Defense News: SETAF-AF team drives bottom-up innovation, transforms operational data management

Source: United States Army

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U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

VICENZA, Italy – A three-person tiger team launched in February 2025 has helped transform U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) into the Army’s premier battle lab in Africa. The team now helps the command lead by transforming operational data into fast, actionable decisions.

The team integrates machine learning to fuse information from external sources. This platform replaces fragmented workflows with automated decision support for commanders, enhancing real-time situational awareness.

The push for this system began after an extended joint task force operation spanning multiple geographic combatant commands. A subsequent after-action review revealed severe data silos and a fractured information environment across the staff.

“Staff relied on scattered PowerPoints and inconsistent network drives, causing widespread confusion,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kevin Ong, the SETAF-AF influence branch chief. “We lacked a central location for all parties to determine the actual ground truth.”

U.S. Army Capt. Josh Digulla and U.S. Army Maj. David Trinh, both members of the early entry command post assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), work inside the mobile command post during a communications exercise at Caserma Del Din, Vicenza, Italy, Sept. 3, 2025. SETAF-AF conducted a week-long joint planning process, as well as the COMMEX, both part of a contingency operations exercise which was a critical step toward validating its joint task force capabilities. (U.S. Army photo by Brian Andries) (Photo Credit: Brian Andries) VIEW ORIGINAL

In response, SETAF-AF’s G3 operations directorate tasked Ong to lead a “tiger team.” Starting with three staff members, a limited budget and no dedicated engineering support, they studied data-mature commands like U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Central Command. The team borrowed use cases and adapted strategic-level tools to fit operational requirements.

“It felt like being a substitute teacher,” Ong said. “You read the lesson a day ahead and then try to teach the rest of the staff the next day.”

Over the past year, the team built or tailored approximately a dozen tools to make users more efficient. For example, the “Scribe” tool uses artificial intelligence to transcribe meetings, identify speakers and generate action items for staff officers.

SETAF-AF Smart Search enables staff members to query command-specific classified documents without exposing sensitive data to external AI models. Its success has prompted other commands to develop their own tailored versions.

A tailored decision support matrix gives a commander a structured, data-driven framework to evaluate operational courses of action using live feeds. Rather than sifting through disconnected reports, that commander sees competing options ranked side by side against near real-time data, enabling faster, more confident decisions.

This platform dismantles historical information silos and automates manual analytical processes. Its tools slash the time required for administrative tasks and compresses workflows that once took trained staff members days to complete into minutes.

Across every tool, Ong’s team prioritizes machine-human teaming, ensuring that automation focuses on data aggregation and pattern recognition, while the user reviews, interprets and decides.

U.S. Army Master Sgt. Ramon Curiel, left, an operations watch officer assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), and U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Erin Guy, the Ready and Resilient Performance Center program manager for SETAF-AF, work inside the tactical operations center at Caserma Del Din, Vicenza, Italy, Sept. 3, 2025. SETAF-AF conducted a week-long, joint planning process in the TOC part of a contingency operations exercise, which was a critical step toward validating its joint task force capabilities. (U.S. Army photo by Brian Andries) (Photo Credit: Brian Andries) VIEW ORIGINAL

“We created tools that flag important activity in near real time, cutting analyst time from hours to minutes,” Ong said. “The commander gets intelligence while it is still actionable.”

The team’s solutions have reached far beyond SETAF-AF, and U.S. Africa Command has since explored integrating Scribe into key meetings across its staff.

Ong’s team also acts as a force multiplier for subordinate units. When a unit under U.S. Army Europe and Africa identified a meeting-transcription requirement, the SETAF-AF tiger team built and delivered the capability. According to Ong, fulfilling this capability request saved the unit over 40 hours of internal development time.

“Our mission requires us to stay adaptable,” Ong said. “Handling multiple operations at once forces us to find smarter ways to work.”

By December 2025, internal demand outpaced the original mandate of the tiger team. The team transitioned into a permanent subordinate component of the newly established Advanced Capabilities Directorate, where it was rebranded as the Operations Data Division. The overall directorate serves as the command’s front door for the innovation ecosystem, translating senior-leader vision into battlefield-ready capabilities through technical scouting and coordination with industry and academia.

The U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) insignia hangs inside the tactical operations center at Caserma Del Din, Vicenza, Italy, Sept. 3, 2025. SETAF-AF conducted a week-long joint planning process in the TOC, part of a contingency operations exercise, which was a critical step toward validating its joint task force capabilities. (U.S. Army photo by Brian Andries) (Photo Credit: Brian Andries) VIEW ORIGINAL

Today, the Operational Data Division comprises five people organized into two sections: operations research and systems analysis officers who verify and structure incoming data, and platform builders who develop applications. To extend its reach, the team supports dedicated platform builders within each staff section across the command, creating a distributed network that ensures continuity and operational ownership.

During the upcoming African Lion 26 exercise, the team will use the system to build shared situational awareness with over 40 partners and allies. This massive multinational effort validates the sensor-to-shooter loop, features multilanguage reporting generation and reinforces interoperability across Africa.

“The idea is to have all our partners and allies in one room looking at the same sheet of music,” Ong said.

For a command managing missions from crisis response to multinational exercises, the Advanced Capabilities Directorate proves the value of bottom-up innovation.

Inside how SETAF-AF will turn innovation into capability during African Lion 26 | Feb. 19, 2026

SETAF-AF showcases cutting-edge solutions at African Land Forces Summit 2026 | April 2, 2026

About African Lion

African Lion 2026 is U.S. Africa Command’s largest annual joint exercise, designed to strengthen collective security capabilities of the U.S., African nations and global allies. Co-led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) from April 20 to May 8, 2026, and hosted in Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia, AL26 involves over 5,600 personnel from more than 40 nations, using innovation to drive partner-led regional security.

African Lion content can be found on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).

About SETAF-AF

U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) prepares Army forces, executes crisis response, enables strategic competition and strengthens partners to achieve U.S. Army Europe and Africa and U.S. Africa Command campaign objectives.

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