Army gets new head of Network Modernization Cross-Functional Team
The Army’s Network Modernization Cross-Functional Team got a new director this month, the service announced.
Brig. Gen. Jeth Rey will lead a team of engineers and network scientists from across the Army focused on improving the networks the Army uses in battle. The team is a part of Army Futures Command, the newest four-star led command the service stood up to focus on emerging tech and future battlefield weapons.
The team’s first leader Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher retired from the Army at the end of May.
“All modernization capabilities touch the network,” Rey said in a release announcing his promotion. “The network is the center of gravity, so we need to support them as well.”
The network modernization team’s mission is to focus on modernizing “air-land ad-hoc, mobile tactical communications and data networks” and in support of the broader network modernization happening under the Army CIO’s office and deputy chief of staff to the G-6 — the service’s two lead IT roles.
Rey comes from Central Command, where he was the head of command and control and communications, overseeing the military’s networks throughout the Middle East. One of his most recent assignments was standing down the networks in Afghanistan as the U.S. military prepares to leave after 20 years of conflict in the country.
The cross-functional team has authorities to issue other transaction agreements and other rapid acquisition approaches to experiment with new tech to improve network communications, according to a document summarizing its work.
Cross-functional teams are designed to break down barriers between teams working in the technology modernization ecosystem, from contracting to research and engineering.
