The company announced a new round of layoffs on Monday and said the affected jobs primarily revolve around engineering development for enterprise and commercial.
An Army official recently said the service hasn't finished analyzing the results from a critical IVAS test, still assessing best path forward for enhanced soldier vision.
"I think it was just a bit of an over characterization by the Inspector General on that particular point," said Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, after the IG questioned the basis of the $21 billion program.
A soldier wearing the ENVG-B can look through binoculars, turn on the camera in their rifle’s sight, and then point that sight around a corner to see and shoot, without exposing anything more than their hands or the rifle.
A week from today, the first combat unit will get new ENVG-B goggles, which combine binocular night vision with computer-assisted cross-hairs linked wirelessly to the rifle. It's a test case for the Army's new high-speed approach to modernization.
The Army is just weeks away from awarding contracts to begin buying prototypes of new infantry weapons, with live-fire tests next year.
Cybersecurity skills must evolve in near-real time as Zero Day threats continue and AI provides new challenges.
There is real uncertainty whether such things as robotic tanks and high-speed scout helicopters are possible on the Army's timeline. But if there's one area where a high-speed approach can work, it's training simulations, where the Army can piggyback on the rapid development in commercial gaming.
"It's very encouraging," McCarthy said. "It gives you high confidence in some of these investments we're going to make....We've got these decisions coming up here by the middle of the summer for the POM 20" -- the five-year budget plan (Program Objective Memorandum) for 2020-25.
The catch, of course, is that the Army's tried to field all these things before -- and failed. Why would things go any better this time around? Brig. Gen. Christopher Donahue has an answer for that.