Washington: Less than a week after the Army awarded multimillion development deals for its Ground Combat Vehicle, an industry protest has brought the program to a grinding halt. The protest was filed with the Government Accountability Office today by the SAIC-Boeing team, which lost out on the large Army contract. Last Friday, the Army awarded… Keep reading →

Mt. Airy, N.C. – Behind the cornfields and gravel pits in the hills of this small North Carolina town sits an off-road test track. The two-mile trail, owned by defense firm Granite Tactical Systems, is where I put the company’s upgraded Humvee through its paces this week. A Granite-Textron team is pitching their advanced version… Keep reading →

Mt. Airy, N.C. – Some have questioned the Army’s decision to pump millions into the aging Humvee, especially with defense spending expected to take a tumble over the next few years. Opponents argue the Humvee is simply an old warhorse that needs to be put down, replaced by more advanced systems already in the field,… Keep reading →

When Secretary Panetta visited troops in Afghanistan and Iraq last month, press reports heralded his “rough and tumble” rhetoric and “salty” exchanges with the troops. But beneath these lighthearted personal moments lies a serious truth: short of the president, no one bears greater responsibility for the safety and well being of our military volunteers than… Keep reading →

Washington: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has moved to gag communications between the Pentagon and Congress on the highly sensitive issue of the congressional Super Committee. In an Aug. 18 memo to all senior officials, Panetta ordered them to “coordinate any contact with the ‘Super Committee’ through his assistant secretary for legislative affairs, Elizabeth King. We… Keep reading →

Washington: The Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle is not out of the woods yet, and could still be scrapped for a more affordable option if costs get out of control, the service’s top program official said today. If program costs exceed the $10.5 million price tag per vehicle the Army is expecting for the GCV, then… Keep reading →

Washington: The top defense and budget leaders in the House of Representatives want the director of the Office of Management and Budget and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to tell them more about the administration’s top-level defense review and clarification about just what will happen if the Super Congress can’t cut $1.2 trillion from the budget.… Keep reading →

Washington: Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead is betting that unmanned underwater systems will be the future for the Navy, and he is already taking steps to ensure that future becomes reality. As questions circulate over the feasibility of the Navy’s shipbuilding plans and the viability of its current surface fleet, unmanned underwater vehicles… Keep reading →

Washington: The old saying, ‘if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense’ has become more or less the mantra among attendees at this year’s Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International trade show. Affordability and cost savings have been the buzz words among the companies at this year’s show, for everyone from the top-tier defense… Keep reading →

d The invitation came to me from Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s public affairs office to attend a “conversation” with Panetta and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton at the prestigious National Defense University in Washington. Although I knew it wasn’t me they wanted to talk to, I sat in the audience to hear Panetta and… Keep reading →