Friday, April 26, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
The Army's push to persuade the Marine Corps and U.S. Special Operations Command to create a joint landpower office has hit a wall without an endorsement from a key task force, though all parties are still working together to advocate for ground forces amid looming budget cuts, according to an Army official.
The Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board is still slated to review the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program this month despite the government shutdown, but the federal work stoppage is hurting JSF testing, development and aircraft deliveries, according to defense officials.
The government shutdown has led to furloughs for the vast majority of Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale's staff, causing major disruptions to the Defense Department's fiscal year 2015 program and budget review, InsideDefense.com has learned.
The government shutdown has halted the National Defense Panel's work assessing the Pentagon's ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review, sources tracking the issue tell InsideDefense.com.
Facing budgetary challenges tied to sequestration and a looming government shutdown, the Pentagon is striving to develop a "strategically sensible" fiscal year 2015 budget and Quadrennial Defense Review, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said today.
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter this week issued guidance aimed at keeping a skeleton of essential Defense Department functions afloat in the event that Congress cannot agree on a funding bill for fiscal year 2014 by midnight Monday.
The Defense Department has not created a "red team" to challenge assumptions and analysis in the Quadrennial Defense Review, fueling speculation that it might instead seek critiques from a congressionally chartered panel that will assess the QDR as it unfolds.
U.S. officials have launched a new study on the "strategies for and challenges to" American efforts to negotiate status of forces agreements (SOFAs), according to a memo obtained by InsideDefense.com.
Facing rocky relations with Russia, the Obama administration is asking top diplomatic advisers to rethink bilateral ties with the former Cold War foe in search of new ways to advance stability and U.S. security interests.
The Defense Department is seeking more sources for key explosive devices used in the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System, a move urged in a recent assessment of an ailing sector of the U.S. industrial base.
The Air Force should not eliminate its entire fleet of A-10 Warthogs unless it has other aircraft available to provide close air support, Deborah Lee James, the White House's nominee to be Air Force secretary, said today.
The F-35 program does not plan to pursue an American source for explosive devices that power the aircraft's U.K.-designed ejection seat, despite mounting pressure from Commerce Department officials concerned about the U.S. industrial base, according to a program spokeswoman.
The Navy's Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV) program has announced plans for an Oct. 16 industry information day.
The Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review has begun in earnest, with new working groups on Pentagon policy issues and efficiencies conducting frequent meetings to weigh risks and develop major budget-cutting proposals for the White House.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said today that GOP lawmakers are eying "a million options" for dealing with a stopgap spending bill designed to prevent a government shutdown.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) has introduced a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown and continue funding programs and services at the current, post-sequestration annual rate until Dec. 15.
President Obama has announced nominees to lead the Pentagon's cost assessment and program evaluation office, serve in the Navy's No. 2 senior post and head up the department's special operations shop.
While the Obama administration insists that any U.S. military strike on Syria would not involve the use of American ground troops, the Defense Department has quietly planned for that possibility, according to a senior defense official.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was juggling the Syria crisis by night and Asian security issues by day on his recent trip to Southeast Asia, but widespread concern about Syria's chemical weapons and the looming prospect of a U.S. military response has not given the Pentagon pause about the degree to which it can continue to shift its attention toward Asia, a senior defense official said today.
The Defense Department could launch a new cutting-edge rotorcraft-design effort despite current fiscal challenges that would prevent procurement for the foreseeable future, Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall said today.