Dan Schere

The Army's annual Arcane Thunder event in 2027 will feature two components: communications exercises in the continental United States and an overseas demonstration with partner nations, according to a request for information posted last week.

House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee Chairman Rob Wittman (R-VA) is calling on the Pentagon to send Congress detailed information on its request for supplemental funding to support the U.S. military's ongoing operations in Iran. Wittman sees a supplemental as a necessary third leg of a three-pronged funding effort that consists of the Pentagon’s $1.15 trillion base-budget request for fiscal year 2027 and the $350 billion proposed reconciliation bill, he explained to reporters during a roundtable on...

House authorizers would add another $50 million in research, development, test and evaluation funding for the Army’s Improved Turbine Engine Program, according to an amendment passed as part of a package today during the House Armed Services Committee’s markup of the legislation.

Drone manufacturer Performance Drone Works is expanding its operation into the areas of radio frequency and software-defined radio technologies with its planned acquisition of Vanteon Corp., PDW announced this week.

The House Appropriations Committee, in its version of the fiscal year 2027 defense spending bill, would add funding for the Army's legacy fleet of Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters above what the Army had included in its budget request. The committee has included $493 million for additional Black Hawks, and $456 million for additional Chinook Block II aircraft, according to a summary of the legislation released today. In its FY-27 request, the Army had included only $39 million...

The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the defense policy bill would not add money for the Army's enduring legacy helicopter fleet above what is in the service's fiscal year 2027 budget request, congressional staffers said today. In its FY-27 budget, the Army did not include procurement funding for any new Black Hawk or Apache aircraft but included funding for five Chinooks. The cuts to manned aviation come a year after the Army Transformation Initiative was rolled out, in which...

The Pentagon is requesting multiyear procurement authority from Congress for a dozen munitions beginning in fiscal year 2027, according to a legislative proposal

The Army is "looking at options" for procuring munitions if Congress fails to pass this year's politically divisive $350 billion reconciliation package, an acquisition official told lawmakers today, with potential workarounds including renegotiating contracts with defense firms, reprogramming existing funds or pursuing other acquisition strategies. About 82% of the service’s munitions procurement funding is slated to come through reconciliation in fiscal year 2027, Jesse Tolleson Jr, the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics & technology, told...

The Senate version of the fiscal year 2027 defense authorization bill would direct the defense secretary to establish a U.S.-Ukraine strategic defense innovation working group, consisting of both U.S. and Ukrainian defense officials. Its purpose would be to foster collaboration between the two nations on the acquisition of emerging technologies and apply lessons learned from Ukraine's ongoing conflict with Russia to the United States. The working group would be chaired by the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment,...

The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the fiscal year 2027 defense policy bill would call on the Army to provide more details on its plans to scale and deploy small, unmanned aircraft systems at the tactical level, with authorizers noting in the report accompanying the bill that the Army's current strategy "remains fragmented and insufficient to meet emerging operational requirements." “While the Army has made progress through experimentation and limited fielding, the committee lacks a comprehensive understanding of...