As the U.S. Army nears its 250th birthday, a new revolution in land power is underway. Next Army—a CSIS Futures Lab and Modern War Institute series—explores how AI, drones, and doctrinal shifts are transforming the battlefield for the age of agentic warfare.
As the U.S. Army approaches its 250th anniversary, a generational transformation is underway. Next Army, a CSIS Futures Lab project, examines how technological disruption, evolving threat environments, and a tradition of institutional innovation are reshaping the character of land power. The Army is on the cusp of its next doctrinal revolution—one that may prove as significant as Emory Upton’s post-Civil War reforms, Donn Starry’s AirLand Battle concept, or Gordon Sullivan’s push into information-age warfare.
The Army of tomorrow will wage agentic warfare, powered by ubiquitous sensor networks, AI, and autonomous systems. Uncrewed aerial systems—ranging from nano-drones to loitering munitions—will saturate the battlespace, turning tactical maneuver into a contest of data and deception. Swarming drones will reconnoiter, jam, and strike, while AI-enabled edge computing will help small units localize decision-making at machine speed. Instead of sprawling command posts layered in staff officers, expect lean, mobile teams working through cloud-native kill webs and AI agents to deliver precision effects across domains.
At the center of this future is the land domain—not just terrain to be held or crossed, but a critical connective tissue linking cyber, space, and fires into a unified campaign. The Next Army will be smaller, smarter, and more networked, with humans and machines collaborating in complex adaptive systems to out cycle adversaries.
Yet even amid such radical change, the Army remains grounded in a core principle: it is a learning organization. From George Washington’s pioneering use of vaccines to counter smallpox and Sergeant Clubbin’s hedgerow clippers during the Battle of Normandy to Chief of Staff Randy George’s experimental Transforming in Contact (TiC) brigades, the Army has long adapted through experimentation. Today, initiatives like Project Convergence push this legacy forward—testing new concepts in real-time, high-risk environments.
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