Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has issued guidance significantly narrowing the number of potential changes the department will consider in its review of fiscal year 2014 military investment plans, according to Pentagon and service sources.
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The Defense Department obligated nearly $200 billion during July and August, significantly reducing its unobligated balances for fiscal year 2012, according to data provided this week by the Pentagon.
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In a bid to boost program planning, Defense Department acquisition chief Frank Kendall is directing officials to enter all unclassified milestone documents into a new searchable document repository within a week of their formal approval.
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Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey's new vision for the U.S.
military of 2020, a high-profile effort to steer the Defense Department's
doctrine and investments, is drawing a mix of strong criticism, cheers and shoulder
shrugs from former national security officials days after its release.2039 words
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey's new vision for the U.S. military of 2020 carries with it significant risks, including the possibility that new communications capabilities deemed essential might be vulnerable to enemy action or too costly or complex to build in the first place.
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Sen. John
McCain (R-AZ), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee,
released a statement Wednesday urging defense contractors to issue WARN Act
notifications to employees who may lose their jobs due to sequestration.
"President Obama is telling defense contractors to ignore the law so that those
layoff notices will not be delivered before the November elections," McCain
said. "To incentivize contractors to comply, the White House promises to use
taxpayer dollars to pay all costs incurred by un-WARNed layoffs, such as
employee salaries and legal fees, if layoffs occur after sequestration takes
effect in January."99 words
The V-22 Osprey program is moving ahead with plans to contract with Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing for non-recurring engineering work needed to install long-overdue cockpit voice recorders on the Defense Department's fleet of tiltrotor aircraft.
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The Defense
Department's growing military capacity, investments in new warfighting
capabilities and other measures show that the Pentagon will uphold its
increased security commitments in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Deputy
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.949 words
Citing
concerns about the adequacy of proposed government plans to test and evaluate
Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, the Pentagon's top weapon tester last month
advised Defense Department leaders he would not approve the statutorily
required JSF test and evaluation master plan without key revisions, such as
plans to subject the F-35 to "operationally realistic" electronic warfare
threats.477 words
A Marine
Corps pilot flew a short-takeoff, vertical-landing variant of the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter this week in an aerial refueling demonstration.304 words
The Pentagon
next month will begin publicly exploring ways to open up select portions of the
Joint Strike Fighter program to competition, which could create opportunities
for other defense contractors to grab a small slice of the estimated $1.1
trillion cost to sustain the new fighter fleet.611 words
Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta last week weighed in on the protracted negotiations
between Lockheed Martin and the government over the fifth production run of the
Joint Strike Fighter, calling the talks "difficult" but expressing confidence
in an eventual agreement.446 words
The Senate's new bipartisan caucus for unmanned aerial systems would examine issues related to importing and exporting drones and could expand its purview to include land- and sea-based systems.
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Defense Department acquisition chief Frank Kendall will support defense components' proposals to reduce acquisition workforce levels if officials present proper justification in advance, he writes in a recent memo.
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The Air Force's general ledger program lacks the "critical functional capabilities" to generate accurate and reliable financial management information, which could hurt the service's ability to meet audit-readiness deadlines, the Pentagon's inspector general's office writes in a new report.
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The Army will
assume management of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle program from
the Marine Corps on Oct. 1, though the program will remain under the
jurisdiction of the Navy secretary until a formal stand-down takes place at the
end of fiscal year 2013, according to a service spokesman.565 words
Far from
being a defunct idea, the "1,000-ship navy" championed by former Chief of Naval
Operations Adm. Michael Mullen is "alive and well" thanks in part to the
service's shift in focus to the Asia-Pacific, the current CNO said Sept. 27.233 words
All Defense
Department managers and military commanders were put on notice last week by the
Pentagon's No. 2 official: Don't do anything different under the assumption
that sequestration will be implemented.328 words
The Pentagon
has launched 14 efforts to rapidly transition mature technologies into pilot
projects that could find permanent homes in the military's arsenal, with each
one aimed at resolving an immediate need identified by combatant commanders.801 words
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