Thursday, May 15, 2025
Key Issues Army UAS focus Project Convergence FTUAS cancellation
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.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno spoke in frank terms this morning about the fiscal pressures impacting his service's future modernization plans, making it clear that any large development programs would have to wait, possibly for another decade.
While the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle program is poised for termination due to dramatic cuts in the fiscal year 2014 defense spending bill, an array of other combat vehicle programs received fresh injections of unrequested cash from Congress.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense has pulled the plug on all Army engagements in which service officials might be asked to further justify plans to cut the size of the Army National Guard and restructure the aviation branch, according to Capitol Hill sources, though the Army officially disputes this.
Lawmakers dealt a heavy blow to the Army's troubled Ground Combat Vehicle program in the fiscal year 2014 defense spending bill by slashing the service's $592 million program request to just $100 million.
The Army has awarded BAE Systems a $53 million contract to "pull forward" work on 70 Bradley Fighting Vehicles in an effort to insulate the combat vehicle industrial base from declines in defense spending.
The Pentagon awarded two grants last week to communities in Wisconsin and Texas that have been hit especially hard by layoffs due to defense budget cuts.
The House passed a fiscal year 2014 defense authorization bill last week that did not require the Army and Marine Corps to submit a report to Congress on the investment strategy to accelerate the fuel efficiency of the Abrams tank, but lawmakers did direct the military to begin exploring the matter.
The Defense Department has officially approved the Army's plans to launch the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle program, according to an internal Pentagon memo obtained by InsideDefense.com.
Linda Hudson, the CEO of BAE Systems, said last week that she is worried the nation's combat vehicle industrial base will become increasingly endangered by sequestration-related budget cuts.
President Obama has nominated former Oklahoma lawmaker Brad Carson to become the next under secretary of the Army, according to an announcement from the White House.
One of the Army's top futurists said last week that officials pondering the service's "deep future" want to realign science and technology efforts to explore the acquisition of a lighter tank in preparation for the day when the budgets for big-ticket modernization are reactivated.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) will replace the late Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, according to a statement from the committee.
The Defense Department's inspector general plans to audit the Army and Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program next year, according to a fiscal year 2014 audit plan recently released by the IG.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, accompanied by Adm. William McRaven, the chief of U.S. Special Operations Command, and Gen. John Paxton, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, forcefully made the case today for focusing on strategic landpower -- a concept that they warned was quickly becoming endangered at the Pentagon.
Top Army officials set the stage today for the termination or delay of the Ground Combat Vehicle program due to budget cuts triggered by sequestration.
Army Secretary John McHugh and Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said today that the threat of sequestration, coupled with a continuing resolution, has set the stage to cripple the readiness and capability of the nation's ground forces.
The Paladin Integrated Management program recently received approval from the Pentagon to begin low-rate production, according to an Army statement released this morning.
BAE Systems said today it will close an armored vehicle manufacturing facility in Sealy, TX, by the end of next June, despite previously announced plans to build the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle there.
The Army's Ground Combat Vehicle program is seeking information from industry on a possible combined active protection system and hostile fire detection system, according to a request for information released on Oct. 2.
The leaders of several key manufacturing unions joined BAE Systems today to lobby the Army for increased funding to protect the nation's combat vehicle industrial base, in particular the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.