The U.S. Army’s civilian leader that manages its purchases of weapons and technology singled out one of the branch’s most notable programs as a priority in an uncertain budget environment. Heidi Shyu — assistant Army secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics — said Tuesday that the potential $23 billion Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program has so far been protected in the White House’s planned defense budget.

“JLTV right now is high priority for us, so not currently being targeted, but we don’t know how bad our cuts are going to be,” Shyu said.

Also this week, Textron Systems CEO Ellen Lord said the industry should look to incremental investments as a means to innovate new technologies for the military. Lord also said she hopes both the Pentagon’s new Better Buying Power 3.0 and foreign military sales activity can help the defense sector.

“There’s a realization that [foreign sales] helps support our domestic defense industrial base and that in turn helps the U.S. Army,” Lord said.

               

Government spending in the post-sequestration era will be the main point of discussion at the Potomac Officers Club’s next event — the “FY 15 Budget & Procurement” summit Nov. 19.

Leaders from the worlds of government, industry and academia will give the GovCon executive audience perspectives and insight how the sector should navigate this evolving budget environment.

Click here to register and reserve your seat, as well as to learn more about future POC events.