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Kansas Senator Moran Pushing Wichita As Future Site Of New Army Command

Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy
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U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (left) and Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy (center) meet with officials at Fort Leavenworth.

Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas is pushing Wichita as the headquarters of the U.S. Army’s new Futures Command.

The Army is creating the command center to streamline its modernization-efforts and improve workflow to get faster decisions.

The Army is evaluating 30 cities as potential locations. Army leaders are trying to find a place where they can build relationships with academic, business and industry leaders.

Sen. Moran says Wichita has the innovative vision and talent to land the headquarters.

"Between Wichita State’s Innovation Campus, the National Institute for Aviation Research, a proven track record working with the federal government and the growing global aerospace industry with a significant presence in Wichita, the city is uniquely suited to be the headquarters for Army Futures Command," Moran says.

The Futures Command is expected to reduce layers of bureaucracy and increase accountability for Army programs. The command will help bridge the gap between military culture and civilian innovator. Leaders with operational experience as well as technical expertise will make up eight cross-functional teams to conduct the modernization work.

Credit Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy
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Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy
Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy spoke to students of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College during a visit to Fort Leavenworth in February.

Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy says the Futures Command will work to advance the Army's six modernization priorities: long-range precision fires, a next-generation combat vehicle, future vertical lift platforms, a mobile and expeditionary Army network, air and missile defense capabilities, and Soldier lethality.

“A new command such as this ought to be located in a town that shares this innovative vision, and has the experience and talent in academia and industry to aid in the mission of Futures Command,” Moran says.

Moran and Under Secretary McCarthy visited Fort Leavenworth last month. Moran also accompanied then-Acting Secretary of the Army McCarthy to visit U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, Poland and Germany over Labor Day in 2017.

An announcement on the site selection could come at the end of March. The Futures Command is expected to begin operating this summer.

The Army has about 185,000 troops deployed worldwide.

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Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar.

 
To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

 

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.