Defense News

  • The Army awarded the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle to Oshkosh. The contract could be worth as much as 30 billion dollars. The award is a blow to Lockheed Martin and AM General, the other bidders on the contract. James Tinsley is managing director at Avascent. He's been following the JLTV competition since the beginning and he tells In Depth with Francis Rose that the award to Oshkosh isn't a huge surprise.

    August 26, 2015
  • The Secretary of the Air Force and its Chief of Staff say a full year continuing resolution would have a significant impact on the service, particularly by slowing down or halting as many as 50 acquisition programs.

    August 26, 2015
  • The Air Force says the continuing resolution that’s becoming increasingly likely for the 2016 budget cycle would halt progress on dozens of weapons programs, and probably force it to cancel plans to build its military workforce in key areas. More from Federal News Radio’s DoD reporter Jared Serbu.

    August 25, 2015
  • Defense Department Comptroller Michael McCord sent a reprogramming request to Congress in July asking to move money around to help pay for identity protection and data breach services as well as higher costs for security clearance background investigations.

    August 25, 2015
  • The Defense Department is working on new training and guidance to help its contracting officers decide whether potential contracts are worth the price. The Government Accountability Office sampled 32 commercial contracts. DOD contracting officials asked for cost, pricing and other information to help them determine if contracts were reasonably priced for 12 of them. Bill Woods is director of acquisition and sourcing management issues at GAO. He said it's too early to say whether the Pentagon's training and guidance is working, but he tells In Depth with Francis Rose that contracting officers DO have some challenges.

    August 24, 2015
  • A new analysis from the federally-funded RAND Corporation shows “significant shortcomings” in the forces planned to meet three major defense missions under the military's plan to reduce the active duty Army to 450,000 soldiers.

    August 24, 2015
  • As the Army prepares to graduate the first two female Rangers in its history in a ceremony tomorrow, officials are insisting they did not alter their training standards to accommodate the Army’s first round of female students. But it’s still unclear whether those two new Rangers will ever be allowed to serve in direct ground combat. More from Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu.

    August 20, 2015
  • The Army plans on requesting proposals for the third iterations of its ITES and ADMC contracts by next January. New proposals will likely tackle target areas such as mobility, cloud integration and cybersecurity, but CHESS wants to make sure small businesses are in the running for contracts.

    August 20, 2015
  • The Navy’s top officer says the Pentagon is fighting a congressional proposal that would dramatically reduce take-home pay for tens of thousands of service members by reducing their housing allowances.

    August 19, 2015
  • The Navy’s top officer says the Pentagon is fighting a congressional proposal that would dramatically reduce take-home pay for tens of thousands of servicemembers by reducing their housing allowances. The details from Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu.

    August 19, 2015
  • The Army is reviewing information it got from industry after its industry days for its new Information Technology Enterprise Solutions 3 Services and Army Desktop and Mobile Computing 3 Contracts. Tom Neff is project director for Computer Hardware and Enterprise Software Solutions at PEO Enterprise Information Systems. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the new contracts, what Army users will buy from them, what industry should do to get on them and what the Army hopes the contract will achieve.

    August 19, 2015
  • For people in, or going into the military, the benefits programs — while excellent in some cases — are a mystery. Many people don't realize that members of the uniformed military services are eligible for the government's long term care insurance program.

    August 19, 2015
  • Two women will graduate from the Army's Ranger School Friday. They are the first females to pass the grueling combat training program. But they're not guaranteed assignments with the Ranger regiment. New Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley will likely recommend which jobs should be open to women. Steve Bucci is a senior fellow for homeland security and defense issues at the Heritage Foundation and former assistant deputy secretary of defense and retired Army Special Forces officer. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose, what's next for the Ranger graduates.

    August 18, 2015
  • If progress stalls against the Islamic State terrorist group, the U.S. military should start embedding troops with forces battling the Islamic State militants in Iraq. That's according to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, who's retiring this month after a 39-year Army career. But what's the feasibility of Odierno's recommendation, and would it even work? Retired Lt. Gen. Dave Barno is a former senior American commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and now a distinguished practitioner-in-residence at American University. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to analyze the plan.

    August 17, 2015