FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan.– Leaders at the Combined Arms Command are integrating the use of the Maven Smart System, an artificial intelligence tool, to modernize training and education for command-and-control operations. Initial efforts are underway, led by staff from the Mission Command Center of Excellence, instructors with the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and officers assigned to the CAC Command Data and Analytics Office.
The Maven Smart System, also commonly referred to as simply "Maven," processes battlefield data, including imagery and full-motion video, to improve situational awareness and speed decision-making. It is designed to automate tasks formerly performed via legacy systems like the Command Post Computing Environment.
“Maven’s use is being fielded so fast, we need to deliver training as quickly as possible to accelerate learning of the system,” said Mike Clowser, MCCOE’s lead for Maven’s training plan.
A week of train-the-trainer instruction held Feb. 23-27, 2026, set the conditions for each organization to incorporate Maven at their level.
Operator training. Senior instructors at MCCoE are charged with developing a standardized, eight-hour, hands-on course for Soldiers who will operate the system. This program will focus on the practical use of Maven in an operational setting to help commanders make more informed decisions, faster. Instruction on Maven will also become a key component of the Knowledge Management Qualification Course.
Professional Military Education. Command and General Staff College leaders plan to integrate Maven into the core curriculum for field grade officers attending the Command and General Staff Officers Course. The goal is to ensure graduates are proficient with the systems used in operational units. Maven will also become part of the curriculum for students attending the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), and the School of Command Preparation.
“The integration of Maven represents a critical step in aligning PME modernization with the realities of what’s going on with the operational force,” said Zachary Rolf, deputy for the Department of Simulation Education at CGSC. The goal, he noted, is to ensure graduates have "system parity" and are able to seamlessly integrate at the unit level when they leave the schoolhouse.
Workforce Upskilling. The CAC CDAIO’s Data Academy provides centralized education on data, AI, and modern software. Maven will be included as an offering for the workforce. Specific to Maven, the academy is collaborating with MCCOE in developing courses, including a technical Low-Code/No-Code Builders Course that will be offered with both in-person and virtual options.
These parallel efforts are set to merge into a single System Training Plan as the Army moves to formally designate Maven as a system of record. This unified plan will guide integration across all training domains.
"It will be a collaborative effort, clearly. And that’s really the only way to do it," said Maj. Dustin Berry, lead data scientist and chief technology officer for CAC. "With us working together, it will be a much better product.”