AUSA Annual Conference Grows For 1st Time In 6 Years

AUSA Annual Conference Grows For 1st Time In 6 Years
AUSA Annual Conference Grows For 1st Time In 6 Years

WASHINGTON: DC’s biggest defense conference just stopped getting smaller. The Association of the US Army’s annual meeting is a cultural touchstone for the largest service and a leading indicator for the health of the defense industry. Like the Pentagon budget, AUSA attendance peaked during the troop surge in 2010, then shrank rapidly with the drawdowns,…

The Army Gropes Toward A Cultural Revolution

The Army Gropes Toward A Cultural Revolution
The Army Gropes Toward A Cultural Revolution

AUSA: A new generation of generals is rising in the Army. It’s a generation forced to get creative by more than a decade of ugly unconventional conflicts. It’s a generation disillusioned by the mistakes of superiors, military and civilian alike. It’s a generation willing to take on the Army’s bureaucratic culture of top-down management, which…

Army Electronic Warfare ‘Is A Weapon’ – But Cyber Is Sexier

Army Electronic Warfare ‘Is A Weapon’ – But Cyber Is Sexier
Army Electronic Warfare ‘Is A Weapon’ – But Cyber Is Sexier

WASHINGTON: “Electronic warfare is a weapon,” fumed Col. Joe Dupont. But as the Army’s project manager for EW programs — and its recently declassified offensive cyber division — Dupont faces an uphill battle against tight budgets and Army culture to make that case. Whoever rules the airwaves will be able to keep their networks and sensors…

Turkey Boasts New Predator Drone Clone; Displayed At AUSA

Turkey Boasts New Predator Drone Clone; Displayed At AUSA
Turkey Boasts New Predator Drone Clone; Displayed At AUSA

AUSA: If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. and Abraham Karem, inventor of the world-changing Predator drone, should feel praised to the skies. The latest of at least three Predator knockoffs is Turkey’s new Anka, Turkish for phoenix. It’s an unarmed but camera-carrying MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) Unmanned Aerial…

Hagel: Army Role Won’t ‘Erode’; Can Even ‘Broaden’ To Pacific Missile Force

Hagel: Army Role Won’t ‘Erode’; Can Even ‘Broaden’ To Pacific Missile Force
Hagel: Army Role Won’t ‘Erode’; Can Even ‘Broaden’ To Pacific Missile Force

[UPDATED with Congressional comment] Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reassured the Army today that its role is not “eroding” or “diminishing,” despite shrinking budgets, the rebalance to the watery Pacific theater, and the Obama administration’s commitment to “no boots on the ground” against self-proclaimed Islamic State. Instead, echoing comments by the Army’s own leaders, Hagel said…

Shyu On GCV, Upgrades, Sequestration; US ‘Overmatch’ At Stake

Shyu On GCV, Upgrades, Sequestration; US ‘Overmatch’ At Stake
Shyu On GCV, Upgrades, Sequestration; US ‘Overmatch’ At Stake

AUSA: The Honorable Shyu, as everyone in the military calls the head of Army acquisition, is often bright, humorous and insightful. Today, she got passionate in public, clearly frustrated at the painful limits that the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration have forced her to adopt. American military power has traditionally rested on technological overmatch. We…

Reserve, Guard May Deploy Against Ebola: New Missions, New Tensions

Reserve, Guard May Deploy Against Ebola: New Missions, New Tensions
Reserve, Guard May Deploy Against Ebola: New Missions, New Tensions

AUSA: Even as the first wave of 4,000 Army regulars deploys to West Africa, the service’s mobilization command is preparing for a possible call-up of Reserve and National Guard troops to replace them in six months, Lt. Gen. Michael Tucker told me today. “There are no orders yet,” the First Army commander cautioned, just precautionary…

Ukrainians Shop AUSA Floor For Drones, Armored Vehicles

Ukrainians Shop AUSA Floor For Drones, Armored Vehicles
Ukrainians Shop AUSA Floor For Drones, Armored Vehicles

AUSA: With a long border to protect from Russia and $116 million in non-lethal U.S. military aid burning a hole in their pockets, representatives of Ukraine’s defense industry conglomerate UkrObornProm –“The State Concern” — came to the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference in Washington with a shopping list. Industry sources said the Ukrainians…

New Army Vice ‘Extremely Concerned’ On Readiness

New Army Vice ‘Extremely Concerned’ On Readiness
New Army Vice ‘Extremely Concerned’ On Readiness

AUSA: Expanding on Chief of Staff Ray Odierno’s concerns, the Army’s new Vice-Chief of Staff detailed how “fragile” the service’s readiness is in the face of a 2016 sequester. “We’re in a much better place than we were… a year ago,” said Gen. Daniel Allyn, who until August headed the Army’s main readiness outfit, Forces…

New Weapons Spell Death For Drones; The Countermeasure Dance

New Weapons Spell Death For Drones; The Countermeasure Dance
New Weapons Spell Death For Drones; The Countermeasure Dance

AUSA: For years, Predator drones have been able to fly unopposed through most of their missions. If we can do that, you can be sure other countries are working hard to deploy drones to do to us as we have done to them. Taking the classic dance of measure and countermeasure, strike and counterstrike, the Army and other…

490K Soldiers May Not Be Enough:  Odierno

490K Soldiers May Not Be Enough:  Odierno
490K Soldiers May Not Be Enough: Odierno

AUSA: 490,000 Army soldiers may not be enough to cope with an increasingly unstable world. Two years ago — before the rise of the Islamic State, before Russia’s stealth invasion of Ukraine, before Ebola erupted in Africa — Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno testified that an army of 490,000 active-duty troops, 350,000 Guard soldiers, and…

Army’s Message At AUSA: Don’t Cut ‘Foundational Force’

Army’s Message At AUSA: Don’t Cut ‘Foundational Force’
Army’s Message At AUSA: Don’t Cut ‘Foundational Force’

AUSA HEADQUARTERS: It is time for the tribes to gather. Monday is the opening of the Association of the US Army’s modestly named Annual Meeting. With roughly 30,000 people likely to attend over three days, it is the largest defense conference of the year despite a post-Iraq decline. This mega-event is also a microcosm of…

Army Should Build Ship-Killer Missiles: Rep. Randy Forbes

Army Should Build Ship-Killer Missiles: Rep. Randy Forbes
Army Should Build Ship-Killer Missiles: Rep. Randy Forbes

WASHINGTON: China has an arsenal of long-range ship-killing missiles, based on land but able to hit US warships hundreds of miles offshore. Now the chairman of the House seapower subcommittee suggests we give them a taste of their own “anti-access/area denial” medicine. Why shouldn’t the US Army develop its own land-based anti-ship missile force? Rep.…

SOCOM, Allies Buy Lightweight DAGOR Truck; Debuts At AUSA

SOCOM, Allies Buy Lightweight DAGOR Truck; Debuts At AUSA
SOCOM, Allies Buy Lightweight DAGOR Truck; Debuts At AUSA

WASHINGTON: It’s six days until the largest defense conference of the year, the Association of the US Army’s annual meeting, and here at Breaking Defense our email runneth over. Amidst the missives touting everything from “e-learning solutions” to free steak dinners for reporters, though, this one in particular caught our eye. On first sight, it’s a…