Army Pushes 600 Programs From Acquisition To Sustainment

Army Pushes 600 Programs From Acquisition To Sustainment
Army Pushes 600 Programs From Acquisition To Sustainment

The multi-million-dollar move will help Army Futures Command focus on new technology while Army Materiel Command focuses on sustaining the current force, Gen. Gus Perna told us.

Army Moves $25B To Big Six, From New Tanks To 6.8mm Rifle

Army Moves $25B To Big Six, From New Tanks To 6.8mm Rifle
Army Moves $25B To Big Six, From New Tanks To 6.8mm Rifle

The Army plans to move at least $25 billion over the next five years from low-priority programs to preparing for major war. That includes developing a wide variety of new weapons, from high-speed aircraft, to partially-robotic armored vehicles, to a long-ranged 6.8 millimeter rifle to replace the venerable M16/M4 family and its controversial 5.56 mm round.

Guns, Drones, & Augmented Reality: Army Seeks Infantry Revolution

Guns, Drones, & Augmented Reality: Army Seeks Infantry Revolution
Guns, Drones, & Augmented Reality: Army Seeks Infantry Revolution

The catch, of course, is that the Army’s tried to field all these things before — and failed. Why would things go any better this time around? Brig. Gen. Christopher Donahue has an answer for that.

Mattis Upguns Infantry: Task Force To Invest Over $1B

Mattis Upguns Infantry: Task Force To Invest Over $1B
Mattis Upguns Infantry: Task Force To Invest Over $1B

PENTAGON: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a former Marine Corps rifle platoon leader, wants better technology and training to keep frontline foot troops alive. He sent a Feb. 8 memo (below) to the Joint Chiefs, service chiefs, combatant commanders, and other top officials to create a Close Combat Lethality Task Force, applying the kind of top-level…

Army Hopes For $6.8B From FY18 Budget Deal: 70% For Modernization

Army Hopes For $6.8B From FY18 Budget Deal: 70% For Modernization
Army Hopes For $6.8B From FY18 Budget Deal: 70% For Modernization

UPDATED: Adds SecArmy Esper Roundtable PENTAGON: The figures aren’t final, but the Army hopes to get about $6.8 billion in additional funding for fiscal year 2018 thanks to the recently concluded budget deal, Army Secretary Mark Esper said this morning. The service’s new plan would start delivering a Next Generation Squad Weapon to the infantry…

Army Killed New Carbine Because It Wasn’t Twice As Reliable As Current M4

Army Killed New Carbine Because It Wasn’t Twice As Reliable As Current M4
Army Killed New Carbine Because It Wasn’t Twice As Reliable As Current M4

The Army has half a million M4 carbines, the lightweight version of the Vietnam-vintage M16. So if the service was going to invest in a replacement, it wanted a “leap ahead” that would, among other things, cut in half the number of times the weapon jammed – a criterion the Army has not made clear…

Army Kills New Carbine, Preempting Congress; Industry Groans, ‘Not Again!’

Army Kills New Carbine, Preempting Congress; Industry Groans, ‘Not Again!’
Army Kills New Carbine, Preempting Congress; Industry Groans, ‘Not Again!’

“Everybody loses, go home”: That’s what the US Army told the six gunmakers competing to build a new Individual Carbine to replace the widely used M4, itself a derivative of the venerable M16. Of course, it would have helped if the Army had told the competitors the right kind of ammo to fire (more on…

Army Pushes New Training, Tech For Infantry Squads

Army Pushes New Training, Tech For Infantry Squads
Army Pushes New Training, Tech For Infantry Squads

The Army has launched a major effort to strengthen its seven thousand infantry squads — an effort that will require overcoming cultural and bureaucratic resistance to succeed. Light-infantry traditionalists will have to get over their longstanding suspicion of digital technology both on the battlefield and in training, which will increasingly rely on simulations. Tech geeks…