The U.S. Army recently took a significant step in modernizing its combat formations by putting its first armored brigade through a large-scale training event under the emerging Transformation in Contact (TIC) initiative.
The 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), 3rd Infantry Division, kicked off Exercise Combined Resolve this past week at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany.
The rotation marks the first time an armored unit has participated in the TIC effort, setting a new benchmark for how heavy forces might fight in future conflicts.
The TIC initiative, part of a broader modernization push across the Army, is designed to rapidly field new capabilities to operational units and gather feedback during real-world training.
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These insights will help refine deployment needs and better integrate cutting-edge technologies without disrupting routine readiness cycles.
According to Army officials, this approach ensures that combat teams are equipped and organized for both current missions and future battlefields.
“Raider Brigade is spearheading the Army’s Transforming in Contact initiative and experimenting with new capabilities to enhance battlefield effectiveness while deployed to Europe,” said Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division.
“The lessons learned through this exercise will help inform the Army how an armored brigade combat team fights on future battlefields.”
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The exercise, called Combined Resolve, brought together U.S. and NATO forces to test interoperability with partner nations. For the 1st ABCT, it served as a proving ground for recently acquired unmanned robotic systems, counter-drone technologies, and electromagnetic decoys—all tools aimed at gaining an edge in the modern battlefield.
The 1st ABCT’s participation in TIC is being executed in four distinct phases: adapting how the unit fights, integrating emerging technologies, reorganizing formations to meet mission demands, and rapidly adopting new capabilities as they become available.
This comprehensive approach reflects the Army’s intent to make transformation a continuous, adaptive process rather than a static overhaul.
TIC began with three infantry brigades from the 101st Airborne Division, 25th Infantry Division, and 10th Mountain Division.
Those units were outfitted with Infantry Squad Vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, and advanced sensing and strike capabilities. Their experience has already begun to reshape brigade-level structures, giving rise to what Army officials are calling “Mobile Brigade Combat Teams.”
While the final design of these reconfigured units is still being refined, the early lessons are influencing broader force structure decisions.
Now, with armored formations entering the fold, the Army is taking that transformation to the next level.
Maj. Gen. Thomas Feltey, who commands the 1st Cavalry Division, helped oversee training for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division during its rotation in Germany earlier this year.
That experience provided a launchpad for his own unit’s engagement with TIC.
But Feltey is quick to point out that armor brings a different set of challenges and opportunities compared to light infantry.
“An ABCT has a lot of different moving pieces,” Feltey said. “Our battlespace is much larger, and things move faster.”
To better understand how to optimize armored units under TIC, Feltey plans to convene a series of strategy sessions with senior armor leaders, dubbed “Iron Horse sprints.”
These gatherings will focus on reconfiguring units, aligning them with new technologies, and refining tactics that emphasize speed, lethality, and resilience.
The work being done by the 1st ABCT is not only helping to test new gear—it’s pushing the Army to rethink how it structures and employs armored forces altogether.
The integration of robotic systems and counter-drone capabilities reflects a growing emphasis on distributed operations and survivability in an era where electronic warfare, drone swarms, and rapid movement define the battlespace.
As TIC continues to evolve, the feedback and results from this armor brigade’s rotation will serve as a critical data point in shaping how the Army modernizes its heavy formations.
More than just a testbed, the 1st ABCT is helping to forge a path forward, one that blends traditional armored power with emerging 21st-century technologies.
With Exercise Combined Resolve serving as both a training event and an innovation laboratory, the Army is taking bold steps to ensure its brigades remain capable, lethal, and adaptable—ready to meet tomorrow’s challenges head-on.
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