Gen. McConville: The Army, Industry, and The Next Steps in Modernization

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  6 septembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Killing programs is ‘like working out,’ says acting US Army secretary

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army's program-killing project known as “night court” will continue and become more aggressive in the coming years as demands for the service's modernization effort increase, the Army's acting secretary said Wednesday. Named after the 1980s-era sitcom and a nod to the long hours worked by staff to pull it off, night court in 2018 identified $25 billion in savings and scrapped modernization efforts that the Army plans to use to finance new technologies. Acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy announced another $10 billion of savings in May. But keeping night court alive will require a deliberate effort until it becomes routine, McCarthy told the audience at the third annual Defense News Conference. “Night court is kind of like working out: You've got to get up, you've got to get after it,” McCarthy said. “It's hard. It wears you out. You think: ‘Boy, it would be easier to just stay in bed.' But it's necessary to keep the institution strong. We believe it has been institutionalized. ... But we've got to keep up the repetitions, and over time it will become a behavior, like a reflex.” McCarthy, who is expected to face a confirmation hearing to become Army secretary later this month, said as Army Futures Command's cross-functional teams identify requirements for the next generation of Army systems, the effort must become more aggressive. “What we've done in the cross-functional teams, those efforts have been successful,” McCarthy said. "So as we continue to go down the development pipe, they are going to come back with a requirement we are going to need X numbers of systems to lay in across our formations. And as we scale that out over time, that will cost more money. “So, when you look at where are the opportunities, you have to make choices — divestiture. Legacy systems that we have enjoyed for decades that have performed for us in combat operations for going on 18 years now, some of them will have to go away.” Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who formerly served as the Army secretary and championed the service's effort, signaled he will continue night court Pentagon-wide, something that will test his political clout as services are often loathed to give up reliable legacy systems, and lawmakers is even less willing to give up jobs in their districts that would be threatened by program cuts. But, McCarthy said, the effort is necessary to finance the new technologies the Pentagon needs to gain an advantage over China and Russia. “Night court will continue. In fact, night court is going prime time with Secretary Esper down the hall,” he said. “It's necessary to find as much trade space within that [$741 billion] in the '20 and '21 budgets to find every penny we can to finance our ambitions. Every investment program has a divestiture.” https://www.defensenews.com/smr/defense-news-conference/2019/09/05/killing-programs-is-like-working-out-acting-army-secretary-says

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  23 juillet 2018 | International, Terrestre

  America’s largest business lobby endorses Trump’s arms export plan

  By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON — America's largest business lobby is hailing the Trump administration's plansto boost American weapons exports. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Defense and Aerospace Export Council (DAEC) welcomes the State Department's announcement regarding the approved implementation plan for the Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) Policy," council President Keith Webster said in a statement Friday. The U.S. State Department this week announced its planned process to implement the Conventional Arms Transfer policy, which adds economic security as a factor when the government considers whether to approve arms exports. It intends for the executive branch to advocate strongly on behalf of companies exporting defense items. Webster, who was President Barack Obama's last director of international cooperation at the Pentagon, called the policy “a major first step toward improving government decision processes and policies.” Aerospace and defense firms rely on innovation and U.S. government support to compete on a global scale, he noted. The export council last month offered some 30 recommendations on how to hardwire economic security and defense-industrial base considerations into the government's international arms sale decisions. “We appreciate the administration's outreach throughout this process and are pleased to see DAEC priorities in the plan, including policy changes that will improve bid timeliness while reducing costs to industries, place emphasis on economic considerations in the federal transfer decision process, and expand trade promotion," Webster said. The policy has attracted pushback from arms control advocates who say it risks fueling conflicts around the world and aiding regimes that do not respect human rights. “If the administration is serious about claims that these changes make for responsible policy, it should add much greater transparency into the arms transfer and monitoring process,” Forum on the Arms Trade's founder and coordinator, Jeff Abramson, wrote last month. The U.S. leads the world in arms transfers, with $47 billion expected so far this year, whereas the State Department approved $42 billion in government-to-government sales for all of 2017. “Defense exports are good for our national security, they're good for our foreign policy. And they're good for our economic security. And as the administration and our leadership has said, economic security is national security,” Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, said during the Farnborough International Airshow on July 18. Aaron Mehta in London contributed to this report. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2018/07/20/business-org-hails-trump-arms-export-plan/

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  19 avril 2021 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

  With new CH-47 variant back in flight tests, Boeing hopes for production contract

  Boeing is expecting the Army to award a first production contract for the CH-47F Block II Chinook this fiscal year as it dives back into flight testing.