Buying and
operating a dozen new nuclear ballistic missile submarines will cost the
Defense Department $347 billion over the life of the boats, according to a memo
signed this month by the Pentagon's acquisition chief.981 words
A month and a
half before the planned closure of the major Pentagon office that handles
computer networks, the Defense Department does not have a finalized plan to
accomplish the task, according to the department's comptroller.1144 words
Senior Marine
Corps officials were at odds this week over how long it will take to field a
replacement for the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.1074 words
The $2.3
billion set aside in the Pentagon's fiscal year 2012 budget request to support
cybersecurity efforts spans a variety of initiatives, including a $500 million
boost for the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency and $500 million for the
Joint Operations Center of U.S. Cyber Command over five years.605 words
The House
this week voted to strip funding for the Joint Strike Fighter F136 alternate
engine program from the fiscal year 2011 defense appropriations bill, adopting
an amendment introduced by Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL). The vote hands Defense
Secretary Robert Gates a major victory in his effort to adjust the Pentagon's
budget. In a statement released via DOD spokesman Geoff Morrell, Gates "is
gratified that the full House has recognized the merits of the Department's
position in opposing the JSF extra engine."83 words
The head of
the National Nuclear Security Administration expressed confidence this week
that his agency would be able to improve its project management functions to
the point where the Government Accountability Office would no longer consider
NNSA a "high-risk" organization.533 words
U.S. Special
Operations Command plans to cut $2.3 billion over five years to reinvest the
savings by flattening its headquarters structure, cutting and managing cost
growth in acquisition programs and limiting the growth of civilian positions.678 words
An Air Force
program designed to help the service better manage its finances is waiting for
a soon-to-be-released memo that will set a schedule for a combined milestone
B-C decision, according to a source with knowledge of the program.896 words
The
Pentagon's fiscal year 2012 budget request includes $24.5 million for the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Long Range Anti-Ship Missile
(LRASM) demonstration, $43 million less than was programmed for the new start
in FY-11.406 words
U.S.
capabilities aimed at stopping a major cyberattack have considerable room for
improvement, a high-ranking intelligence official conceded last week in
testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.538 words
The Pentagon
is working to beef up a handful of points in the better buying guidance it
released last September, according to the Defense Department's acquisition
chief.368 words
In hopes of
encouraging meaningful engagement with industry, the Obama administration has
directed the Pentagon and other executive agencies to develop plans laying out
how they intend to communicate with vendors.1278 words
The Pentagon
needs at least $540 billion for the current fiscal year, Defense Secretary
Robert Gates said Feb. 14 -- $9 billion less than DOD originally requested for
FY-11, but still $8 billion more than the House Appropriations Committee
proposed last week in a bill that could be the military's last, best chance to
avoid a continuing resolution for the entire fiscal year.615 words
The Obama
administration this week outlined a fiscal year 2012 Pentagon budget that
includes $113 billion for weapon system procurement -- $7 billion less than
previously planned -- but lays a five-year plan to annually lift modernization
investments to $137 billion by FY-16.833 words
The White
House this week threatened to veto the fiscal year 2011 defense appropriations
bill drawn up by House Republicans last week as part of a larger spending
measure to fund the federal government through September that would cut $100
billion from planned spending, including $8 billion from the Defense
Department.399 words
U.S. Army
Special Operations Command is pursuing a new light ground vehicle as it eyes
gaps in its ground mobility capabilities, according to a top service official.393 words
The Army this
week asked Congress for a fiscal year 2012 base budget of $145 billion, plus
$71 billion for war costs, seeking a significant plus-up for aviation programs
and requesting $884 million to develop the Ground Combat Vehicle.960 words
The Defense
Department is scrutinizing the sprawling system of "intelligence-like
organizations" that sprang up to support combat operations in Afghanistan and
Iraq with an eye toward shrinking the number needed as the U.S. military begins
to withdraw troops from both countries, according to a Jan. 28 memo from the
department's intelligence chief.584 words
The Missile
Defense Agency plans to hold three flight tests during the remaining months of
fiscal year 2011, according to officials and documents.314 words
A year-long
congressional continuing resolution would not affect the Missile Defense
Agency's awarding of a multimillion-dollar Ground-based Midcourse Defense
contract, according to MDA's deputy director.556 words
Pentagon
officials have decided to let the Medium Extended Air Defense System expire in
2014, opting against an outright termination but withholding a $1 billion
funding boost officials believe would be needed to plug monetary shortfall in
the trans-Atlantic cooperation program, according to a fact sheet released by
the Defense Department.204 words
The Navy
heavily boosted Fire Scout buys, added seven P-8As to the future years defense
plan and made the expected additions and subtractions to its F/A-18E/F Super
Hornet procurement and Joint Strike Fighter buys, according to the president's
fiscal year 2012 budget proposal rolled out this week.1114 words
In his first
public comments since taking over as program executive officer of the Joint
Strike Fighter program last year, Vice. Adm. David Venlet said this week that
the program is adding more than 1,800 test flights to the schedule and pulling
in production aircraft to help bear the testing load in a bid to get the
troubled program back on track.796 words
The U.S.
intelligence community was not caught off guard by last month's first flight of
China's J-20 stealth fighter and has concluded that the aircraft program --
which has been described in initial reports as a fifth-generation platform --
faces numerous hurdles before reaching its "full potential," Director of
National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress last week.570 words
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