#209: Delivering Lethality, Survivability & Mobility - XVIII Airborne Corps Joint Innovation Outpost Colonel Tom Monaghan

Speed of innovation will be the deciding factor on today’s battlefields. The technology soldiers need to survive and win cannot take years to field. For generations, one of the Army’s greatest challenges has been closing the distance between the soldier who identifies a need and the acquisition system responsible for delivering the solution. At Fort Bragg, the XVIII Airborne Corps is attacking that problem head on. Colonel Tom Monaghan, has a mission - build the Joint Innovation Outpost - putting soldiers, acquisition professionals, industry, funding, testing, and Army program offices together to accelerate the development of solutions. No red tape. No delays. No endless discussion about contract vehicles. Just lethality, survivability, and mobility. Colonel Monaghan joins Fran Racioppi to discuss the theory behind the JIOP, Dragon’s Lair, artificial intelligence, and why some of the Army’s best innovations are coming directly from soldiers closest to the problem; including counter-drone and unmanned systems. For Monaghan, the leadership philosophy behind that mission is just as important as the technology: provide clarity, listen to the soldier, and solve problems. The JIOP is proving that acquisition does not always have to begin thousands of miles from the operational force. Sometimes the person with the answer is already standing on the drop zone, sitting inside the vehicle, or carrying the equipment that needs to change. Innovate. Accelerate. Dominate. The Joint Innovation Outpost is building a model designed to ensure that when America's soldiers identify the battlefield need, the Army can move fast enough to solve it. HIGHLIGHTS: 00:00 Introduction 1:58 Welcome to The Jedburgh Podcast 3:10 Building the Joint Innovation Outpost 5:52 Closing the Gap 8:10 Army Acquisition 12:11 Soldier-Driven Innovation 16:57 Prioritizing Battlefield Innovation 17:01 The Immediate Response Force 18:46 Dragon’s Lair and Accelerating New Ideas 19:22 Why Army Innovation Takes So Long 21:02 The Smartest Generation of Soldiers 23:28 Turning Soldier Ideas Into Battlefield Solutions 26:15 Artificial Intelligence and Human Decision-Making 27:28 Cost, Technology and Scalability 31:14 Innovate, Accelerate, Dominate 32:12 Measuring the JIOP’s Success 33:09 The Future of Army Innovation 34:25 Solving Problems 35:04 Three Things Quotes “We concentrate on anything that improves soldier lethality, survivability, mobility.” “We imagine a world where we close that time gap. We actually get rid of that valley of death.” “The normal process that I just talked about, that should have taken three to five years.” “There’s always a human in the loop.” “No piece of software is going to answer every question available.” “From an acquisition perspective, we always say cost, schedule, and performance. You never get all three.” “Solve problems. Support the soldier. Get them what they need.” “There’s nothing I can’t fix in five minutes with a phone call that you mess up. So just go out there and try.” “My superpower as a leader is to provide clarity.” The Jedburgh Podcast is brought to you by OneBrief; enabling military leaders to make innovative, informed and deliberate decisions faster than ever before. Superhuman command wins wars. Follow the Jedburgh Podcast and the Green Beret Foundation on social media. Listen on your favorite podcast platform, read on our website, and watch the full video version on YouTube as we show why America must continue to lead from the front, no matter the challenge.