Army Struggles To Open Up To Industry

Army Struggles To Open Up To Industry
Army Struggles To Open Up To Industry

WILLIAMSBURG, Va.: The next time the Army holds a conference on how to improve its relations with industry, it should actually let industry into the most important session, Maj. Gen. Bo Dyess told his four-star superiors at the Army Innovation Summit here. It just has to get around its own lawyers. This week’s conference — the third…

Should US Unleash War Robots? Frank Kendall Vs. Bob Work, Army

Should US Unleash War Robots? Frank Kendall Vs. Bob Work, Army
Should US Unleash War Robots? Frank Kendall Vs. Bob Work, Army

WILLIAMSBURG, Va.: The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, Frank Kendall, warned today that the US might hobble itself in future warfare by insisting on human control of thinking weapons if our adversaries just let their robots pull the trigger. Kendall even worries that Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work is being too optimistic when Work says humans and machines working together will beat…

US Army Plans Stockpiles in Vietnam, Cambodia: Hello China

US Army Plans Stockpiles in Vietnam, Cambodia: Hello China
US Army Plans Stockpiles in Vietnam, Cambodia: Hello China

HUNTSVILLE, ALA: The Army plans to stockpile equipment in Vietnam, Cambodia, and other Pacific countries yet unnamed that will allow US forces to deploy there more rapidly, because key supplies and gear will already be in place. The new caches will be well inside what China considers its sphere of influence. Army Materiel Command chief Gen. Dennis Via emphasized…

Full-Year CR Will Hurt 400 Army Programs; Helos Hit Hard: Shyu & Via

Full-Year CR Will Hurt 400 Army Programs; Helos Hit Hard: Shyu & Via
Full-Year CR Will Hurt 400 Army Programs; Helos Hit Hard: Shyu & Via

AUSA: If Congress can’t pass proper spending bills for 2016, it will hurt more than 400 Army programs and damage combat readiness, two senior officials said here today. “I have a binder yea-thick of impacts,” Heidi Shyu, the Army’s senior acquisition official, told reporters today, holding her fingers several inches apart. “Over 400 programs are impacted if…

Shyu Mum On More Acquisition Powers For Odierno

Shyu Mum On More Acquisition Powers For Odierno
Shyu Mum On More Acquisition Powers For Odierno

HUNTSVILLE, ALA: There seems to be little support for Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno‘s push for the four service chiefs to get greater authority over procurement — not even from the Army’s civilian head of acquisition Heidi Shyu. It’s not actually clear exactly what Odierno wants. “We’re still working through the exact authorities” in response to a congressional request for more detail, Odierno…

AWA Is NOT NIE: Army Tries To Buy Weapons That Work

AWA Is NOT NIE: Army Tries To Buy Weapons That Work
AWA Is NOT NIE: Army Tries To Buy Weapons That Work

UPDATED 10:55 with Deputy Assistant Secretary Miller comments HUNTSVILLE, ALA: After 20 years of costly and cancelled programs, the US Army wants to break its weapons-buying system wide open. This time, service leaders swear, will be different from previous, failed reforms. The pinnacle of the new process will be something called the Army Warfighting Assessment,…

Military Can Close Bases WITHOUT Congress’s OK: ‘Take Your Chances,’ Says Hill Staffer

Military Can Close Bases WITHOUT Congress’s OK: ‘Take Your Chances,’ Says Hill Staffer
Military Can Close Bases WITHOUT Congress’s OK: ‘Take Your Chances,’ Says Hill Staffer

AUSA WINTER, HUNTSVILLE, ALA.: Fear is in the air. “The commercial base will disappear,” Boeing executive James Moran believes. It’s not just sequestration, the retired brigadier general said this morning at the Association of the US Army’s winter conference. There is real anxiety among defense contractors that as budgets tighten, the Army will starve private…

Army Generals Detail Huge Sequestration Impacts On Retention, Morale

FORT LAUDERDALE: When war comes down to boots on the ground, the Army’s greatest asset is its people. But in fiscal terms people are also its greatest liability. And now some procedural peculiarities of the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, set to start on Friday, will make personnel costs much harder to handle in…