Army Futures Command Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley has plans with the US Army to electrify its brigades. The idea has positive points, such as sustainability, range, and power.
Wesley pointed out that electric vehicles are quiet and have low heat signatures, which is suitable for the Army. He also said that some vehicles could be independent since it charges with renewable sources like the sun. Still, he made it clear how different it is to buy electric cars or a Tesla from electrifying the entire Army:
“Let’s be clear. We’re behind. We’re late to meet on this thing. If you look at all of the analysis, all of the various nations that we work with, they’re all going to electric power with their automotive fleet, and right now, although we do [science and technology], and we’ve got some research and development going on, and we can build prototypes, in terms of a transition plan, we are not there.”
“The Army has to think about it much bigger. What is the cost of replacing your entire fleet? We know we can’t do that. There’s got to be a steady transition.”
Gen. Wesley presented plans to the head of Army Futures Command about the significant change into electrification and how it could be an excellent choice for the American Army:
“We have to operate distributed, which means you have to have organic power that is readily available. Another aspect of Multi-Domain Operations … when you think about it, a lot of technology is being distributed at lower and lower echelons, and the question is always: ‘How are we going to power these different tools that we use in operations, highly technical tools, that we use to integrate domains? How are you going to power those?'”
“Electrification allows you to have access to readily available power to distribute not only for the vehicle but for all those different systems that I have.”