Inside the Army highlights

Some must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Army:

1. The Army is working to bring forward common standards with which industry partners can comply, but requires greater cooperation from its vendors on costs, according to the service's program executive officer for ground combat systems.

Full story: Bassett seeks cost break from industry on open systems

2. The Army is moving forward with low-rate initial production of its Mid-Tier Networking Vehicular Radio, with plans to field it to four brigade combat teams over the next two years.

Full story: Pentagon approves LRIP for Army's mid-tier radio

3. As the Army seeks to strengthen its ties with industry on robotic and autonomous systems, several companies recently presented ideas to fill the service's capability gaps.

Full story: Industry presents robotics and autonomous systems concepts

4. The congressional defense committees have approved the Pentagon's request to reprogram funds to upgrade the Longbow Hellfire missile and integrate it onto the Army's MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system.

Full story: DOD gains congressional approval for Longbow upgrades, integration