Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Key Issues MADCAP SPY-6 radars Osprey groundings
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.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and his colleagues will receive a classified briefing next week on the state of U.S. military technology, which will then be followed up by the committee's first formal hearing with Frank Kendall, the Defense Department's chief acquisition executive, who will speak to how DOD can improve its procurement process to keep up with adversaries and the pace of technological change.
The Pentagon's chief weapons tester has identified critical cyber vulnerabilities in most of the Defense Department's acquisition programs that were tested last year, according to an annual report to Congress.
The Defense Department has morphed its controversial Air-Sea Battle concept into a new Joint Concept for Access and Maneuver in the Global Commons (JAM-GC), according to a new Joint Staff memo, which follows concerns voiced by defense officials and analysts that ASB was too limited in its scope and failed to yield joint interoperability.
J. Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation, is defending his continued focus on robust testing in the face of fiscal pressures bearing down on the Pentagon, according to the latest annual DOT&E report obtained by InsideDefense.com.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with Ashton Carter at the Pentagon today, the first time the two have met face-to-face since Carter was nominated to succeed Hagel in early December, according to a short statement from Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Defense Department's chief spokesman.
The Obama administration is scheduled to release the fiscal year 2016 budget request on Monday, Feb. 2, according the Office of Management and Budget, making it the first on-time submission in recent memory.
The Defense Department is moving to close an array of bases and installations in Europe in an effort that would save $500 million annually and have zero impact on U.S. warfighting capabilities as it prepares to bolster its presence in Eastern Europe to address new military threats from a revanchist Russia, according to two top Pentagon officials.
The Defense Department has updated its official acquisition policy guidance to emphasize the tailoring of individual weapons programs, while allowing for increased flexibility for managers who must navigate the Pentagon's famously complex procurement process.
It is "safe to assume" that the Defense Department will make another overseas contingency operations request when it submits its fiscal year 2016 budget to Congress, but it would "not be logical to assume" that the total will continue a downward trend, according to Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon's chief spokesman.
The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to hold a hearing to consider Ashton Carter's nomination to become defense secretary in the first week of February, which is traditionally the same time the Defense Department submits its budget request to Congress, according to a Capitol Hill aide.
The Defense Business Board is scheduled to meet Jan. 22 to discuss findings and draft recommendations from task groups charged with identifying new science and technology investments and a path forward to gain efficiencies in core Defense Department business practices.
BAE Systems has been awarded a contract to develop the Army's Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle that could total $1.2 billion, according to a company announcement.
General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $100 million foreign military sales contract from Saudi Arabia for the procurement and production of Abrams tanks, according to a company announcement Tuesday.
The Pentagon is mulling the release of new Defense Planning Guidance as early as February as part of an ongoing effort to “reset” the planning, programming, budgeting and execution (PPBE) process by fiscal year 2017, according to an internal briefing obtained by InsideDefense.com.
The United States has spent $1.6 trillion on military operations since the attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service.
The State Department has approved possible foreign military sales of 175 Abrams tanks to Iraq for $2.4 billion, along with 1,000 humvees for $579 million, according to recent announcements from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
The Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization improperly gathered intelligence on U.S. companies and citizens, according to a Defense Department inspector general's report made public Thursday.
Congress has cleared the Defense Department to reprogram $220 million from its operations and maintenance accounts to get the first installment of funds required to train and equip moderate members of the Syrian opposition, according to the DOD comptroller's office.
The Pentagon has begun a major effort to "reset" its planning, programming, budgeting and execution (PPBE) process by fiscal year 2017 that would enable "better, more defensible budget submissions to Congress," according to a Dec. 11 memo to top defense officials from Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work.
A newly proposed measure for the authorization for the use of military force that has passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would prohibit large numbers of U.S. ground troops from entering combat in Iraq and Syria and limit authorization to three years.