In the Pacific, Army leaders expect today’s fiction to be near-term reality
Service secretary envisions drone-and-soldier teams within just a few years.
Jennifer Hlad | July 25, 2025
Army Technology
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii—In a few years, visitors to this Army installation northwest of Honolulu will likely see something that today is still in the realm of fiction, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said Tuesday.
“I think what you will see in a couple of years when you drive back on this base is you’ll see an infantry squad vehicle going out into training with some autonomously led robots beside it, and some drones that are capable of swarming flying above it. And I think you’ll start to see this mixture of human and machine in a way that used to be kind of science fiction, but we’re right on the edge of it.”
Driscoll and Army Chief Gen. Randy George stopped in Hawaii this week as part of a trip through the Indo-Pacific that includes visits to Australia, for the massive Talisman Sabre exercise, and to the Philippines. Friday, they watched as a Lockheed Martin Precision Strike Missile was fired from an Australian HIMARS, marking the first time the long-range missile was fired west of the international date line and the first time it was fired in Australia.
“Our soldiers deserve the best capabilities and today we just demonstrated one of the newest munitions in our arsenal,” Driscoll said.
The PrSM—pronounced “prism”—has a range of about 300 miles, and can hit moving targets on land or at sea. Two of the missiles can be fired from one HIMARS.
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2025/07/pacific-army-leaders-expect-todays-fiction-be-near-term-reality/407001/?oref=d1-featured-river-secondary
