Lawmakers agreed to increase oversight of the Army's massive Future Combat Systems program and pared down proposed cuts to the program's research and development efforts when House and Senate conferees met yesterday to harmonize their versions of the fiscal year 2009 defense authorization bill. The resulting legislation reduces the FCS procurement request by nearly $138 million -- since Spin Out 1 hardware buys are delayed until FY-10 -- and adds $33 million to research, development, test and evaluation accounts for...
