April – June issue of Army AL&T magazine available online now
By Steve Stark
Fort Belvoir, VA, March 30, 2015—The U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center announced today that the April – June 2015 edition of Army AL&T magazine, themed “revamping acquisition and lessons learned” is now available online now.
The facets of acquisition are many, and not all of them are within the Army’s control. Revamping acquisition—the theme of this issue—requires teamwork, professionalism, planning, precision and skill, and in many ways, the Army is doing what it can to accomplish this already. Consider the DODwide Better Buying Power. BBP, begun in 2010, is on version 3.0 and is having the desired effect on acquisition. Read Army AL&T’s interview with the Hon. Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, in “Progress Report” on Page 14 to see his thinking on the evolution of BBP and what it means for revamping acquisition. Former USD(AT&L) Dr. Jacques Gansler is the subject of our “Critical Thinking” interview; in which the father of the Gansler Report talks about the current environment and how changes he recommended years ago are progressing.
There is a widespread recognition that things must change in light of operational changes and budget uncertainties, and that’s why a team from the U.S. Army Operational Test Command is proposing a new, integrated model for testing that would enable commanders to opt into upcoming operational testing. Read about it in “Testing, Tested” on Page 30.
The future command post won’t be a post at all, but more like a much lighter, mobile command center that will work anywhere Soldiers are. Read about the “unplugged” command post in “Next-Gen Command Post” on Page 41.
The future is small in a very big way, as the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center looks to nanotechnology to advance future food packaging and textiles, creating new and better ways of packaging MREs and even Soldiers themselves. That’s in “The Big Picture Is Small,” Page 92.
It’s fitting that in this issue, the director of the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center (USAASC), Craig A. Spisak, outlines the ways in which USAASC is revamping itself to better align its support to those who need it. Read more in “Reorganizing for Success” on Page 158.
We launched a new feature in the last issue called “Industry Insight,” featuring a view from “the other side of the fence.” In this issue the National Defense Industrial Association’s Will Goodman, assistant vice president for policy, shows how certain impediments to getting things done in defense acquisition are a feature of the acquisition system, not a bug, and trace back hundreds of years. That doesn’t mean he thinks that acquisition is just fine as it is. Read more on Page 139.
Go to https://asc.army.mil/web/publications/army-alt-magazine/ to view the online magazine or download the PDF.
View the interactive e-magazine online, or download the PDF.
Army AL&T—the app—is now available for the following devices on the iTunes App Store and Google Play:
iPhone and iPad
Android Devices
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