Wednesday, March 19, 2025
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.
As the American defense community prepares for budget efficiency announcements to be made today by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said the service's primary challenge would be maintaining its combat edge while simultaneously fighting a war and tightening its belt.
Defense analysts at the Lexington Institute have been tough on the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle lately -- one official even went as far as to call the vehicle program "doomed" -- but the service hasn't been shy about defending its strategy.
Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli made a special appearance at a pre-proposal conference for the Ground Combat Vehicle held in Dearborn, MI, on Dec. 18, according to a statement from the service.
The Defense Acquisition Board review of the Army's Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team suite of technologies has been postponed until mid-January due to scheduling conflicts, according to defense officials.
Weapons testers from the Army and the Office of the Secretary of Defense are scheduled to complete the testing of six active-protections systems at the end of January.
Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, the deputy commanding general of Army Training and Doctrine Command and director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, is responding today to critics at the Lexington Institute who have disparaged the Army's vehicle modernization strategy and, in particular, the new plan for the Ground Combat Vehicle.
The Army has announced it will host a pre-proposal conference addressing the Ground Combat Vehicle request for proposals issued Monday, according to a notice posted today on Federal Business Opportunities.
After months of reviews and revisions, the Army today re-released its solicitation for the technology-development phase of the Ground Combat Vehicle program, emphasizing affordability targets and "trade space" that will allow industry increased design freedom.
An Army spokeswoman told InsideDefense.com today that she doesn't believe the service's stalled Tactical Wheeled Vehicle strategy will be published until the end of the month.
While the Army has identified lashing together its disparate communications network as its top modernization priority, it has lost one of the top generals charged with making it happen.
The Army today officially released guidance for a "common operating environment architecture" it will use to tie its stovepiped network together.
In a bid to emphasize the importance of energy efficiency and security, the Army has kicked-started the Defense Department's energy awareness month by renaming a key leadership post and increasing the scope of the office.
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee, in its July mark-up of the fiscal year 2011 defense spending bill, recommended cutting research and development funding for the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle by $100 million and warned the service about pursuing "exotic solutions," according to congressional documents obtained by InsideDefense.com.
The Army's new Ground Combat Vehicle acquisition strategy will reflect the service's desire to incrementally modernize a fundamentally sound vehicle after it is fielded in seven years, something that was lacking in the now-canceled request for proposals process, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said today.
The Army announced today that the industry day for the Ground Combat Vehicle will be held on Oct. 1 in Dearborn, MI.
The product manager for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles said today that Pentagon officials have been discussing the possible procurement of more M-ATVs, as well as different variants.
EL PASO, TX, -- Officials from the Army, the Pentagon and the Government Accountability Office converged at White Sands Missile Range, NM, today to conduct the limited user test of the Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team, a suite of "spin-out" technologies left over from the canceled Future Combat System.
Despite trimming $8 billion from the Obama administration's fiscal year 2011 defense spending request, the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee plans on fully funding many of the Army's ground and aerial vehicle platforms and providing additional funding to some programs, according to statement issued today by the subcommittee.
A recent report on the advisability of converting the Army's tactical truck fleet to hybrid electric vehicles found that while the technology is feasible, it remains too expensive and too risky to warrant any action other than further study.
BAE Systems has won a $629 million contract to upgrade 1,700 Caiman Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, increasing their survivability and mobility, according to a company statement.