be August/September 2019, a one-year period.

Transition to full operational capability (FOC)
"We're moving out and there's no turning back. We've shown the will to act over the last year, and now we have to show the will to follow through."

- Under Secretary McCarthy

In the view of Under Secretary McCarthy, there will be three elements in Futures Command:
 * 1) Futures and Concepts: assess needs and opportunities, given a threat. Realizable future systems, with readily harvestable content, will flow into TRADOC doctrine, manuals, and training programs.
 * 2) Combat Development: stabilized concepts. Balance the current state of technology and the cash-flow requirements of the defense contractors providing the technology, that they become deliverable experiments, demonstrations, and prototypes, in an iterative process of acquisition. (See )
 * 3) Combat Systems: experiments, demonstrations, and prototypes. Transition to the acquisition, production, and sustainment programs of AMC.

Secretary Esper emphasizes that the current administrative infrastructure for ARCIC and RDECOM remains in place at their existing locations. What has changed or will change is the layers of command (operational control, or OPCON) needed to make a decision.

"You've got to remain open to change, you've got to remain flexible, you've [got] to remain accessible. That is the purpose of this command."

- Secretary Esper

Cross-functional teams (CFTs)
Modernization reform is the priority for AFC; in order to achieve readiness for the future, de-layering of current Army Commands was implemented by creating Cross-functional teams for materiel and capabilities which the Army must now match for its future: "... what I do think you will see is some of the capabilities the cross-functional teams are working will be in production and being delivered and in the hands of soldiers in the next two years" —Gen. John "Mike" Murray. A Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID), for each CFT, The capabilities as prioritized by the Chief of Staff, will use subject matter experts in the realms of requirements, acquisition, science and technology, test, resourcing, costing, and sustainment, using Cross Functional Teams (CFTs) for:
 * 1) Improved long-range precision fires (artillery)— Lead: Col (Promotable) John Rafferty  ... PEO Ammunition (AMMO)
 * 2) Next-generation combat vehicle— Lead:  BG Ross Coffman ... PEO Ground Combat Systems (GCS)
 * 3) Vertical lift platforms— Lead: BG Wally Rugen ... PEO Aviation (AVN)
 * 4) Mobile and expeditionary (usable in ground combat) communications network
 * 5) Network Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence— Lead: MG Pete Gallagher ... PEO Command Control Communications Tactical (C3T)
 * 6) Assured Position Navigation and Timing— Lead: Kevin Coggins
 * 7) Air and missile defense— Lead: BG Randall McIntire, ... PEO Missiles and Space (M&S)
 * 8) Soldier lethality
 * 9) Soldier Lethality— Lead: BG David M. Hodne ... PEO Soldier
 * 10) Synthetic Training Environment — Lead: MG Maria Gervais ... PEO Simulation, Training, & Instrumentation (STRI)
 * Above, 'dotted line' relationship (i.e., coordination) is denoted by a ' ... ' is located at a Center of Excellence (CoE) listed below. For example, the Aviation CoE at Fort Rucker, in coordination with the Aviation program executive office (PEO), also contains the Vertical Lift CFT and the Aviation Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID).

Under Secretary McCarthy characterized a Cross-functional team (CFT) as a team of teams, led by a requirements leader, program manager, sustainer, tester. Each CFT must strike a balance for itself amid constraints: the realms of requirements, acquisition, science and technology, test, resourcing, costing, and sustainment. A balance is needed in order for a CFT in order to produce a realizable concept before a competitor achieves it (for example, the US Army (August 2018) has no tested countermeasure for intercepting maneuverable hypersonic weapons platforms. and in this case the problem is being addressed in a joint program of the entire Department of Defense). The Army is participating in a joint program with the Navy and Air Force, to develop a hypersonic glide body. The Long range precision fires (LRPF) CFT is supporting Space and Missile Defense Command's pursuit of hypersonics. (Thus, from the perspective of AFC, which seeks to modernize, consolidate the relevant expertise  into the relevant CFT.  The CFT balances the constraints needed to realize a prototype, beginning with realizable requirements, science and technology, test, etc. before entering the acquisition process.    Next, refine the prototype to address the factors needed to pass the Milestone decisions (MDA) A, B, and C in an acquisition process. This consolidation of expertise thus reduces the risks in a Materiel development decision (MDD), for the Army to admit a prototype into a program of record.) The role of the existing processes (in April 2018) for a Materiel development decision (MDD) is to be announced.

The CFTs will be involved in all three of AFC's elements: Futures and concepts, Combat development, and Combat systems. "We were never above probably a total of eight people" — BG Wally Rugen, Aviation CFT. Four of the eight CFT leads have now shifted from dual-hat jobs to full-time status. Each CFT lead is mentored by a 4-star general.

Although AFC and the CFTs are a top priority of the Department of the Army, as AFC and the CFTs are expected to unify control of the $30 billion-dollar modernization budget, "The new command will not tolerate a zero-defects mentality. 'But if you fail, we'd like you to fail early and fail cheap,' because progress and success often builds on failure." —Ryan McCarthy

Partners
AFC is actively seeking partners outside the gates of a military reservation. "We will come to you. You don't have to come to us. — General Mike Murray, 24 August 2018" Multiple incubator tech hubs are available in Austin, especially Capital Factory, with offices of DIUx and AFWERX (USAF tech hub). Gen. Murray will stand up an Army Applications Lab there to accelerate acquisition and deployment of materiel to the Soldiers, using AI as one acceleration technique; Murray will hire a Chief Technology Officer for AFC.

AFC is seeking to design signature systems in a relevant time frame according to priorities of the Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA). AFC will partner with other organizations such as Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) as needed. Joint programs in hypersonics are informed by Army work, however at the strategic level, the bulk of the hypersonics work remains at the Joint level. (Joint planning and operations are also part of the impending DoD emphasis on multi-domain operations (MDO). )
 * Long range precision fires (LRPF) is an Army priority, and also a DoD joint effort.

Futures Command partners with the ASA(ALT), who has milestone decision authority (MDA) at multiple points in a Materiel development decision (MDD). In order to achieve its mission of achieving overmatch, each Futures Command CFT partners with the acquisition community, which includes an entire Army branch (the Acquisition Corps),    U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center (USAASC), Army Contracting Command, (.. This list is incomplete). For example, the Network cross-functional team (CFT) and the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications—Tactical (PEO C3T) hosted a forum on 1 August 2018 for vendors to learn what might function as a testable/deployable in the near future. A few of the hundreds of white papers from the vendors, adjudged to be 'very mature ideas', were passed to the Army's acquisition community, while many others were passed to CERDEC for continuation in the Army's effort to modernize the network for combat. The Secretary of the Army has approved an Intellectual Property Management Policy.

A simple statement of a problem (rather than a full-blown requirements definition) that the Army is trying to address may suffice for a surprising, usable solution. —General Mike Murray, paraphrasing Trae Stephens

AFC events

 * See the AFC events below

AFC branch locations
The following activities for Futures Command are at 22 locations, including JMC and WSMR. As ATEC reports directly to the Army Chief of Staff, the test support level from ATEC is to be specified by the CFT, or PEO. The list of CFTs and PEOs below is incomplete. Operationally, the CFTs offer "de-layering" (fewer degrees of separation between the echelons of the Army — Rugen estimates two degrees of separation), and provide a point of contact (POC) for Army reformers interested in adding value in the midst of constraints to be balanced while modernizing. "... and if we're really good, we'll continue to adapt. Year over year over year." Secretary Esper

AFC activities include the Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID), and the associated Battle Lab, of each  Center of Excellence (CoE) respectively. (See .) Each CDID and associated Battle Lab work with their CFT to develop operational experiments and prototypes to test. JMC runs live developmental experiments to test the concepts or capabilities for analysis by AMSAA (out of AMC), or alternatively by the Fort Leavenworth Operations research activities (transferred from TRADOC). RDECOM includes the several Army Research Laboratory locations (ARLs), as well as research, development and engineering centers (RDECs) listed:

Acquisition specialists are being encouraged to accept lateral transfers to the several research, development and engineering centers (RDECs), where their skills are needed: TARDEC (Detroit Arsenal), AMRDEC (Redstone Arsenal), CERDEC, NSRDEC, and ARDEC (Picatinny Arsenal) listed below.


 * 1) AFC HQ, Austin TX
 * 2) AFSG Army Future Studies Group, 2530 Crystal Dr, Arlington, VA 22202
 * 3) ARCIC Army Capabilities Integration Center (transitions in-place to the Futures and Concepts Center of AFC), Fort Eustis VA
 * 4) FT LVN Operations research, Fort Leavenworth KS houses Mission Command Battle Lab, Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID), The Research Analysis Center (TRAC), formerly TRADOC Analysis Center
 * 5) * Synthetic Training Environment
 * 6) CCOE Cyber CoE - (its CDID and Battle Lab), Fort Gordon GA
 * 7) * Mobile and Expeditionary Network
 * 8) MCOE Maneuver CoE  - (its CDID  and Battle Lab), Fort Benning GA
 * 9) * Next-Generation Combat Vehicle
 * 10) * Soldier Lethality
 * 11) AVNCOE Aviation CoE  - (its CDID), Fort Rucker
 * 12) * Future Vertical Lift
 * 13) FCOE Fires CoE  - (its CDID  and Battle Lab), Fort Sill OK
 * 14) * Long Range Precision Fires
 * 15) * Air and Missile Defense
 * 16) ICOE Intelligence CoE  - (its CDID), Fort Huachuca AZ
 * 17) MSCOE Maneuver Support CoE  - (its CDID and Battle Lab), Fort Leonard Wood MO
 * 18) SCOE Sustainment CoE  - (its CDID), Fort Lee VA
 * 19) JMC Joint Modernization Command, Fort Bliss
 * 20) APG Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen MD, also houses HQ Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM), Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity (AMSAA), and  CERDEC
 * 21) * Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing
 * 22) * Long Range Precision Fires,
 * 23) ARDEC   Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, PEO AMMO, and the  Cross Functional Team for Long Range Precision Fires
 * 24) * Long Range Precision Fires
 * 25) TARDEC Tank Automotive RDEC United States Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, Detroit Arsenal (Warren, Michigan)
 * 26) * Next-Generation Combat Vehicle
 * 27) AMRDEC Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville AL
 * 28) * Air and Missile Defense
 * 29) NSRDEC Natick Soldier RDEC United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, General Greene Ave, Natick, MA 01760
 * 30) WSMR White Sands Missile Range NM, also houses ARL, TRAC, and ATEC
 * 31) ARL-Adelphi  Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi MD
 * 32) ARL-Orlando Army Research Laboratory, Orlando FL
 * 33) ARL West, Playa Vista CA
 * 34) ARL-RTP Army Research Laboratory, Raleigh-Durham NC

Need for modernization reform
Between 1995 and 2009, $32 billion was expended on programs such as the Future Combat System (2003-2009), with no harvestable content by the time of its cancellation. The Army has not fielded a new combat system in decades.

Secretary of the Army Mark Esper has remarked that AFC will provide the unity of command and purpose needed to reduce the requirements definition phase from 60 months to 12 months. (One task will be to quantify the lead time for identifying a requirement; the next task would then be to learn how to reduce that lead time.—Gap analysis ) Process changes are expected. The development process will be cyclic, consisting of prototype, demonstration/testing, and evaluation, in an iterative process designed to unearth unrealistic requirements early, before prematurely including that requirement in a program of record. The ASA(ALT) Bruce Jette has cautioned the acquisition community to 'call-out' unrealistic processes which commit a program to a drawn-out failure, rather than failing early, and seeking another solution.

Secretary Esper scrubbed through 800 modernization programs to reprioritize funding for the top 6 modernization priorities, which will consume 80% of the modernization funding, of 18 systems. The Budget Control Act will restrict funds by 2020.

Silos
Chief Milley noted that AFC would actively reach out into the community in order to learn, and that Senator John McCain's frank criticism of the acquisition process was instrumental for modernization reform at Futures command. In fact, AFC soldiers would blend into Austin by not wearing their uniforms [to work side-by-side with civilians in the tech hubs], Milley noted in the 24 August 2018 press conference. Secretary Esper said he expected failures during the process of learning how to reform the acquisition and modernization process.

In the Department of Defense, the materiel supply process was underwritten by the acquisition, logistics, and technology directorate of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), with a deputy secretary of defense (DSD) to oversee five areas, one of them being acquisition, logistics, and technology (ALT). ALT is overseen by an under secretary of defense (USD). (Each of the echelons at the level of DSD and USD serve at the pleasure of the president, as does the secretary of defense (SECDEF).) The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) trains acquisition professionals for the Army as well.

In 2016 when RDECOM reported to AMC (instead of to AFC, as it does as of 2018), AMC instituted Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) of three of RDECOM's centers for aviation and missiles, electronics, and tanks: AMRDEC, CERDEC, and TARDEC respectively, as well as the three contracting functions for the three centers. This Life Cycle Management (formulated in 2004) was intended to exert the kind of operational control (OPCON) needed just for the sustainment function (AMC's need for Readiness today), rather than for its relevance to modernization for the future, which is the focus of AFC.

Relevance for modernization
The CFTs, as prioritized 1 through 6 by the Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA), each have to consider constraints: a balance of requirements, acquisition, science and technology, test, resourcing, costing, and sustainment.

Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC), originally developed for materiel sustainment, needs also to consider the other constraints, in order to remain relevant for AFC. A cost efficient life cycle plan, and collaborations that formalize business relationships with contractors will be part of AFC's toolkit. Reform will be a side-effect. In addition, the Program Executive Officers (PEOs) of ASA (ALT) are to maintain a dotted-line relationship (i.e., coordination) with Futures Command. There is now a PEO for Rapid Capabilities, to get rapid turnaround. The Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO)'s PEO gets two program managers, one for rapid prototyping, and one for rapid acquisition, of a capability. The Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) does not develop its own requirements; rather, the RCO gets the requirements from the Cross-functional team (CFT).

TRADOC, ASA (ALT), and AFC are tied together in this process, according to Vice Chief McConville. AFC will have to be "a little bit disruptive [but not upsetting to the existing order]" in order to institute reforms within budget in a timely way.

The ASA(ALT), or Assistant Secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology is currently (2018) Dr. Bruce Jette. The ASA(ALT) is the civilian executive overseeing both the acquisition and the sustainment processes of the Department of the Army. The ASA(ALT) will coordinate the acquisition portion of modernization reform with AFC. The Principal Military Deputy to the ASA(ALT) is also deputy commanding general for Combat Systems, Army Futures Command, and leads the PEOs; he has directed each PEO who does not have a CFT to coordinate with, to immediately form one, at least informally.

Congress has given the Army OTA (Other Transaction Authority), which allows the PEOs to enter into Full Rate Production quicker by permitting the services to control their own programs of record, rather than DoD. This strips out one layer of bureaucracy as of 2018.

Besides the AFC Cross-Functional Teams, the Army Requirements Oversight Council (AROC) could also play a part in acquisition reform; as of September 2018 the Deputy Chief of Staff G-8 (DCS G-8), who leads AROC and JROC (Joint Requirements Oversight Council) has aligned with the priorities of AFC. The DCS G-8 is principal military advisor to the ASA (FM&C).

RDECOM has taken Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) as its focus in aligning its organizations (the six research, development and engineering centers (RDECs), and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL)); as of September 2018, RDECOM's 'concept of operation' is first to support the LRPF CFT, with ARDEC. AMRDEC is looking to improve the energetics and efficiency of projectiles. TARDEC Ground Vehicle Center is working on high-voltage components for Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) that save on size and weight. Two dedicated RDECOM people support the LPRF CFT, with reachback support from two dozen more at RDECOM.

The Secretary of the Army has directed the establishment of an Army AI task force (A-AI TF) to support the DoD Joint AI center. The execution order will be drafted and staffed by Futures Command:
 * Army AI task force (its relationship with the CFTs is cross-cutting, in the same sense as the Assured Position, Navigation, Timing CFT and the Synthetic Training Environment CFT are also cross-cutting) will use the resources of the Army to establish scalable machine learning projects at Carnegie Mellon University
 * the CIO/G-6 will create an Identity, Credential, and Access Management system to efficiently issue and verify credentials to non-person entities (AI agents and machines)
 * DCS G-2 will coordinate with CG AFC, and director of A-AI TF, to provide intelligence for Long-Range Precision Fires
 * CG AMC will provide functional expertise and systems for maintenance of materiel with AI
 * AFC and A-AI TF will establish an AI test bed for experimentation, training, deployment, and testing of machine learning capabilities and workflows. Funding will be assured for the Fiscal Year 2019.

Progress toward FOC
Progress in the top six priorities:
 * Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF)
 * The current Paladin (M109A6) cannon range is doubling (M109A7). An operational test of components of Long Range Cannon is scheduled for 2020. Long range cannon (LRC) is complementary to Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA).
 * The Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) is slated to replace ATACMS in 2023
 * Investigations for Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) in 2025: rocket-boosted artillery shells
 * Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) portfolio:
 * Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV): in Limited User Tests
 * A ground mobility vehicle competition, bids closing 26 October 2018
 * Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF): approved by joint requirements oversight council. Two vendors were selected to build competing prototype light tanks (MPF), with contract award in 2022.
 * Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV): soliciting input, in requirements definition stage; 2 should fit in a C-17
 * Robotic Combat Vehicles (RCVs): futures
 * Next Generation main battle tank: futures
 * Future Vertical Lift (FVL)
 * Competition by two teams to replace UH-60 with Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRRA), flight test data gathering in process on one prototype, first flight for the other prototype has slipped to 2019, in part because the Army asked that this manufacturer try out automated fiber placement in the rotors, which need to be extremely rigid to minimize vibration. If successful, this technique will mean more efficient helicopter production in larger numbers. The 2nd manufacturer's prototype December 2018 attempts to first reach 15 hours of reliable ground performance resulted in fixes that have affected its fit, form, and function; hence the first flight is delayed into 2019.
 * The Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) is smaller than FLRRA. Army is making requests for proposals (RFPs). FARA RFPs are due in December 2018.
 * Future Vertical Lift will use the DoD modular open systems approach (MOSA), an integrated business and technical strategy in FARA.
 * Mobile, Expeditionary Network: In Fiscal Year 2019, the network CFT will leverage Network Integration Evaluation 18.2 for experiments with brigade level scalability.  Avoid overspecifying the requirements (in ITN Information Systems Initial Capabilities Document) to meet operational needs, such as interoperability with other networks.
 * Five Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) awards have been granted to five vendors via the Network CFT and PEO C3T's request for white papers. That request, for a roll-on/roll-off kit that integrates all functions of mission command on the Army Network, was posted at the National Spectrum Consortium and FedBizOpps, and yielded awards within eight months. Two more awards are forthcoming.
 * The Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO)'s Emerging Technologies Office structured a competition to find superior AI/Machine Learning algorithms for electronic warfare, from a field of 150 contestants, over a three-month period.
 * The Multi-Domain Operations Task Force is standing up an experimental Electronic Warfare Platoon to prototype an estimated 1000 EW soldiers needed for the 31 BCTs of the active Army.
 * Air, Missile Defense: PEO RCO is accelerating LTAMDS experimentation by downselecting to two competitors with award by 2023
 * IFPC Multi-mission launcher
 * Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (MSHORAD) with laser cannon prototypes in 2020, fielding in 2021 and 2022 to two battalions per year.
 * Soldier Lethality: Maj. Gen. Dave Bassett, PEO GCS 2016 Note: In 2018 MG Bassett became PEO C3T — Program Executive Office Command Control Communications-Tactical 
 * Next-generation squad weapon: Expect 100,000 to be fielded to Infantry, Armor, Cavalry, Special Forces, and Combat engineers. Tests at Fort Benning in 2019. —Chief of Staff Milley
 * ENVG-B enhanced night vision goggles, fielding expected in 2019
 * STE CFT— Synthetic training environment, an augmented reality system to aid planning, using mapping techniques, even at squad level will begin fielding by 2021.

Futures
Under Secretary McCarthy notes that Gen. Murray functions as the Army's Chief Investments Officer (more precisely, its "chief futures modernization investment officer"). Funding for the top six priorities could mean that existing programs might be curtailed.

AFC faces multiple futures, both as threat and opportunity. The Army's warfighting directive, viz., "to impose the nation's political will on its enemy" —Chief of Staff Milley, is to be ready for multiple near-term futures. In the top six priorities:


 * LPRF Long range precision fires
 * Hypersonic materiel development: the Strategic Long Range Cannon (SLRC), for a hypersonic projectile (See Identification friend or foe (IFF))
 * Targeting with thousand-mile missiles, "streamlining the sensor-shooter link at every echelon"—Col (Promotable) John Rafferty, in Integrated fire
 * NGCV Next generation combat vehicle
 * Much small and lighter ground combat vehicles, optionally unmanned (See Dedicated short-range communications (DSRC)) for robotic vehicles
 * Robotic warfare, as a concept or capability at the Joint Corps echelon, was demonstrated at the operational level using Joint Warfighting assessment 18.1 in April 2018.
 * Create decisive lethality
 * FVL "Our new approach is really to prototype as much as we can to help us identify requirements, so our reach doesn’t exceed our grasp. ... A good example is Future Vertical Lift: The prototyping has been exceptional." —Secretary of the Army Mark Esper
 * Mobile & Expeditionary Network / MDO Multi-domain operations
 * In the battlefield of the future, where nowhere is safe for long, "you will miss opportunities to get to positions of advantage if you don't synthesize the data very quickly"—LTG Wesley (AI for multi-domain command and control: MDC2)
 * Cybersecurity
 * Cyber warfare / urban warfare / Underground warfare / Multi-domain combined maneuver
 * Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing
 * Air,Missile Defense
 * Integrated Air and Missile Battle Command System (IBCS) award, including next software build
 * Soldier lethality
 * Sensor-to-shooter prototype for multi-domain battle, 2019 operational assessment: Air Force RCO / Army RCO / Network CFT
 * Night vision goggles thermal polarimetric camera
 * Natick Soldier RDEC has awarded an OTA contract to prototype soldier exoskeletons which augment human leg strength under harsh conditions.

Other Armies
The British Army is also investigating innovations, such as robots and drones, including 70 technologies funded by a $1 billion (₤800 million) innovation fund launched in 2016. Two hundred troops will engage in "surveillance, long-range, and precision targeting, enhanced mobility and the re-supply of forces, urban warfare and enhanced situational awareness".

Russia jammed the GPS signal during NATO exercises in November 2018. See: meaconing

Headquarters (HQ) and commander
On July 13, 2018, U.S. Army Secretary Mark Esper said its headquarters would be based in Austin, Texas. AFC spreads across three locations totalling 75,000 square feet; one of the locations in a University of Texas System building at 210 W. Seventh St. in downtown Austin, on the 15th and 19th floors. The UT Regents will not be charging rent to AFC until December 2019. The command began initial operations on July 1, 2018.

On July 16, 2018, Lieutenant General John M. Murray was nominated for a fourth star and appointment as Army Futures Command's first commanding general. His appointment was confirmed August 20, 2018 and he assumed command during the official activation ceremony of AFC on August 24, 2018, in Austin, Texas.

Value streams
The AFC commander, in a hearing before Congress' House Armed Services Committee, projects that materiel will result from the value stream below, within a two-year time frame, from concept to Soldier. The commanding general is assisted by three deputy commanders.
 * the Futures and Concepts Center, led by AFC deputy commander Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, who is seeking 4 value streams for reducing the time invested to define a relevant requirement:
 * 1) Science and technology (S&T: discovery / collection of ideas with usable effects)
 * 2) Experiments (Testing of a system to a known expectation of effects, or else observation of that system, in the absence of a specific expectation of effects)
 * 3) Concepts development (Development of a relevant idea about that system)
 * 4) Requirements development (Development of the terms and conditions for that system)


 * Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Futures Command.  Lt. Gen. James M. Richardson is the deputy commander. He assists the commander with efforts to assess and integrate the future operational environment, emerging threats, and technologies to develop and deliver concepts, requirements, and future force designs to posture the Army for the future.
 * The Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID) of each Center of Excellence (CoE), works with its CFT and its research, development and engineering center (RDEC) to develop operational experiments and prototypes to test.
 * The Battle Labs and The Research Analysis Center (TRAC) prototype and analyze the concepts to test.
 * JMC is capable of providing live developmental experiments to test those concepts or capabilities, "scalable from company level to corps, amid tough, realistic multi-domain operations".
 * Combat Systems Directorate will be led by Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski (who also reports to the ASA(ALT)) who will produce those developed solutions and seek feedback.
 * Gen. Robert Abrams has tasked III Corps with providing Soldier feedback for the Next Generation Combat Vehicles CFT, XVIII Corps for the Soldier feedback on the Soldier lethality CFT, the Network CFT, as well as the Synthetic training CFT, and I Corps for the Long Range Precision Fires CFT.
 * Combat Systems refines, engineers, and produces the developed solutions from Combat Development.
 * An analysis by AMSAA can then assess that concept or capability, as a promising system for a materiel development decision.

Under Secretary McCarthy notes that Future Vertical Lift CFT Soldier feedback remain for discussion. Army Chief of Staff Milley is looking for AFC to attain full operational capability (FOC) by August 2019.