Fort Belvoir, Va. (October 1, 2019)— Support of the future force involves countless people Soldiers are likely ever to meet: contracting specialists, researchers, procurement officers, lab techs, project managers, civilian…
OTAs are charting a new path to make sure warfighters in the future fight get innovative care. by Ramin A. Khalili Just a few hours after a trio of late-night…
Cyber Center of Excellence program aims to expand partnerships and close capability gaps through experimentation.
Army, Marines, U.K. collaborate to develop lightweight ammunition to reduce Soldiers’ load.
Software acquisition doesn’t really fit with the Federal Acquisition Regulation. What is it—a product or a service? by Dante E. Milledge The world of software acquisition, which I work in,…
Adaptive squad architecture will assist in identifying, defining and maintaining interfaces, which will enable the squad to be managed as an integrated platform.
The Forge is an open door for industry to collaborate with the Army on cybersecurity operations, fostering innovation and speeding solution delivery. by Ellen Summey It’s a lesson most of…
The Army needs to embrace advanced manufacturing at the beginning of new system development to surpass potential foes. by Dr. Alexis Lasselle Ross In the future, advanced manufacturing techniques like…
By Jacqueline M. Hames In the future, what we call advanced manufacturing today will just be manufacturing. That doesn’t mean it will be obsolete, just that it will get more…
The Army’s xTechSearch competition creates an innovation pipeline to the small business ecosystem to enable next-generation technologies from nontraditional suppliers. by Dr. Matt Willis “The Army needs that private-sector…
The winner of the first xTechSearch works to scale itself and its product. by Zeke Topolosky and Dr. Matt Willis Adranos Inc. is a Purdue University-affiliated company that won the…
Middle-tier acquisition authority features flexible prototype and fielding options. by Douglas Burbey, Mindy Gabbert and Kathryn Bailey The Army is employing one more option for programs of record to…
Fifth in a series of articles on how the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command is supporting the Army’s six modernization priorities. By Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins A fleet…
China controls roughly 90 percent of the rare-earth materials used in high-tech manufacturing, but the United States, Australia and Japan are exploring new sources that could end the Chinese monopoly….
Laser weapons, high-powered microwave weapons and hypersonic weapons are on the horizon for the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office. The office takes the products out of the lab, transitioning…
Security Assistance Command explores how to expedite the process of getting rid of the Army’s old equipment. by Marcus Mackey The U.S. Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) is demonstrating a…
Soldiers of the 3rd BCT and Vanderbilt University develop a new business model without any explicit direction or permission from highest levels of leadership. by 1st Lt. Austin Herrling GPS,…
Internship program gives participants a look at SOCOM’s approach to acquisition. by Maj. Jonathan Harmeling “Very few people will ever be able to say they have been here,” the U.S….
Picatinny Arsenal is new home for Defense Acquisition University program. By Audra Calloway Until now, acquisition professionals at Picatinny Arsenal had to travel significant distances to attend Senior Service College,…
Three events are critical in developing the concept of operations for terrain shaping obstacles. by Lt. Col. Phillip Poteet New capabilities are seldom new. Most have the benefit of past…
Fourth in a series of articles on how the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command is supporting the Army’s six modernization priorities. by Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins A small…
Phased rollout of IPPS-A starts with U.S. Army Reserve. by Steve Stark Beginning in the third quarter of fiscal 2019, perhaps as early as August, the Acquisition Career Record Brief…
Automatic identification technology improves speed and accuracy of logging ammunition supplies, but Soldiers in forward theaters can’t use it. by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Lima One of the advancing…
The second in a series, ASA(ALT) at Work, which looks into ASA(ALT) organizations, what they do and where they do it. Led by Chérie A. Smith and headquartered at Fort…
Small drones are increasingly a threat to Soldiers. A new cyber-enabled system provides a key countermeasure. by Nancy Jones-Bonbrest In the desert of the National Training Center, Soldiers got an…
C-DAEM program maximizes industry innovation to expedite capability to the warfighter. by Lt. Col. Thomas D. Jagielski and James A. Sarruda Evolving threats, complex requirements and a wary industrial base…
We have to know what we know, not what we think we know. Craig A. Spisak Director, Acquisition Career Management Above the door to my office is this expression: “IN…
To build a network that will last, the Army is planning how to maintain and repair its many components while they’re still being developed. by Maj. Gen. Randy S. Taylor…
How the Army fielded its next-generation human resources system to the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. by Col. Greg Johnson “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” This piece of battlefield…
Don’t be fooled by powerful computers and fancy algorithms. You still must know what matters and how to measure it correctly. by Daniel E. Stimpson, Ph.D. Have you ever wondered…
The Army Leader Dashboard is tackling the Army’s data problem, bridging the gap between assumptions and insights for strategic resource decisions. by Ellen Summey The Army has a data problem….
By Michael Bold FORT BELVOIR, Va. (June 25, 2019)—A modern army marches not on its stomach but on its data, Dr. Bruce D. Jette, the Army acquisition executive, writes in…
To reach its goal of an acquisition “renaissance,” the Army must create an architecture for modernization that provides a blueprint for how all of the pieces fit and work together….
USASAC working group develops initiatives to make sure foreign military sales don’t affect U.S. Army readiness. by Debra Valine When Gen. Gustave F. Perna, commanding general of U.S. Army…
Naval Postgraduate School lecturer takes case studies on the road to offer the acquisition workforce a rare immersive opportunity. By Michael Bold Defense acquisition is a complex, painstaking and constantly…
A departing network PM discusses challenges and must-haves as the Army moves toward its one network vision. by Amy Walker Col. Greg Coile has been serving as the project manager…
Training and fielding network modernization requires a fully unified effort to ensure force readiness with the least possible disruption. by Brent Smith, Lawrence Holgate and Amy Walker To retain technological…
For the Army to successfully develop artificial intelligence, it needs to collect the right data before investing. By Lt. Col. Jenny Stacy Ongoing advances in artificial intelligence (AI) “will change…
FROM THE ARMY ACQUISITION EXECUTIVE Dr. Bruce D. Jette THE ZEN OF DATA Managing data holistically from the foxhole to the Pentagon enables better decision-making. The old saying is that…
How a demonstration of translating targeting data between the Army and the Air Force confirmed a prototype for long-range precision fires in multidomain operations. by Maj. Isaac Lewellen, Chief Warrant…
AI on the battlefield will come. That’s guaranteed. Before AI automates ‘slaughterbots,’ we need to think through the moral and ethical implications of such powerful technology in warfare. What does…
From Sun Tzu to machine learning, having good data is more than half the battle. The Army’s acquisition data domain promises to prove that once again. by Maj. Mario Iglesias…
Intelligence collection isn’t just for battle planning. It also has demonstrated its value in contracting with information on vendors, insider threats, and fraud, waste and abuse. by Russell Parman During…
by Army AL&T and DASA PPR Staff Q: What are the key characteristics of a sound justification document? A: A sound justification document clearly explains the source of the requirement,…
Budgeting for Army acquisition programs is both art and science, in which clarity and consistency set the tone for success. by Margaret C. Roth and Mary Kate Aylward If every…
A new rapid prototyping program supercharges Army capabilities. by Vanessa Pittman and Brandon Little-Darku In late 2016, the secretary of the Army approved the first project for the newly formed…
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITION CAREER MANAGEMENT CRAIG A. SPISAK Lining Up Your Goals Syncing up DAWDF funding and Human Capital Strategic Plan objectives will lead to an…
PEO C3T is all about how Soldiers communicate—the satellite terminals that send internet and phone signals to the command post, radios, the network that Soldiers connect to in the field,…
FROM THE ARMY ACQUISITION EXECUTIVE BRUCE D. JETTE Building the army acquisition team Materiel isn’t the only thing in need of modernizing. The acquisition enterprise is taking a…
When supplying partner nations through FMS, the best possible equipment may not always be the best possible solution. by Benjamin Posil Providing the best (i.e., most capable) equipment is not…
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