Dan Schere

TAMPA, FL -- Autonomy and artificial intelligence will likely play a larger role on the battlefield for U.S. Special Operations forces in the years to come, but officials said this week at the SOF Week conference that it has to be done in a way that doesn't increase the "cognitive load" for operators. SOCOM acquisition executive Melissa Johnson told conference attendees Tuesday that AI can be a big “enabler” as long as it is “reducing the cognitive workload on mundane...

TAMPA, FL -- U.S. Special Operations Command wants to equip its fleet of rotary-wing aircraft with capabilities that allow missions to be completed more quietly, an aviation official within the command's acquisition branch told attendees yesterday at the annual SOF Week conference. Steve Smith, the program executive officer for rotary-wing aviation, pointed to the U.S.’ raid that saw the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year as an example of a mission where special operations aviators need better...

TAMPA, FL -- Air Force Special Operations Command is equipping its OA-1K Skyraider II fleet with the ability to rapidly break down and be reassembled for transport on larger aircraft, AFSOC announced during the annual SOF Week conference.

House authorizers plan to add $250 million and $381 million to procure additional aircraft for the Army's Black Hawk and Chinook helicopter programs respectively in the House Armed Services Committee's chairman's mark for fiscal year 2027, while also calling for detailed information on the Army Transformation Initiative from the service secretary. The plus-ups would fund the procurement of six new UH-60M Black Hawks and seven CH-47 Chinooks, according to the text of the mark, which was released today...

The House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee, in a mark of the draft defense authorization legislation released yesterday, is calling on the Army to expand and upgrade facilities that produce 155mm ammunition. The Army secretary would be required to expand and upgrade government facilities that are used to produce propellant, metal parts, explosives, load assemble pack and other components of 155mm artillery, according to the subcommittee’s mark

The Army’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Layered Protection and Integration plans to establish a technology accelerator with the goal of linking the private sector and the government with “national High-Performance Computing resources” to create a continuous innovation hub, according to a request for information posted yesterday.

TAMPA, FL -- Private capital will play a larger role in U.S. Special Operations Command's acquisition landscape, with the command having spent the past year fine-tuning its new Private Capital Investor Cohort (PCIC). The genesis of the idea for the cohort came from Gen. Bryan Fenton, who served as SOCOM’s commander up until this past October and was looking for a way to ensure the command’s technology modernizes at or above the speed of the tech innovation cycle, Lt. Col...

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.