Empowering the Light Fighter: Innovation Meets Fieldcraft at JPMRC 27-01

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii – The Pacific jungle can be unforgiving. Thick canopy, extreme humidity, sporadic rainfall, and rugged terrain can block comm… SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii – The Pacific jungle can be unforgiving. Thick canopy, extreme humidity, sporadic rainfall, and rugged terrain can block communications signals and challenge formations. In this environment, technology alone does not win fights, disciplined Soldiers do. However, when the right innovations are placed into the hands of those Soldiers, it significantly improves both their capability and survivability. During the reception, staging, and onward integration phase of Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) Rotation 27-01, Soldiers of the 2nd Mobile Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, are continuing to integrate advanced technologies into their tactical formations to create a highly effective combination of combat power.

Over the past year, the 25th Infantry Division has integrated and improved its modern command-and-control systems. The Lightning Surge exercise series continues to lay the foundation for next-generation command and control to ensure operational effectiveness. The Division moved these systems from controlled settings to challenging environments, with thorough field testing from Hawaii to the Philippines. Recently, a 3rd Mobile Brigade test platoon tested the same systems early in Lightning Surge 6, confirming that the mesh networks and rugged end-user devices the 2nd Mobile Brigade now uses are fully operational for combat. "The feedback from