Combat Vehicles

The Army officer overseeing armored combat vehicle developments is worried about future upgrades to electronic systems on fighting vehicles, arguing the existing multitude of proprietary formats could make such an undertaking unmanageable.

Congress has granted the Defense Department a modicum of budget relief, granting permission to shift $3.9 billion between accounts as part of a reallocation of previously appropriated funds, injecting more than $350 million in additional spending into weapons modernization accounts and giving the Pentagon a green light to launch three new-start projects.

The Marine Corps last month conducted a futuristic war game to analyze how the ground-combat element would fight using capabilities the service expects to have by 2017 against an adversary with advanced, high-end weaponry.

The Defense Department inspector general's office has announced it will begin auditing the Army's Paladin Integrated Management program.

A House-Senate conference of defense authorizers has approved a request by the Army and General Dynamics to put 30 mm guns on 81 Europe-based Stryker vehicles, at a cost of $411 million in fiscal year 2016.

The Marine Corps will take the same approach to cut costs with its Amphibious Combat Vehicle Increment 1.1 effort that the Navy took with its amphibious ship replacement, according to a service official.

Army leaders are expected to promulgate a "mixed" modernization plan for the service's combat vehicle fleet to hedge against the possibility of funding drops in the future, according to a soon-to-be released strategy document.

The Army is delaying a key acquisition decision for its Future Fighting Vehicle by eight years, focusing on more urgent capability gaps in the near term, according to internal budget documents obtained by InsideDefense.com.

Outgoing Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said the Army has -- for the first time -- a good sense of what kinds of modernization programs it should pursue.