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Video by Capt. Jennifer French

Interviews: 173rd Airborne Brigade Officers Emphasize Innovation on the Battlefield

173rd Airborne Brigade

March 13, 2025 | 2:44

Officers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s Bayonet Innovation Team are advocating for cutting-edge military advancements to enhance battlefield capabilities. 1st Lt. Bennett Hellman, 1st Lt. Francesco La Torre, and 1st Lt. Vincent Gasparri recently spoke on the role of innovation in modern warfare, emphasizing its necessity for maintaining superiority.

"You need to innovate to survive and to stay ahead and to stay at the cutting edge," said La Torre, who previously served as an executive officer in an airborne rifle company within the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Hellman, an 11A infantry officer and director of data for the Bayonet Innovation Team, highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in shaping the brigade’s future. "As a brigade, the first step towards artificial intelligence on the battlefield is aggregating our data," he said. "One of the best things artificial intelligence offers is the ability to do things that humans aren't good at. Pattern recognition across millions of rows and thousands of columns isn't something that a human can do."

Gasparri stressed the importance of improved communication and data proliferation. "I think that communication and our ability to proliferate and gather data—whether from UAS systems, different sensors, or even personnel across the battlefield—using technologies like Starlink, Star Shield terminals, new types of radios, and computing power, is essential,” he said.

The officers pointed to real-world examples of innovation within the brigade, such as integrating drones into resupply missions. "Being able to protect troops or resupply formations by using drones is incredible and could save lives on the modern battlefield," Gasparri said. “We recently had non-tactical UAS operators get certified to fly FPV drones that they built themselves."

Gasparri also described a recent test of an octocopter UAS system capable of carrying up to 200 kilograms of payload. "It carried MREs to a trench, dropped them off, then picked up a Rescue Randy and extracted it. This kind of capability has enormous potential for battlefield logistics and casualty evacuation."

Hellman stressed that innovation at the brigade level must focus on making soldiers more lethal.

"What makes the United States military one of the best in the world is our capacity to innovate,” La Torre added.

The officers believe the Army can match the rapid technological progress seen in the private sector. "You look at things that Google, Meta, and Palantir are doing—there’s no reason the Army shouldn’t be able to operate at that speed,” Hellman said. “We just all need to buy in and innovate together."

"Innovation is just problem-solving," La Torre concluded. "Anyone can innovate if they see a problem."

The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army's Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapidly deployable forces to the United States European, African, and Central Command areas of responsibility. Forward deployed across Italy and Germany, the brigade routinely trains alongside NATO allies and partners to build partnerships and strengthen the alliance.

(U.S. Army video by Capt. Jennifer French)