Friday, April 19, 2024
Sebastian Sprenger was the chief editor of Inside the Army until May 2016, where he primarily reported on land warfare and associated budgets, policies and technologies. A native of Siegen, Germany, he got is start in journalism at the now-defunct Westfälische Rundschau in Kreuztal. He studied at Universität Trier and elsewhere.
Pentagon officials unveiled a defense budget request for fiscal year 2009 this week that seeks funding for a number of psychological operations, unmanned vehicle and soldier protection programs in the $360 million research and development plan for U.S. Special Operations Command.
The Navy this week requested $61 million for fiscal year 2009 to develop experimental receivers ground troops can use for precision navigation via Iridium and Global Positioning System satellite signals.
The State Department has begun testing a Pentagon-operated system to track private security guards protecting U.S. diplomats in Afghanistan, according to a Defense Department official.
Defense Department officials on Monday are expected to unveil a fiscal year 2009 defense budget request that would boost funding for basic research by $300 million over last year's requested funding level, according to defense sources.
Aiming to make the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and other new ground vehicles more fuel efficient than the models they are designed to replace, the Army will soon release a solicitation to garner ideas from industry and academia for the effort, according to Defense Department officials.
Pentagon leaders are expected to soon approve plans to establish a new organization charged with managing war-related contracts in future conflicts, according to Defense Department officials.
Members of the influential Defense Science Board have urged Pentagon leaders to step up efforts to develop and field directed-energy weapons, according to a newly released DSB report.
Technological challenges may delay Air Force plans to field by 2018 a new long-range bomber that is capable of penetrating heavily defended airspace to strike faraway targets, according to a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Pentagon officials are expected to request $750 million for a new hypersonic aircraft program, dubbed "Blackswift," as part of the administration's fiscal year 2009 defense budget submission scheduled for Feb. 4, InsideDefense.com has learned.
Air Force officials have tasked the service's scientific advisory panel to kick off four new studies in 2008, with topics ranging from cyber warfare to precision weapons, according to the terms of reference for the studies.
Air Force Research Laboratory officials are looking for industry help in a $50 million information fusion research and development project, according to a draft request for proposals released by the lab today.
White House officials are considering a recommendation to reduce to just three the more than 100 markings used throughout the government to identify sensitive-but-unclassified information, InsideDefense.com has learned.
Defense Department officials are on the verge of kicking off a formal military analysis that could spark a new program to equip U.S. troops fighting overseas with forensic analysis tools, DOD officials tell InsideDefense.com.
Pentagon leaders should take steps to include the U.S. business community in the Defense Department's planning of global security operations, according to a recommendation from members of the Defense Business Board, who are scheduled to meet at the Pentagon tomorrow to discuss the issue.
Defense Department officials have created a task force to oversee the implementation of a new White House policy for labeling sensitive-but-unclassified information, according to a Dec. 28, 2007, Pentagon memo.
Breakthroughs in information technology, nanotechnology and the biological and neurological sciences are likely to significantly improve the capabilities of individual troops in the next 20 years, a defense official said this week.
The Pentagon has proposed an amendment to federal acquisition regulations that would require all defense contractors deploying overseas to have a basic understanding of the international laws of war, according to a Federal Register notice published today.
Pentagon acquisition chief John Young last month reclaimed his authority as the senior decision-maker for the procurement of large-scale information systems, rolling back a years-long practice of delegating that authority to other Defense Department offices, according to documents and sources.
Senior civilian Pentagon leaders last month tentatively decided to expand a new, more joint management approach to certain Defense Department programs, but stopped short of using the concept to manage the services' big-ticket weapon systems, sources tell InsideDefense.com.
The U.S. military may be deployed more often to prop up weak governments worldwide as the effects of climate change are expected to destabilize entire regions, offering fertile ground for extremist ideologies, according to a new report from U.S. Joint Forces Command.