House appropriators issued a stern rebuke of the Pentagon's fiscal management in a report citing "a disturbing degradation" of the system established more than four decades ago for constructing and executing Defense Department budgets.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno today pushed back against language proposed by the Republican-controlled House Armed Services Committee that would interfere with the Obama administration's plans to reduce the size of the ground service.

The Air Force does not have the resources or the need to buy the F-35B, the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter developed for the Marine Corps, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said today.

The Defense Department expects a near-term surge in foreign military sales of its premier short-range, air-to-air missile, the Sidewinder Block II, which could net Raytheon orders for as many as 883 additional missiles for 10 nations, according to military officials and documents.

House appropriators are recommending a $5.3 billion boost in Pentagon procurement spending, including major funding increases for missile defense, tactical fighters and military vehicles.

A simulated exercise with NATO and Russian missile-defense assets showed improved effectiveness against attacks when the former Cold-War enemies synchronized their operations in a single command-and-control center, according to the summary of a draft after-action report of the event.

Concerned that China and Iran's development of anti-access and area-denial capabilities reflect an effective cost-imposing strategy against the United States, an inauspicious dynamic that could squeeze the U.S. military "under conditions of fiscal austerity" -- a House panel has commissioned a one-year Pentagon study to recommend ways to try to turn the tables.

The Army is eying plans to reprogram nearly half of its budget for the on-the-move network backbone system known as Warfighter Information Network Tactical Increment 2, a move that might signal a larger shift in the service's equipping strategy, according to officials.

The Navy has locked in a key evaluation criterion for bidders on its Next Generation Enterprise Network contract, a deal expected to be worth at least $4.5 billion.

The Navy late yesterday released the long-awaited final request for proposals for the multibillion-dollar Next Generation Enterprise Network that will serve hundreds of thousands of Marines, sailors and civilians, according to a Navy statement.

The Air Force will not take into account "fully burdened" fuel costs as part of its competition for a Combat Rescue Helicopter, arguing the metric -- which some experts say should be used in weapon system acquisitions to evaluate the total cost of operating a new capability -- is too complicated to calculate.

The House Armed Services Committee today voted to ban the Defense Department from buying or producing alternative fuels if they cost more than fossil fuels.

Lockheed Martin will join the Hewlett Packard-led team pursuing the Navy's Next Generation Enterprise Network contract, according to an internal memo sent to HP employees May 8 and obtained by Inside the Navy.

Independent cost analysts in the Office of the Secretary of Defense last summer estimated the average unit production cost for the Ground Combat Vehicle would be $17 million -- 30 percent higher than the $13 million price tag the Pentagon's acquisition executive formally adopted in an August decision to modernization the Army's infantry fighting vehicle, according to a new DOD report.

The average unit cost of Littoral Combat Ships, not including their mission modules, is $420 million, which is $118 million under the congressional cost cap for the program, LCS Program Executive Officer Rear Adm. James Murdoch told reporters in a teleconference today.

The service chiefs will settle on new initial operational capability targets for each F-35 Joint Strike Fighter variant when the program finalizes its development plan around September, the program head told reporters today.

NATO nations should not organize their withdrawals from Afghanistan in isolation, the organization's top transformation official said today.

The Army's plans to downsize its number of heavy brigade combat teams, coupled with the Defense Department's new Asia-Pacific strategy, could weaken the service's case for a new Ground Combat Vehicle or at least lower the required quantity, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Lawmakers have approved a Pentagon request to shift more than $300 million between missile defense accounts to support immediate needs, including funding required to avoid a stop-work order on the Next Generation Aegis Missile -- a weapon that figures prominently in the Obama administration's plan to defend Europe from Iranian missiles.

Air Force and Navy testers are awaiting the OK to begin operational testing of the AIM-9X Block II missile, a one-year assessment required before full-rate production of the Pentagon's most advanced short-range air-to-air missile can begin.