The U.S. Army’s organic industrial base is advancing transformation efforts through the military branch’s OIB Modernization Implementation Plan with more than $18 billion in investments over 15 years, the service branch reported Thursday.

Marion Whicker, executive deputy to the commanding general at Army Materiel Command, said leaders across the service branch should focus on three factors to execute the OIB MIP: modernizing to support current systems, divesting assets the sites no longer need and modernizing to back future capabilities.

“We have got to get our facilities lean and mean, this is about being efficient and effective in all the things we do,” said Whicker. “We must show sustained success to maintain consistent funding.”

The organic industrial base consists of 23 depots, arsenals and ammunition plants that produce, reset and maintain Army equipment.

AMC and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology hosted a two-day war game that kicked off Wednesday, May 15, at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama to ensure the integration of OIB modernization with the military branch’s priorities.

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The Pentagon is prioritizing partnerships with allies to fortify the defense industrial base, according to Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante, a 2024 Wash100 Award recipient.

Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee, LaPlante said this increased focus on international collaboration was inspired by lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, specifically cooperative munitions production efforts, the Department of Defense reported on Thursday.

LaPlante noted an Army plan to start co-producing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and Precision Strike Missile munitions with allies as one way the DOD is pushing this goal forward.

“That’s where this is all headed. You’re going to see much more co-production, co-development and co-sustainment with allies and partners,” he stated.

Allies and partners, said LaPlante, have recognized the need to build up their own industrial bases.

“For all of the criticism that we give ourselves, rightfully so, they’re envious of what the United States has been able to do. We’re talking to each of these countries,” he said.

This shift, he continued, was driven by developments in military spending and output in both Russia and China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently replaced his defense minister with an economist, a move LaPlante said demonstrates that “they’re not in it for the short term.”

“They’re on a wartime footing,” said LaPlante, who called attention to recent estimates indicating that Russia’s military spending has reached seven percent of their gross domestic product.

China has also increased its military output and is currently carrying out its military-civil fusion development strategy to enhance its military power.

At the same time, the Defense Department is working to identify and address warfighter capability needs at a more rapid pace.

Effective acquisition, said LaPlante, is dependent on three things: the contract, the requirement and “having money in the right year.”

Want to know more about the global government contracting landscape? The Potomac Officers Club’s GovCon International Summit on October 10 will bring together key public and private sector leaders to discuss partnerships, joint warfighting, emerging technologies and more. To access additional information and register to attend the event, click here.

The U.S. Air Force has selected six bases to house air task forces as part of an initiative that seeks to test a new approach to prepare airmen for combat, Air Force Times reported Thursday.

The chosen bases are:

• Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
• Scott AFB
• Joint Base San Antonio
• Dyess AFB
• Fairchild AFB
• Seymour Johnson AFB

Under the task forces model, airmen will undergo training via the Air Force Force Generation cycle over several months before being deployed overseas. This process contrasts with practice following 9/11 where airmen from various bases have been combined into units overseas without training together first.

Under the leadership of colonels, the task forces will feature commanders and an executive staff, aircrews and maintainers and support squadrons.

ATFs are expected to complete the AFFORGEN cycle and deploy by fiscal year 2026.