Thursday, April 25, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
Tony Bertuca is chief editor of Inside the Pentagon, the flagship publication of InsideDefense, where he focuses on defense budget and acquisition policy. He previously worked for the Sun-Times News Group in his hometown of Chicago, IL, and at the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, NH. Tony has also served as managing editor of Inside the Army. He has a master's degree in journalism from Boston University.
The fiscal year 2016 omnibus spending bill recently passed by Congress includes nearly $1.8 billion in rescinded prior-year funding for Defense Department weapons programs, with the Air Force poised to pay the lion's share, according to an explanatory statement accompanying the legislation.
Here's a list of must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Pentagon.
The State Department has approved a $1.72 billion arms sale to Taiwan that includes two Perry-class frigates, anti-tank missiles, amphibious assault vehicles and other weapon systems, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
The Inside Defense team has spent the day digging through the 2,009-page omnibus spending bill released by congressional negotiators . . .
Congressional negotiators early Wednesday morning agreed to a fiscal year 2016 omnibus spending bill that directs the Pentagon to spend $100 million assessing all of its major weapon systems for cyber vulnerabilities.
House lawmakers are preparing to release a fiscal year 2016 omnibus spending package to the Rules Committee later tonight that will likely necessitate another short-term continuing resolution to allow Congress time to pass the measure after a Dec. 16 deadline.
Claire Grady, the director of defense procurement and acquisition policy, said today that guidance on the Pentagon's new oversight and review structure for services acquisitions is set to be released in the coming weeks -- or months.
The Pentagon is ready to release a new guidebook encouraging program managers to pursue contracts with the defense industry that will more greatly reward performance, according to Claire Grady, the director of defense procurement and acquisition policy.
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work announced Monday that planned investments in the so-called "Third Offset" strategy would likely total between $12 billion and $15 billion across the future years defense plan beginning in fiscal year 2017.
A few must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Pentagon.
The Defense Department could replace 80,000 full-time military positions with civilian contractors to save the government between $3.1 billion and $5.7 billion on an annual basis, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office.
Congress is poised to extend its deadline to pass an omnibus spending bill from Dec. 11 to Dec. 16, according to a statement released today by the House Appropriations Committee.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee today that the United States was prepared to send attack helicopters and "accompanying advisers" to Iraq to help the military there re-take the city of Ramadi from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter is pleading with Congress to pass a fiscal year 2016 omnibus spending bill amid news that negotiations between Republicans and Democrats have stalled as the government inches toward a Friday deadline.
Singapore, as part of a newly enhanced defense cooperation agreement (DCA) with the United States, will now allow the Navy's P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft to operate within its territory, according to a Pentagon notice.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva head to Capitol Hill this week to discuss U.S.-led operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The total cost of Operation Inherent Resolve, the formal name of the U.S. effort to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is now pegged at $5.2 billion, with an average daily cost of $11 million, according to a recent Defense Department figure.
Former Defense Department official Thomas Mahnken has been tapped to become the new president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
A few must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Pentagon.
The United States' advantage in the electromagnetic warfare domain is eroding, but the Pentagon can regain its edge by shifting its priorities and developing new operational concepts, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments states in a report released Wednesday.