Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has said the service branch plans to add assistant squad leaders to its units to lead the flight of unmanned aerial vehicles, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.

Scott Maucione writes Neller told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the Marine Corps will still be comprised of 24 infantry battalions but the structure of the battalions could change.

“What’s inside those infantry battalions is going to be a little bit different, but not fundamentally different,” said Neller.

“We want to make sure we maintain the capacity and capability of our Marine infantry battalion and that any changes to that are first ‘Do no harm,’ but it will be different,” Neller added.

Nuller did not divulge further information but noted that the service branch considers various models and options, Maucione reported.

The Defense Department‘s inspector general has conducted a study on the Joint Improvised‑Threat Defeat Agency‘s management of rapid deployment of strategies on the battlefield.

An IG audit report published Tuesday says JIDA has not finalized 8 out of 95 counter-improvised explosive device systems valued at $112.5 million due to a lack of collected data available for analysis.

Lack of data resulted from failure to assess JIDA‐furnished equipment adequacy for demonstration upon initial delivery in addition to the termination of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command’s in‑theater team’s collection and reporting on counter‑IED capacity and limitations, the report noted.

The report also covered a review of six non‑statistically selected programs worth $446.8 million the IG says JIDA did not properly document to justify transfers and assignments of program management function.

DoD’s IG has recommended JIDA establish controls for a complete an assessment of operational effectiveness and post completed assessments from counter-IED system sponsors as well as control procedures for a complete supporting documentation.

The IG has requested JIDA and Joint Staff directors provide additional comments on the report by September 9.

Gen. David Perkins, commander of the U.S. Army‘s Training and Doctrine Command, has called on the military, industry and academic leaders to “describe” the future instead of predicting it, Army News Service reported Tuesday.

Perkins told attendees at the Mad Scientist Conference at Georgetown University that to describe the future means to gain a complete understanding of the environment, Gary Sheftick reports.

Co-sponsored by the chief of staff of the Army’s Strategic Studies Group, TRADOC and the Georgetown University Center for Security Studies, the Mad Scientists initiative aims to illustrate the strategic security environment in 2050, according to the report.

TRADOC leaders see advanced protection for combat vehicles as among the systems they believe will be critical in 2050, the report says.

“The problem we’re seeing now is, with the proliferation of [anti-tank guided missiles], chemical-energy munitions, shaped charges, etc., like that — is that the cost curve as well as the physics is working against us,” Perkins told the conference.

“Better think of a different way to protect,” he said.

Perkins also emphasized the value of innovation as a way to turn critical thinking into results and added that collaboration is one of the factors that describe an innovative organization, the report says.

The U.S. Army has completed the material solution analysis phase of a program that aims to develop a turboshaft engine in an effort modernize the service branch’s fleet of Apache and Black Hawk helicopters.

The Army said Monday the Improved Turbine Engine Program is set to enter the technology maturation and risk reduction phase in line with the Defense Department‘s acquisition framework.

ITEP goals are supported by the Advanced Affordable Turbine Engine program, which works to validate technologies and mitigate transition risks to achieve a 3,000-horsepower engine for future Army rotorcraft platforms.

The Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center’s aviation development directorate led AATE efforts which involves separate contracts with General Electric and the Advanced Turbine Engine Company, according to Anastasia Kozup, AATE agreements technical agent.

AATE first launched in 2014 with full engine system demonstrations which involves performance, durability, and sand tests.

The program’s goal is to develop an engine that could provide 50 percent more power with the same weight as the current T700 engine as well as feature inlet particle separation technologies, erosion resistant coatings and ruggedized blades.

AATE also aims to address fuel efficiency as well as the range, payload and hot and high operational capacity of Apache, Black Hawk and other rotorcraft fleets.