Rapid Fire June 1, 2012: Normalizing Nonstandard Equipment
Jun 01, 2012 09:45 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff- The GAO reviewed efforts from the US Army and Marine Corps to determine what they will do in the future with their nonstandard (i.e. rapidly fielded) equipment. One question: what to do with MRAPs?
- The GAO also looked at DoD’s long term maintenance contracts and found that the Department lacks data and locks itself into contracts without the ability to renegotiate prices.
- Lockheed Martin’s CEO Bob Stevens thinks the Pentagon’s increasing demands for more data and lower costs are at odds with each other. (Nobody from the Pentagon dared comment on the GAO’s demands.)
- Women in the US military struggle to find body armor that fits, whether in the official kit or from commercial vendors.
- The Washingtonian likes Linda Hudson, CEO of BAE Systems.
- This article from The Economist highlights the rise in the general public of ethical concerns about the potential lack of human decision-making and accountability when armed robots are used in remote locations.
- Though it asserted last year that war spending would not be subject to sequestration, the Pentagon is reverting its position after consultation with the Office of Management and Budget. This confuses further an already very uncertain budgetary outlook.
- The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) advocates [PDF] a grand strategy of “selective engagement” for the US. One of their arguments against isolationism is that domestic critics of American international leadership tend to gloss over the costs of inaction.
