Offensive Cyber In The Street Fight
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Cyber war is coming to the street fight. Just weeks ago, when the Army’s 1/1 Armored Brigade conducted both live and virtual wargames against a simulated enemy, the old-school treadheads had a revolutionary new ally: offensive cyber teams, with two to three specialists from Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER). Capabilities once restricted to national missions and strategic… Keep reading →
Army Pushes Missile Defense For Tanks: MAPS
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[UPDATED with details on $90 million plus-up from House defense bill, total contract values] Alarmed by deadly battles in Ukraine, the Army wants to place miniaturized missile defense systems on its armored vehicles to protect them from anti-tank weapons. To reach this high-tech holy grail, which has painfully evaded the service in the past, the Army is taking a… Keep reading →
Missile Defense For Tanks: Raytheon Quick Kill Vs. Israeli Trophy
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WASHINGTON: After two decades of dithering and delay, the Army wants to give its armored vehicles the ability to shoot down incoming anti-tank missiles. What’s more, while the service will continue its own long-term, in-house research program, the Army is now willing to accept something “not invented here” so it can get an interim Active Protection System… Keep reading →
Army To Upgun All Strykers: 30 mm & Javelin
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Upgunning the Europe-based Second Cavalry Regiment against the Russians is just the first of a “lethality upgrade” for the entire Stryker force. The 30mm quick-firing cannon for 2CR’s Strykers may ultimately go on half the Army’s fleet of the 8×8 armored vehicles (not counting specialist variants). The other half would get the a vehicular version… Keep reading →
Army Explores Anti-Ship Howitzers & Anti-Air Strykers
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ARLINGTON: New threats from Russia and China mean the Army must take on new missions — but it’s got almost no new money so the Army is looking at ways to modify existing systems to do some radically new things. So imagine howitzers firing precision-guided cannon shells to shoot cruise missiles out of the sky or to sink… Keep reading →
Heidi Shyu Steps Off The ‘Long Bus’: Acquisition Achievements Appreciated
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WASHINGTON: Running weapons programs is a grueling job. Running Army programs, with their history of spectacular failures and cancellations, can be worse. That means Heidi Shyu‘s first achievement is endurance: in one senior position or another, the outgoing Army acquisition chief lasted five years amidst steeply declining budgets. Perhaps her biggest achievement was to keep her sense… Keep reading →
Strykers: Hill OKs $411M, With A Warning
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WASHINGTON: The annual defense bill authorizes $411 million to upgun the Army’s Stryker vehicles. The compromise goes with the Senate’s higher funding levels: $314 million for modification work and $97 million for R&D. That’s a heady increase from the $0.00 the president’s budget included for the initiative, which emerged mid-year as a response to Russian aggression… Keep reading →
Army Cuts Hit Alaska, Georgia, Texas Hardest
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WASHINGTON: This afternoon, the Army announced the painful details of long-awaited cuts. The service must shed 40,000 active-duty troops between now and October 2017, with almost half of them coming from 26 installations across the country. The hardest hit: Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Hood, Texas; and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska — all of which… Keep reading →
Shyu Signals General Dynamics Not A Lock To Upgun Stryker
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WASHINGTON: Stryker manufacturer General Dynamics may not be a lock to upgun the eight-wheel-drive armored vehicle, the Army’s top acquisition official made clear today. “We’ve laid out four different courses of action” to improve the vehicle’s lethality, said Heidi Shyu, and some of those courses involve competition. “It’s going to be driven by who needs… Keep reading →
Russia Threat Boosts Stryker Upgrade Budget To $371 Million
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WASHINGTON: Between fear of Russia, urgency from the Army, and lobbying from General Dynamics, funding to upgun the Army’s GD-built Stryker armored vehicle has grown 350 percent in three weeks. In mid-May, the House approved a $79.5 million addition to the administration’s budget request. Yesterday, the Senate, not to be outdone, voted $371 million — four… Keep reading →