Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Dominic Minadeo is an Inside Defense Army reporter. Before Inside Defense, he covered a slew of topics across Vermont as an intern for VTDigger. He also reported and edited for the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont, where he graduated.
Lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee are tasking the Army with buying six more Robotic Combat Vehicles in fiscal year 2026 despite the service cancelling the competition two months ago in a move that committee members hope will salvage autonomous progress made by the program.
The Army is weighing a plan to consolidate its acquisition offices that is ruffling the feathers of New Jersey lawmakers who say the proposal will harm rather than help the service's munitions procurement and will cripple Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, which oversees that work.
Lawmakers want to hear the Army's plan to get modernized combat vehicles into its heavy Brigade Combat Teams, citing the service's recent focus on lighter formations and "years of lagging investment" as causes for concern, according to the Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the fiscal year 2026 defense policy bill.
The Army has awarded Anduril a $99.6 million contract to lead a prototyping effort that will yield a Next Generation Command and Control architecture for the 4th Infantry Division within a year, moving the service a step closer toward scaling its network to the division-level.
The Army's 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force used its Typhon Mid-Range Capability system to take out a maritime target in Australia in the missile system's first live fire in the theater, further proving out the service's goal to forward deploy "land-based maritime strike capabilities," according to a release announcing the demonstration.
Members of the congressional armed services committees are using their defense policy bills to protect depots and arsenals threatened by the Army Transformation Initiative -- escalating tensions in the area where Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) predicted a clash between Capitol Hill and the Pentagon.
It's no secret the Army wants to modernize its self-propelled howitzer -- it's less clear how it will do so, and while the service's fiscal year 2026 research and development documents reflect a two-pronged approach, BAE Systems is playing both sides.
The Pentagon's acquisition and sustainment office would see its travel budget shrink by three quarters if the Defense Department fails to stand up its delayed Joint Energetics Transition Office in fiscal year 2026, according to an amendment to the House Armed Services Committee's defense authorization bill.
The Army is grouping its research and development dollars for building and testing land robots under a $227 million funding line that backs Army Transformation Initiative efforts, fiscal year 2026 budget documents show.
Senate authorizers have advanced a defense policy bill that would require the Army to submit a new tactical wheeled vehicle strategy report three years early after the Army Transformation Initiative rendered its first plan moot.
Lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee worry the Army doesn't have a clear vision for its next-generation ground station for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, according to a draft "chairman’s mark" of the committee's defense policy bill obtained by Inside Defense Tuesday.
House authorizers have scorned what they see as a lack of foresight from the Army in its rollout of the service's Transformation Initiative in their draft fiscal year 2026 defense policy bill, citing a lack of clarity and blueprints to back up the Army's major program switch-ups.
The Army is still churning out 40,000 155mm artillery shells per month, a stalled rate that matches the pace the service announced it had hit nearly a year ago.
The Army plans on buying 80 airdroppable Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle variants next year, recent budget documents reveal, which comes less than a month after the service announced a $792 million contract extension for more parachuting trucks.
The Army is requesting $308 million in fiscal year 2026 to buy more than 1,000 Infantry Squad Vehicles as the service attempts to surge procurement while shedding itself of bulky Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and humvees.
The Army for the first time has successfully paired its modernized, jam-resistant GPS signal with commercial-grade processing chips to help it reduce internal slog as part of a plan to build a secure position, navigation and timing (PNT) capability with less time and money, Pentagon officials told reporters yesterday.
The Army will allocate $108 million for a Vehicle Protection System suite that will fold three different capabilities under a new start in fiscal year 2026, according to recently released procurement budget documents.
The Army is speeding along prototype builds for a robotic, maneuverable launcher that can play both offense and defense with cross-domain fires, according to a recently released solicitation for industry proposals.
The Army is forming two commands in the Indo-Pacific theater to manage three multidomain task forces in the region as part of the service's transformation plan, the commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific announced today.
The commander of United States Army Europe and Africa today made clear he has no reason to believe the service will tweak its European force posture as the United States homes in on a Chinese pacing threat.