Hearings to examine the United States Operations Command

Good afternoon and thanks to all of our witnesses for appearing today. The Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee meets today to receive testimony on the posture of our special operations forces. Gentlemen, thank you all for your continued service to this great country and for being with us today. Your testimony will play an important role in this committee's to ensure our special operators have what they need to be successful on the battlefields of today and in the future. The global security environment our nation faces is increasingly complicated and dangerous. China's unprecedented military build-up poses a lasting threat to our national security and global stability. Radical Islamic terrorists remain intent on killing Americans. And narco-terrorists operating in our hemisphere control international trafficking networks, that poison our communities with deadly drugs. At the forefront of our nation's efforts to combat these threats are the men and women of Special Operations Command, who operate every day, often in distant locations far from their loved ones, to keep America safe. We have also seen the inspiring courage and unmatched skill of our special operators in the daring raid to capture indicted dictator, Nicolas Maduro, from his heavily fortified compound. and the successful rescue of the downed American pilot from a mount mountaintop in Iran. I look to our witnesses today to provide the committee with their assessment of the challenges facing the special operations community and describe how they are training, equipping, and posturing their forces to succeed. Those of us on this committee must match that commitment by providing robust, sustained, and predictable funding as well as flexible and responsive authorities that reflect an evolving security environment. Lastly and most importantly, I want to talk about the greatest c- capability in soft, our special operations men and women. As the first soft truth says, humans are more important than hardware. That's why I've been so supportive of the preservation of the Force and Families Initiative. POTEF has been instrumental in taking care of the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of our operators and their families. POTIF truly is a readiness builder for the force. I looked to our witnesses to describe how they're using POTIF and other programs to ensure our troops and their families get the support they need. I'd like to note for the members, if we need to move into a closed hearing following, we can do that. I do not anticipate that need right now. We will try and keep everything. in an open session. Um, so again, thank you so much for being here, and I now turn to ranking member Senator Slotkin for her opening comments.

Thank you, um, uh, Senator Ernst. I, I, um, I know we shocked you by having two senators show up early to a hearing. Um, and, uh, um, I will shock you again by having very similar remarks to my chairwoman here. Um, thank you for what you do every day for the seventy-two thousand, um, uh folks in SOCOM um I am keenly aware that you're being asked to do more missions than ever and that the missions um are requiring us to think differently and more dynamically about um what we need, particularly technology. Um as the the chairwoman said, we're in the middle of this war in Iran, we're watching our adversaries use cheaper and more commercially available against us that's resulting in the death of US forces, the tracking of US forces in new ways, um and asking folks like the Ukrainians to come help us train on things like counter drone technology. Um we know that um that you all often have more flexible authorities, you often have leaders in um SOCOM who are thinking differently about acquisition, about the use of new tools, um would love to hear particularly how you're thinking about the future of special operations and and technology, cuz I think that's a very hot topic for for many of us. Um and um lastly, I'll I'll just say um please pass along our thanks um to everyone who works for you. We are aware of the the um the push that is going on right now for you all to be in the lead in many places. We appreciate that work um and I yield back.

Thank you, ranking member. And, uh, yes, I I want to echo that as well. Thank you again to our witnesses for being here and for your senior enlisted leaders. Thank you for your presence as well and your support. Uh, we appreciate all of you and your teams. And we will start now with opening remarks, and you will be recognized for five minutes each. And because I, uh, am the chairman, I will take the prerogative of having the army go first. Uh, so, Lieutenant General.

Thank you, ma'am. Chairwoman Ernst, Ranking Member Slotkin, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for your, the opportunity today to represent the remarkable men and women of the United States Army Special Operations Command. I'm honored to join my fellow component commanders today, as we testify on behalf of the world's premier special operations forces. Our army special operations formation represents less than ten percent of the army, and is resourced by less than one percent of the army budget. Similarly, we constitute about sixteen percent of US Special Operations Command's budget and roughly half of its people. For such a small investment, army special operations provide an outsized return. Our core mission is to generate combat-credible army special operations soldiers and formations, capable of operating in deep and denied areas in support of the army and the joint force. To do this, we assess, select, train, and equip some of the top talent the Army has to offer and provide them to geographic combatant commands to execute the full range of special operations. Our people are creative and audacious by nature, employing and adapting current tools and skills to meet the challenges and missions they face today. Simultaneously, they envision and integrate the advanced capabilities that will define tomorrow's fight. Events over the past five months clearly demonstrate that, while special operations comprise a small percentage of our military, both in size and cost, we continue to play a key role in enabling our joint force partners and allies to deliver strategic effects for the nation. Our global disposition, generational relationships, and regional alignment routinely place us at the tip of the spear, and what we witness there drives my primary concern. Only sustainable, predictable, timely and consistent funding will allow us to transform and modernize quickly enough to face the rapidly evolving threats we will encounter on tomorrow's battlefields. Our people, the Army's finest, remain our competitive advantage, and it is our mandate to ensure they are organized, trained, and equipped to win both today's and tomorrow's fight. That mandate drives our transformation efforts and further fuels my concern for appropriate resourcing going forward to adapt to the threats our adversaries will present. In closing, I want to assure you that we are dedicated to our core mission. Your Army's Special Operations Forces are strategically ready, generating war-fighting capabilities and asymmetric advantages for crisis response, cooperation, competition, and for conflict, both today and in the future. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and for your continued support to the Army's Special Operations Forces. I look forward to your questions and working together as we defend our great nation, and care for our remarkable soldiers and families. Thank you.

Thank you. Lieutenant General Conley, you are recognized.

Chairwoman, Arjtst, ranking members, Lotkin, distinguished members. Thanks for this opportunity for Command Chief Freeman and I to represent the more than twenty-one thousand airmen of Air Force Special Operations Command. My thanks to your committee for the continued support. I'm honored for the opportunity to be up here today with my SOCOM teammates. and I look forward to your questions in this session and any additional questions if we require a closed session. I'll be direct. In the last five months, AFSAC executed the two largest presidentially directed deployments in our thirty-six year history, while also maintaining a persistent operational tempo across five other geographic commands. From the first island chain to Iran and from South America to the Arctic, our commandos are defending the homeland and fighting for America's interests abroad, alongside our joint teammates and allies. Late last year from a cold start, we deployed the vast majority of our CV-twenty-two fleet from our operational squadrons our schoolhouse even staff members from my headquarters along with a a large contingent of MC one thirties to multiple locations in just days, not weeks. Less than two months later, your air commandos were needed again for another major operation. As the world recently witnessed, AFSOC was instrumental in bringing home our Air Force teammates. As our airmen and soft partners know, Leaving an American behind is non-negotiable. Simultaneously, our MQ-nine enterprise proved that adaptive airmen can transform any platform's mission envelope destroying hundreds of targets, and can test at operating areas. I believe recent operations have been the MQ-nine community's finest hour. We delivered all of this while receiving less than a half percent of the Air Force budget and a proportional part of the US SOCOM budget which collectively represents only about two percent of the overall defense budget. Without a doubt, AFSOC provides an outsized return on investment for America. But here's the reality. Over the last five years, flat budgets forced hard choices. We've realized more than a one billion dollar reduction to our budget, which slashed modernization investment by nearly forty percent. We've divested eighty-four aircraft, prioritizing the retirement of legacy platforms that couldn't meet future operational demands, and have committed to reductions affecting an additional thirty-one combat platforms. These decisions reflect our commitment to fiscal responsibility, retiring what we can't afford to modernize. However, we've now reached an inflection point. More than one-third of our fleet has been reduced while demand continues to rise. Further divestments will directly translate into missions we cannot execute. We invest heavily in training our airmen. AFSOC training is difficult, lengthy, and costly. We cannot mass-produce air commandos, nor can we afford to lose their critical combat experience and ingenuity. Broad Air Force manning shortages have created an environment where units manned at eighty percent are considered healthy. For AFSOC, this means our airmen are being asked to achieve one hundred percent mission success with a twenty percent personnel deficit. And while our Air Commandos are resilient, they are not invincible. Sustained excellence requires sustainable investment, equipping Air Commandos to operate at the pace and scale our nation demands. So on behalf of Air Command of the Nation and our families, Chief Freeman, I thank you for your continued Your commitment to our people enables uh enables us to succeed in the most challenging environments and deliver anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

Thank you, sir. Major General Huntley, you are recognized for five minutes.

Chairwoman Ernst, Ranking Member Slotkin, and distinguished committee members, thank you for this opportunity and thank you for your enduring support. I am honored to represent MARSOC, especially as we celebrate our twentieth anniversary. We meet at a pivotal moment. Today's threat environment is shaped by state adversaries, violent extremists, and criminal networks who are more aligned, capable, and active across all domains than ever before. Against this, MARSOC's mission is clear, deliver marine soft to defend a homeland, deter aggression, and fortify global networks. We reinforce soft asymmetric value across the spectrum of conflict. For twenty years we have delivered outsized strategic value, less than five percent of SOCOM, two percent of the Marine Corps. We execute nearly ten percent of SOCOM's operational missions at two percent of its budget and unmatched return on investment. We face three primary challenges going forward. First, deter gray zone adversaries and prepare for large-scale conflict. Second, confront blurring lines between state and non-state threats. And third, adapt to the acceleration of autonomy and multi-domain fusion, which are converging and reshaping the character of warfare. To address these challenges, Marshock ensures readiness, forges and preserves the Raider team, and supports enterprise modernization to outpace our adversaries. Our approach is nested within SOCOM's win, people, and transform lines of effort. To win, we employ multi-domain targeting, deploying Raider teams that synchronize operations, intelligence, and information effects. We layer multi-discipline capabilities to generate these effects, providing options to solve the toughest joint force key operational problems. We further prioritize joint force integration as part of the stand-in force. Our persistent deployments in the first island pl- chain exemplify this approach by concurrently enabling crisis response, counterterrorism, deterrence, and of course, preparation for conflict. Our posture is most heavily weighted within the Indopaycom theater in order to deter China and support our regional allies. We also maintain significant investments in CENTCOM, and AFRICOM with tailored ef- efforts elsewhere. We adjust these investments based on the strategic priorities and emerging theater requirements. MARSOC's foundation, our foundation is our people, the Raider team, forged by the leadership and expertise of our operators, specialists, and Navy corpsmen. Our disciplined forced generation process delivers reliable, lethal, and resilient soft. Our agi- our agile teams support enduring campaigns and respond rapidly to emerging threats. Furthermore, their health and resilience are strong and frankly, getting stronger thanks to your advocacy for pro- programs like preservation of the force and families. Finally, our imperative is to transform at the speed of the evolving operating environment. We accelerate modernization through operator-driven feedback loops, streamlining research, development, and acquisitions. Our approach is to leverage any sensor for any shooter to support joint force fires and maneuver. This includes modernization of command and control and integrating autonomous systems at the tactical edge. And recent Endopacom exercises highlight the success and the progress of our systematic approach. MARSOC is purpose-built for the nation's challenges. Leveraging two decades of counterterrorism success, we provide soft advantage in today's competition and in conflict. MARSOC will continue to win by leveraging our people as our platform. and to transform through disciplined modernization to provide layered effects for the joint force. Our future success requires continued partnership with Congress across force preservation acquisition reform and training modernization. Your Marine Raiders today remain ready to fight, survive, and thrive in any climate and any place. Thank you again for your unwavering support for our Marines, our sailors, and our families. I look forward to your questions.

Happy twentieth anniversary and Admiral Allman, you are recognized for five minutes.

Congressman Ernst, ranking members Klokken and distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today about the current posture and future of naval special warfare at this critical juncture in our nation's security. Naval special warfare's core mission is to deliver maritime-based special operations capabilities from the most strategic locations. spanning seabed to space to support the fleet and joint force. We are guided by the national defense strategy and priorities set forth by US Special Operations Command and the Chief of Naval Operations. Today our force is balancing significant operational demands in all theaters, while also pursuing an aggressive path of modernization to outpace these evolving threats. Naval Special Warfare's forces are relentlessly driving innovation, and experimentation, pairing our experienced operators with engineers in industry and in academia, supported by resourcing specialists to accelerate the fielding of new capabilities. Partner with SOCOM, we are delivering unmanned surface and undersea systems to generate asymmetric sea denial, challenge our adversaries' capabilities, and improve the joint forces' ability to deliver effects. As we have done for the past twenty-five years, we also stand ready to defeat terrorist networks that threaten our homeland and interests abroad. The reality is that global security landscape has fundamentally changed. Thereof, uncontested maritime access is over. We are increasingly challenged by our adversaries' maturing efforts in this domain. We have entered what the CNO calls the maritime century, characterized by contested sea lines of communication, the rise of new naval powers and the need to protect our critical maritime infrastructure. The United States's blockade of the Straits of Hormuz is a reminder of the global commerce, communication, resources and military advantage are more closely tied to the sea today than at any point in history. And Naval Special Warfare is uniquely positioned to project focused effort effects within contested maritime areas. We are also working hand-in-hand with our generational allies and partners to enhance their capabilities, expand their interoperability within our force, and ultimately capitalize on approximate access to enable combined operations. Our force, though small in size, delivers outside strategic impact. Comprising just two and a half percent of the Navy and fifteen percent of SOCOM, we are forward-postured technologically advanced, and able to rapidly transition from competition to crisis if deterrence fails. Our most decisive advantage remains our people. We continue to make significant investments in our assessment and selection processes, a rigorous ba- basic training pipeline, tactical training cycles, and our commitment to maintaining the highest physical and mental readiness of our operators. We also are stalwart about our family support programs, knowing that resilience at the home translates directly to an operator's effectiveness on the battlefield. In closing, we have a special warfare stance ready to compete, deter, and win across the full spectrum of operations. With your continued support, including sustained investments in modernization and flexible acqui- acquisition authorities, we will ensure the United States maintains its decisive edge in the maritime domain. Thank you for your support, for the opportunity to testify today.

Yeah. Thank you very much, gentlemen, and now we will enter into the senator's rounds of questions, and I will start the questions uh with five minutes. And I'd like to start with Potef. Uh, this is an issue I've been working uh with many of your current leaders, former leaders within SOCOM uh to make sure that we're optimizing and sustaining soft readiness longevity and performance through these integrated support programs. Uh as the operational tempo and demands on the force continue, we also have the responsibility to ensure that these services are actually reaching the operators and the families who really need them the most. GAO has previously found that access to resources can vary significantly depending on the location and the component, and that SOCOM's allocation model does not always align providers with the areas of greatest demand. As component commanders, you have the closest visibility into how these programs are functioning on the ground across your formation so with that in mind, where do you still see the greatest unmet demand within POTIF? Whether that be psychological services, spiritual support, physical rehabilitation, or family care resources. And we'll reverse the order actually and Admiral Allman, if we could start with you please.

Yes, Senator. Um, so I would say that our biggest challenge is probably in the per per capita ratio of of strength and conditioning and rehabilitation for our operators. Um, that would be number one. And number two, I think we always have a lot of room to make up in our support to the families. I think the biggest area for us, the the biggest challenge for us is probably in our West Coast, um, Southern California teams, um, somewhat based on the geography and the fact that most families live up to an hour or ninety minutes away from the base and so it makes it more challenging for them to access some of the support but Like I said, I the the flat line funding, I I feel like we just need to be better in supporting our families in in general.

Yes, Senator, thank you for the question. Um, although I I would say we I feel pretty good about where we're at right now on the physical, uh, side, uh, uh, then to include not only the the performance, uh, uh, training but but also the, uh, physical therapy, uh, the cognitive I feel good I feel pretty strong about. If there's one place that we could use more help, that is on the family side. Uh, our experience, uh, um, going all the way back, uh, to the early two thousands through now, through multiple deployments, uh, times where we've had very challenging times for the command, uh, to be able to develop, uh, and facilitate those informal networks with the f- families, not only does it connect the families together, but it connects them to the command and to the command leadership. Uh, I'd place that as invaluable. when the when times get hard and uh and people are getting injured or we're we're losing people, uh those networks uh ha have have really carried the day. That's where we could use the most help, ma'am.

Okay, thank you. General Conley?

Thank you for the question, Chairwoman, uh and I appreciate the continued support of POTF. It's incredibly important to the FSOC formation. Um, it's um largely aligned with my my teammates up here, uh more with families, uh but each location is a little different as you mentioned in your question. Uh, I'd say we see episodic challenges of manning. Uh, some of them, eh, but nothing that concerns me. You know, with a forward-based wing in in Milton Hall, uh, which I know you visited recently,

Mm-hmm. Yeah, thank you.

and another one over in Okinawa, uh, and split to To- into, uh, Yokota and Tokyo. Uh, sometimes the overseas specialties, uh, go through cycles where we have a hard time manning, finding contractors to go over there across all the disciplines.

Mm-hmm.

generally speaking, it's manageable. The the one area that that I'm challenged with at times, just with reduced budgets, is AFSOC is unique from the other components in the sense that we own installations. And, uh,

Mm-hmm.

so for Holbert Field and Cannon Air Force Base,

Mm-hmm.

uh, I have a large support, uh, population,

Mm-hmm.

folks that are running, uh, running the facilities on base, uh, maintaining what is a small city. And so sometimes that's lost in translation, uh, POTIF is designed for operators and and I fully respect that, but uh the support people in AFSOC make the machine run. And so f- trying to thread the needle on making sure our our special tactics and our aviators get the level of POTIF support they need from the physical cognitive s- uh domains but also not leaving teammates behind that need need help in different ways.

Great, thank you. And if you could just finish up, General Ferguson.

Yes, ma'am.

That would be wonderful.

Very quickly,

Thank you.

the I I very similar challenges for us, the The one advantage that we do have as as being part of the army is that we do have access to the holistic health and fitness program and so the army partners with us, uh, in many of our at all of our installations to balance out the challenges we have with POTIF. But small installations are where we we are are challenged also. Yes, ma'am.

OK. Thank you, gentlemen. Senator Slotkin.

Um, thanks for being here. A couple of questions. You know, I think what we're watching Right now, um, with Iran and and sort of always thinking about when it comes to China, is the incorporation of new technology. And I really see the AI race as like, it's not who can invent the coolest tools, um, it's who can incorporate the coolest tools the fastest. And, you know, um, as I said in my opening, I'm concerned about, um, some of the ways we've been exposed in recent years and recent months to, you know, an adversary having technology that we're not prepared for and killing us because of it. Um, so can you guys just walk through for me, um, um, the way that you are, and give me some examples, the way that you're incorporating AI into warfare today, not like as a future thing, but what, uh, you as leaders do you see actually being incorporated and give a little meat on the bones, so that I, we have confidence that even with the budget, which we know you'd like to be larger, that Um, you know, it's not just about airframes and and old school tools, it's new stuff. So give me some confidence that we're actually meeting the moment on this, and we can just go down the line if that's okay, keeping it brief.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the question. So we see AI really as a critical tool for for for cueing human action and then offloading the cognitive burden on human operators and human intelligence professionals that are executing or conducting intelligence assessments based off of the information that's coming in from from different systems so right now I mean it's not a it's not a replacement for human decision making we do not see it as as that at all uh right now the the the biggest area in which we are using it within US Army special operations command is within predict for predictive maintenance with our rotary wing aviation fleet. So it's we've been using it there for several years and it's proven very valuable in that arena. Another area that we, so we'll continue to do that, that will continue to get better, uh with respect to the employment of AI or artificial intelligence on the battlefield, uh the first place we're really looking to employ it is within the, the, within processing of ISR, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance information. And in that respect, we see it more as a tool for screening out, that's really the offloading the cognitive burden from the human that's on or in the loop. Uh, Eventually, we I'm sure that we will want to apply it uh broader to to some of our unmanned systems, but again, we're going to we're gonna we're gonna em employ the capability in those systems in a way that will offload that cognit cognitive burden on the operator.

Great. Thank you. General Conley.

Thank you for the question, Senator. I'll g- I'll give you just two quick real-world vignettes. Uh, I think sometimes uh necessity is the mother of invention and uh since start of uh hostilities with Iran, I have a small team that was put together to do something completely different, but uh on the first day they realized that uh our MQ-nines and other aircraft were at risk in a very hostile environment and they were able to take uh, some smart people, use artificial intelligence tools, uh and put humans on the loop instead of in the process the whole time and move uh top secret, um national level intel collect uh in a process that would take the humans twenty to thirty minutes to get that to a crew into a cockpit or into a ground control station for an MQ-nine crew, automated it, uh, using AI bots, uh, put it down to a secret level, put it into the cockpit, and two to three seconds from detect. And, uh, we - we have data to - to that indicates that we've saved, uh, a lot of aircraft, uh, over the last sixty days, uh, using that tool just to provide better battlefield situational awareness. The other example I have is our agile process exploit and uh disseminate tools where our Intel analysts that are looking at full motion video, uh, you know, a very heavy human uh intensive process, they've been able to use AI. Again, uh, just smart humans getting together figuring out solutions in order to uh proliferate uh that information across the Intel community in seconds, rather than uh what could take hours uh in normal processes. So we're learning every day. And uh, and we're getting better every day.

Great. General Huntley.

Yes, Senator, thank you for that question. Uh, in my opening comment uh comments I talked about uh any censor and any shooter. Um, we currently have a a commitment with a uh a task force within the the first island chain. Uh, what we're seeing and what we see as a mission requirement going forward, that if we do go to conflict, that our adversary will have a significant scale advantage, so our ability to leverage variety of sensors, whether they're coming from national technical means, whether they're top secret, secret, or more than likely something coming from our our partners. Um, uh, to be able to ingest, uh, the data, uh, from all those various, uh, types, models, and series of of sensing platforms, and then put it on the one pa- pane of glass and able to, uh, then push it into, uh, the joint fires network at the theater level. That's, that's, uh, what we're working on very hard right now, and as we go through a series of exercises,

Well, I'm getting um uh I'm sorry, I've been watching a stopped clock and thinking I just Keep going, Matt. Keep going. constantly have one minute and twenty-one seconds left. Um, so I've been alerted the old-fashioned way. Yeah. Keep going. So if it's okay if you if just briefly, Go ahead. I'm sorry, uh, Keep going. Madam Chair. Keep going. Keep going. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am, not to repeat any of that, I think we're finding some benefits to the persona targeting and leveraging ai to have a deeper understanding of linkages and networks and expanding the library uh of potential associates and then secondarily i think in the same respects um our own protection of the force um understanding our own potential risks in dig digital expression etcetera um leveraging ai as a red cell tool could be an opportunity for us as well to deep deepen the overall protection and preservation of our forces.

Great. Thank you. Yield back. Thank you.

Senator Bud.

Thank you for yielding me the minute twenty-one seconds perpetually. Good to see you all again. Um, uh, General Conley, uh, General Ferguson. Um, I wanna congratulate you all and thank you all for your work with AFSOC and USISOC's role in recovering the Strike Eagle crew, um, a few weeks back. It was a very significant Easter. Um, Can you talk about the aircraft that you lost in the operation, how critical they are and how we can replace them? Uh, General Conley, I'll start with you.

Uh, thank you, Senator, it's good seeing you again and thanks for the time and the office call.

You're good, yeah.

Um, yeah, we we lost two of our aircraft uh in in a perfect world, I'd like to get two replacements as soon as possible. Uh, as as we look at my MC one thirty fleet globally, uh, we're in high demand, uh, we have permanent uh aircraft station in in Japan, so inside the first island chain. We also have our our launch pad out of RF Milton Hall with with a squadron over there. Um, they are SOCOM's maneuver force. And so, uh, you know, I owe it to the the teammates here and their men and women to be able to get them to the place of need. Uh, in contested environments, uh, in benign environments, uh, whatever the mission is, uh, we're here to support them. The MC one thirties don't exist for their own sake. And, uh, every loss, uh, decrements my ability to support them.

Any, um, sticking points in getting them replaced?

Uh, it's a little early still. Um, uh, y- I think it'll take time. I think, uh, clearly there's a funding, uh, requirement that will be needed to, uh, be reconciled. And then it's just a matter of, uh, if we can get into the production line, uh, in a timely matter. But, uh, I'm confident our relationship with our industry partners, uh, will. will get us to yes if the funding's there.

Very good. Thank you, General.

Senator, in all seriousness, I would also like to see my friend General Conley get his two air get two more airplanes, because the it it as you know that was that was the the definition of a joint operation. And so the the rotary wing aircraft, we lost four on that mission, and the four rotary wing aircraft we lost we would not have gotten there, had uh we not had been able to to get them there in in the MC one thirties. And so You know, no one else on planet Earth can could have executed that operation, cuz they don't have the capabilities, they don't have the people to do it. So it's in it's very important for us to get those aircraft replaced. As uh as Mike said, uh I kn- we know SOCOM is working diligently to to sort out the the methodology to to spend the money and and get those aircraft replaced. So there is a plan, but it's not going to happen quickly. No, sir.

Thank you. Well, you have our support on that and just the uh the efforts in that operation just sent a great signal. to the uh war fighting community. Much appreciated. Joe Huntley, uh enjoyed seeing you this morning, thanks for uh the time. Um, I know you've talked about multi-domain ranges uh to replicate the modern battlefield. Can you share what you need, uh where the gap is, where you fall short, sir, and how Congress can help?

Uh, thank you, Senator, for that that question and thank you for the office call this morning. Um, as we look right now, th- you know, right now, a focus on sitcom, but really if you look globally at all the operations that soft and and frankly, the joint force i is involved in in pretty much every theater right now. Uh, the operating environment is evolving very quickly. Even if it's a non-state actor in South America or in uh Eastern Africa, they're gonna have capabilities they didn't have just a few years ago, to say nothing of a of a pure adversary. Uh, the good news is is that we are evolving quickly. We need to move faster. But going forward, what I see as probably one of our primary challenges is the time to train. And what's driving the stress on our time to train is that we still need to be able to shoot, move, and communicate, and medicate as we always have, but now we have to employ autonomous systems at the tactical edge and higher. Uh, AI is coming on very fast, um, and the the tasks for training are compounding very quickly. Right now, as it stands, to be able to do multi-domain training in the collective sense, Uh, at least for MARSOC, I have to send our people west of the Mississippi, out to the western desert somewhere, uh, in order to do that. The time, the resource that that takes puts a significant stress on the force and it's only getting worse. So, right now, if we had ranges that would allow us to do these type of multi-domain operations, closer to home station or preferably at home station, uh, that would be s- a significant help, uh, for us not only going forward in - in being able to incorporate these new capabilities, but also, maybe as important if not more important, the stress on the force in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Another question, General Huntley, about uh MARSOC. You're authorized to have uh three thousand three hundred thirty-seven billets, yet a recent congressional inquiry revealed that only twenty-eight O two uh positions were filled, so about five hundred short. Um, is this a concern and uh how are you addressing it and how can we help?

It it is a concern, Senator, and and and thank you for that question. And the proponents of those, uh, um, pieces of structure that were these, uh, Marines that we don't have at this time are from h- high demand, low density MOSs, mostly within the intel communications, uh, even the Marine Corps has an unmanned systems MOS now that, uh, that we are lucky enough to have. We're working very closely with the service as they go through their forced structure review uh to make sure that uh MARSOC prioritization, uh, is at a level that facilitates uh our manning, uh, getting a, uh, a, uh, a uh a a pair level of of manning to uh priority units within the marine corps

thank you sir thank you all

great we'll go ahead and do a second round of questions as well and uh i would like to talk a little bit about acquisition as well and and uh this is near and dear to all of you um SOCOM does use softworks they've done that since twenty fifteen and since then uh we have seen the execution of uh let's see sixteen hundred agreements uh at a cost of four hundred and sixty million dollars and it's a a pretty strong track record for moving innovation faster. Uh so it's been a great model but even uh this really successful model it it is still facing friction. And particularly as SOCOM shifts more from uh uh software defined capabilities while much of this acquisition system remains built around hardware. Uh, so we're seeing growing concerns around vendor lock and proprietary software restrictions. So where do you believe the greatest friction points still exist between identifying an operational need and then actually fielding that capability with your operators and General Conley why don't we start with you.

Thank you, Senator. Um, I I think the if I'm candid, the - the biggest friction point is just the timing on our budgeting processes. So, uh, I can operate - If I want something right now, I have to have money left in my budget for this year to - to put money towards it, Mm. and I probably already have that earmarked against something else. Uh, so if it's emerging, uh, it's hard to do. Um, and then, you know, we're building the twenty-eight palm right now, so the next round to get to that, uh, consistent funding stream is three years from now, Mm. two years from now. Uh, we work in the margins in between to, and we have a great relationship with Softworks. Uh, they do a lot of great things for us. Uh, so that's one challenge. The other one is how do you get it and scale it across a fleet of aircraft, or across a fleet of special tactics teams?

Mm-hmm.

Um, so the scaling transition often becomes a sticky point, but, uh, we're better because of Softworks. Uh, you know, SOCOM is,

Yep. Absolutely.

thank you.

General Huntley?

Uh, yes, Senator, the, uh, Uh, of course, uh, anything that allows us to incorporate uh new capabilities quicker. As I said before, uh, the the characteristics of the operating environment are are moving as faster than they have in my thirty-seven years of of service. Um, right now the traditional way of doing it, it the the lead times are just are just too long.

Mm.

I I would cite as an example is uh our recent uh program of records that we have established for three unmanned systems. They're fine and they're doing well. But we started that requirement back in twenty nineteen. So right now we still can, you know, use O and M to to purchase equipment, but in order to do a a the full capability, the doctrine, the operations, the training, uh, the manpower that that's required in the sustainment for these programs, it requires our our uh acquisition system to move faster. Anything that could be done on that front uh would be not only helpful, but I think it would be an imperative.

Wonderful, thank you. And Admiral Ullman.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Um, I would also add to General Huntley's that longer dwell money um past over the fiscal year to help finish projects and see them through would be advantageous. And then with respect to to SOCOM, it the Softworks experiment was a good h has been a good foundation for how we interact with industry. And I think most recently the way we've divided and conquered and worked together as components, um, for unmanned surface vessels and undersea and unmanned aerial vehicles,

Mm.

um, to rapidly develop some capability is one of is it, I think, is a highlight for the joint force in in terms of how SOCOM can effectively partner with industry commit our operators who have a depth of combat experience and and a very high aptitude and expectation of performance to to ensure that the companies that are providing prototypes are actually delivering and making the necessary changes to to field something that's op- operationally fit.

Yeah, thank you, and General Ferguson.

Ma'am, uh, just to wrap up, every, every one of us at the table, all, all of our, all of our people need the authority to be able to adapt and evolve technology at the edge. Uh, employing commercial off-the-shelf solutions, you touched on this already, instead of being bound by Vinderlok, uh being bound by proprietary software, you you mentioned also that we're getting into more software defined capabilities. You see that in uh in Ukraine. Uh they've they've they've not reached the limit of physics, but physics has uh has there there is a line there uh that physics draws, so to speak. And so software defined solutions is is is really what you're seeing and what we have seen for the last couple of years. Uh I would say that in the first in the five weeks of the the war with Iran we probably made about two years of progress, based off of our ability to adapt rapidly because of where we were and the the the lack of restrictions from what whether it was from uh what they could actually do with the systems or the areas that they could train with them overseas.

So we need to be able to move at the speed of relevance then.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, thank you so much. Senator Slotkin.

Um, General Huntley, I feel like I've paid you, um, to prompt the question like, where do I train? East of the Mississippi. Um, Michigan, northern Michigan is where you train, east of the Mississippi. Um, we have the largest multi-domain, uh, uh, um, military exercise east of the Mississippi, the most available airspace, the most available spectrum, and the army just named our facility up north, the NADWIC, their very first drone testing site in the country, so you are welcome. um, to come and test, and you can test it all, uh, drone, counter drone, um, you can test, you can test soft boats, um, all in one facility, um, robotics, the whole thing, um, and because it's, uh, it's an area where we're very supportive of this kind of stuff, like, you know, we bring industry in to share with us and work with us as we do things. So, anyways, you're more than welcome, all of you, to come, um, as you should, to Michigan.

Is that the county called Canada?

Y- no.

Okay, sorry.

What are you talking about? We were getting along so well up here. Um, the um uh, I would say um, I'm interested in your um, all of your responses a year later from this hearing um, a year ago where uh, the SOCOM commander talked about allies as the pacing item. Um, and I know from my time at the Pentagon that you all work very closely, I think there's twenty eight plus allies that you all work with, but it's hard to miss that there are a lot of allies who are not with us in the war in Iran. So I'd like to you all to to testify um what has been the operational impact um of tensions at the top level, which you are not responsible for, um um what is that done operationally? Are there any p- I mean I'm very aware um General Conley that uh as I understand it, allies were very important in even in just airspace and um for the recovery of the pilot, the downed pilot inside of Iran. So tell me operationally, um very honestly, what has changed or had to be amended given allied reservations about this conflict. And we can start anywhere we'd like.