“Everything that we can knock off that list we will do in the archipelago…because that allows us to do the tests in the environment that the vessel will operate in ultimately,” said Maj. Gen. Jered Helwig.
By Ashley RoqueMeanwhile, the Air Force’s Vice Chief of Staff Gen James Slife said his service has several “compelling programs in the pipeline” but they are “not quite as technologically mature as some of the Army programs.”
By Ashley RoqueIn addition to halting the FARA competition, service leaders want to end UH-60 V Blackhawk production, postpone moving the Improved Turbine Engine Program into production, and phase out legacy drones.
By Ashley Roque“Each of the services nominated capabilities for consideration in the selection process, based on a warfighter-centric set of criteria,” a Pentagon spokesman told Breaking Defense.
By Jaspreet Gill“Think about Ukraine as an island… we are not allowed to cross the border,” Army Materiel Command’s deputy Lt. Gen. Christopher Mohan told Breaking Defense.
By Ashley RoqueThe service has sent hundreds of ground combat vehicles to Ukraine since February 2022, and Maj. Gen. Glenn Dean warned that “sustainment challenges” abound without additional dollars.
By Ashley Roque“You can have a terrific piece of gear, but if it’s very difficult to train, it’s just not going to be as effective or if it’s too expensive to train on, it’s not going to be as affordable for the Army to do at scale and everything the Army does is at vast scale,” Doug Bush said.
By Jaspreet Gill“We’re close to understanding what exactly the problem was, which will inform our path to getting back to testing,” said Army acquisition head Doug Bush.
By Ashley Roque“If the… 58-cal cannon solution can’t deliver on a timeline we want, what are the other options? That can be munitions…new munitions with old cannons and it can be different cannons,” said Army acquisition head Doug Bush.
By Ashley Roque and Michael Marrow“What we learned was, given the requirements we gave the vendor, it just was going to cost more. … You don’t want to see that, but it’s going to happen sometimes,” Army acquisition chief Doug Bush said.
By Ashley RoqueBill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, noted that China doesn’t have to deal with this kind of budget chaos. “We can teach them how to do that. That would be helpful,” he said.
By Breaking Defense Staff“I’m happy to report that toxic fumes were one of our concerns at the production decision and we’ve been doing some engineering and testing, and I can confidently say today that that is an issue that is behind us,” an Army official said.
By Ashley RoqueThe service is deciding if it will continue onward with a SEPv4 Abrams and future upgrades or find a new future main battle tank.
By Ashley RoqueWith the war in Ukraine raging, missile and other munition production seems like a sure bet. But the Pentagon knows industry is wary of getting burned should attitudes change and is trying to offer novel reassurances.
By Ashley Roque