Army makes new tweaks to acquisition portfolios, realigns autonomy office

The Army is once again reworking some of its weapons portfolios after a brief trial period following its sprawling acquisition overhaul in the fall, a service spokesperson told Breaking Defense. Ashley John, top spokesperson for the acquisition reforms, stated that "acquisition reform is, and always will be, an iterative process" and that the Army's approach is to "keep what is working and change what is not." The changes come after the service's major acquisition reorganization in November that consolidated the original 12 Program Executive Offices under six Program Acquisition Executives. Among the most recent changes is a realignment of the Army's autonomy acquisition office, CPE Mission Autonomy, which has been moved from PAE Maneuver Air to PAE Layered Protection and Integration. John said the decision "better nest[s] cross-disciplinary functions across all PAEs" and was made in May. Additionally, the Army established CPE Special Programs Air, aimed at aligning Special Operations Aviation with conventional Army programs, and made the strategic decision to keep CPE Ground Combat Platforms and CPE Soldier Systems separated rather than combine them. Another change was the establishment of Enterprise Software and Services, or ES2, which will serve as a "critical enabler" to the Army alongside the service's Pathway for Innovation and Technology.