Defense Department science and technology officials told lawmakers Tuesday that cuts resulting from sequestration could negatively impact the Pentagon’s research components, FierceGovernment IT reports. Marilyn Freeman, the Army’s deputy assistant secretary for research and technology, told the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on emerging threats and capabilities that she is concerned S&T will take a disproportionate [...]

The Navy plans to begin practicing a purchase model that values products being good or good enough instead of perfect, DoD Buzz reports. Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations, said during the Sea Air Space lunch event that the Navy and its vendors should begin to have more frank conversations on whether the [...]

Lawmakers are set to review the 2013 defense authorization bill later this month, including the Air Force’s budgetary and staffing plans, Defense News reports. The branch proposed to cut 3,900 active duty, 5,100 Air National Guard members and 900 reserve airmen. During a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, lawmakers questioned the Air Force’s proposed cuts, [...]

Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has been nominated to serve as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced in a release Tuesday. He currently serves as assistant director of national intelligence for partner engagement at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In June 2009, he assumed the role of [...]

It is up to Congress to dissipate the shadow of sequestration hanging over the Defense Department, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Army Gen. Martin Dempsey discussed on Monday the impending $500 billion budget reduction over the next ten years that would incur if Congress does not resolve an [...]

The Defense Department plans to spend $770 billion on its aircraft acquisition, maintenance and operation programs between fiscal years 2013 and 2022, Aviation Week reports. The Pentagon sent its 30-year aviation plan to Congress earlier this month and reported that yearly aircraft spending for all military branches will peak at $80 billion in 2022. The [...]

The White House issued a set of strategies Wednesday it hopes will secure energy resources on the battlefield, The Hill reports. The White House’s energy initiative includes a new U.S. Army Michigan-based facility through which the organization will develop new technologies for combat vehicles. The Army completed a similar project in Hawaii, fielding 16 General Motors-developed [...]

The Defense Department has started to broaden its cyber strategy and include international cooperation with allies in cyberspace, the American Forces Press Service reports. Experts from Washington, Russia and the Netherlands spoke at Georgetown University’s International Engagement on Cyber Monday, discussing obstacles that lie in way of international cooperation for cyber efforts. Steven Schleien, the Pentagon’s principal [...]

The Army is seeing benefits from its try-before-you-buy acquisition approach, according to DoD Buzz. The Defense Department has held events where its military branches are able to test and evaluate products before they purchase them. The Army’s network integration evaluation exercise in White Sands, N.M. is one of the processes it’s using to improve its acquisition procedures, [...]

The Navy has selected two contracting firms to manufacture 55 vessels for its $37.4 billion Littoral Combat Ships program, Federal News Radio reports. The program has placed Lockheed Martin Corp. and the Australia-based firm Austal in a head-to-head competition to see who can produce the highest quality vessels at a lower cost. Both companies won [...]