Digital Government

Army deals offer DOD price breaks

The Army Small Computer Program last month closed out the fiscal year by signing two enterprise licensing agreements, offering Defense Department customers significant price breaks on key management software packages. The new licensing agreements, the latest in a series of such deals with major sof

Digital Government

A clickable Army

The Army's top soldier plans what he calls a 'major transformation' of the service from a tankheavy force designed to fight the Soviet Army on the plains of Europe into a lightweight deployable machine capable of quick response anywhere on the globe, relying heavily on technology to cut the fat. G

Digital Government

Intercepts

TRADOC Tanked? The Fort Eustis, Va.based Training and Doctrine Command, headed by Gen. John Abrams, could end up a big loser in terms of funding and personnel in the sweeping 'transformation'' of the Army announced by Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki last week. A knowledgeable Army Pentagon source sai

Digital Government

Civilian IT pay thwarts Army

The Army has kicked off an intensive project to determine how to better recruit and retain uniformed and civilian personnel in the highly competitive information technology field, with top leadership and soldiers in the trenches conceding that the Army cannot compete with the civilian marketplace i

Digital Government

Congress cuts funds for life-saving radio

ongress slashed $20 million from the Pentagon's budget for a radio designed to help downed pilots stranded behind enemies lines call for help as well as automatically pinpoint their position and relay that information to rescue aircraft.

Digital Government

Army moving forward on logistics modernization contract

The Army plans to award a contract in early December to outsource the operation of a major portion of its logistics system, now that the service has cleared the last procedural log jam standing in the way of its $1 billion logistics modernization program

Digital Government

Army mulls cutting tanks in favor of lighter, high-tech force

Gen. Eric Shinseki, chief of staff of the Army, today called for a major transformation of the Army within the next decade that could include an abandonment of all tracked vehicles in favor of a lean fighting force that relies heavily on command, control and communications technology.

Digital Government

Caldera denies union appeal to block logistics outsourcing

The Army has removed the last procedural hurdle standing in the way of its longdelayed $1 billion project to outsource its wholesale logistics system.

Digital Government

11th Signal Brigade to provide comm support in East Timor

The Army Signal Command, Fort Huachuca, Ariz., will deploy 120 soldiers from its 11th Signal Brigade to provide communications support to U.N. forces operating in East Timor, with the first contingent leaving today at 1 p.m. MDT.

Digital Government

Congress eliminates funding for new civilian GPS signal

Despite objections by the Clinton administration, Congress this week passed a Transportation Department spending bill that eliminates all funding for a new highprecision satellite signal for use by civilian users of the Global Positioning System.

Digital Government

DOD gives medical systems clean bill of health

The Defense Department successfully completed an endtoend Year 2000 test of the computer systems in its Medical Health Care System and found no failures due to bad Year 2000 date code.

Digital Government

Navy: Y2K will cause few waves

The Navy expects Year 2000 computer problems to result in few, if any incidents that would requite a heightened state of readiness, according to a Navywide message from Adm. Jay Johnson, Chief of Naval Operations.

Digital Government

Navy, Marines ring in Year 2000

Sailors and Marines from the U.S. 7th Fleet and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) last week threw an early New Year's party festooned with streamers and balloons to celebrate the successful completion of a 10day test to validate that all of its computer code is free from Year 2000 bugs. The

Digital Government

IT-rich USS Belleau Wood heads to East Timor

The Navy's 7th Fleet has deployed the USS Belleau Wood, a flatdecked amphibious assault ship equipped with one of the service's most advanced shipboard information technology systems, to support U.S. forces assisting U.N. peacekeeping operations in East Timor.

Digital Government

A new reality

Visit soldiers at any Army infantry division outside Washington, D.C., and they will relate a universal complaint: The people who designed their gear and computer systems typically do not build equipment that can survive the rough terrain, choking dust and thundering vibrations of the battlefield.

Digital Government

Army studying IT recruitment

The Army has kicked off a yearlong study to help determine how to better recruit and maintain its information technology work force, with an emphasis on how the service can use financial inducements to attract workers.

Digital Government

Calculating costs, cautions from war

The hightech information systems that U.S. and NATO forces employed against Yugoslavia this year ended up contributing confusion, according to a toplevel draft briefing prepared for the commander of U.S. forces in Operation Allied Force. Draft briefing slides prepared for Adm. James Ellis in an a

Digital Government

Intercepts

NAVSAT SETBACK. Stratos Mobile Networks prevailed in its legal protest against the award of an $112 million contract to Communications Satellite Corp. for 64 kilobits/sec satellite service to Navy ships worldwide, a key component of the Navy's Information Technology for the 21st Century project. Th

Digital Government

Draft documents signal kickoff for N/MCI

The Navy intends to outsource almost all of its information technology infrastructure for Navy and Marine Corps units and bases in a mammoth undertaking that industry sources value at more than $2 billion.

Digital Government

Navy, Marines throw early Y2K New Year's party

Sailors and Marines from the U.S. 7th Fleet and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit last week threw an early New Year's party festooned with streamers and balloons to celebrate the successful completion of a 10day test to validate that all of its computer code is free from Year 2000 bugs.