Sources tell DoD Buzz that the Army has canceled the Ground Combat Vehicle competition because the current Requests for Proposal (RFPs) do not accurately reflect Army requirements and a changing acquisition strategy. A contract for the new vehicle was close to being awarded, we’re told. A restart of the GCV competition is expected fairly soon, a new RFP may be out within 60 days, and the Army intends to stay within the original seven year timeline to field the vehicle.

The U.S. military’s annual report on the Chinese military “ignored objective facts,” exagerated the threat China poses to Taiwan and should be abolished. If ever there was need for proof that China will become increasingly assertive as its economy grows and its military capabilities improve, this is it.

The United Kingdom began its hunt for military savings the weekend after the Farnborough Air Show and the search has ranged throughout the defense establishment. One of Britain’s most precious capabilities, the one that gave rise to the famed Special Air Services regiment, is its Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols. Most of this capability resides within the 21 Special Air Services regiment known as the Artists. There are rumors that the British may consolidate one of its three squadrons, which happened once before.

The post-Afghanistan future of the Marines is a bright one, Navy Undersecretary Bob Work said today at CSIS. The same probably cannot be said for the Marine’s armored amphibian, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), which received a very tepid endorsement from Work who said it was a very costly machine. The Navy is pressuring shipbuilders to lower the price tags on new amphibious assault ships, he said.

At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week, newly nominated Central Command head Gen. James Mattis reaffirmed his support for a turboprop aircraft to provide ground pounders with long loitering time, on-call recon and strike. The project called “Imminent Fury” was run out of the Navy’s irregular warfare office. Mattis described it as a test program to see if inexpensive turboprops could replace much more costly jets currently used in counterinsurgency efforts

The 74 test flights of the F-35B might look impressive, but it’s actually behind schedule, Lockheed CEO Bob Stevens said. It was supposed to have flown 95 times by now. “Higher than predicted” failure rates of component parts have grounded some F-35B test aircraft. Stevens described the failing parts as sub-components, not major parts such as the engine, which has been performing well.

Saudi Arabia plans to buy 84 new F-15s along with some 72 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, defense officials tell Bloomberg. Navy Vice Admiral Jeffrey Wieringa, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), said Congress will be notified of the sale in the next couple of months.

If Congress fails to pass a wartime supplemental spending bill by next week, before the congressional August recess, the Pentagon will begin to run out of money in its operations and maintenance accounts and to pay military and civilian personnel beginning next month, the service under-secretaries told lawmakers today. Military manpower accounts would begin to take the biggest hits beginning in September with the possibility that active-duty personnel would stop getting paid.

A new RAND paper examines heavy armor performance from the past decade’s irregular and hybrid wars. The bottom line: from Iraq’s city streets to Gaza’s narrow alleyways to the mountains of Afghanistan, ground troops love the intimidating presence of the 60 to 70 ton main battle tanks, their thick armor, their precise firepower, mobility and their unmatched utility as mobile pillboxes.

Today, House Armed Services Committee chair Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) pressed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) to quickly pass a $37 billion supplemental war funding bill. He urges the Senate majority leader to craft a bill that can gain “broad bi-partisan” so that it can reach President Obama’s desk as quickly as possible, adding “a critical hour is upon us.”

Marine Gen. James Mattis, currently commander Joint Forces Command, will replace Gen. David Petraeus as the next commander of U.S. Central Command, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced today. If confirmed by the Senate, the blunt speaking general will bring considerable regional experience to his new post. He served as a battalion commander during 1991’s Desert Storm, commanded the Marine forces in Afghanistan in 2001 and commanded the Marines in Iraq during the invasion in 2003 and during the bloody fight for Fallujah in 2004.

If ever there was a sign of a feisty and rising power, this is it. China is taking credit for a truncated buy of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that hasn’t even happened, yet. The website of China’s state-run People’ Daily reported that the Obama administration was reconsidering its purchase of F-35 fighters because of China’s rapidly growing military prowess.

Last week, we wrote that the Air Force Council, the blue suiters board that advises the air chief, was considering deep cuts to force structure to meet aggressive savings targets laid out by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. One option they are reportedly considering is early retirement of all 66 B-1B Lancer bombers, last delivered in the late 1980s. While it may not save the fleet, the Lancers got a hearty shout-out from newly installed Afghan commander Gen. David Petraeus. “It is a great platform,” he told senators at his confirmation hearing. “It carries a heck of a lot of bombs… and it has very good intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.”

The new Marine Corps Operating Concepts calls for the service to emphasize its small wars legacy and return to its naval infantry roots to serve as the bridging force between ships afloat and operations ashore. Before it can do that, however, the Corps must shed some serious weight. The document says the imperative to significantly lighten all of the component parts of the Marine’s combined arms air ground task force (MAGTF) “will have a significant impact on research and development, programmatic budgeting, acquisitions, doctrine development, and employment of future systems.”

UPDATED: SASC Approves Petraeus Nomination In Quick Voice Vote

Incoming Afghan commander Gen. David Petraeus told senators today that he will not change the rules of engagement or the “tactical directive” — which guides the use of air strikes — put in place by his predecessor. What he will do is ensure that those rules are being uniformly applied by commanders in the field and that overly cautious officers are not imposing their own maximalist interpretation and slowing the responsiveness of fire support when troops’ lives are on the line.

While the generals commanding the U.S. led war in Afghanistan might have changed, the strategy and the campaign plan remain the same, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters today. His single biggest concern with President Obama’s abrupt dismissal of Gen. Stanley McChrystal was to ensure it not hurt the Afghan war effort. Putting Gen. David Petraeus in charge was the best possible outcome to an “awful situation.” Allied forces are not bogged down, he added.

The Navy wants to buy capital ships. The Marines want to buy amphibious ships. The proliferation of low-cost, precision anti-ship missiles into the arsenals of potential enemies means large deck amphibious ships are becoming “wasting assets” in the eyes of many Navy leaders. The Marines and the Navy are at loggerheads, at a time when every dollars in the defense budget is up for grabs.

The best panel at CNAS’s annual conference on national security last week featured SOCOM commander Adm. Eric Olson, CSBA’s Jim Thomas, CNAS’ John Nagl and Brookings’ Peter Singer discussing a future force for future wars. One of its conclusions: Battlefield advantage has swung back in favor of the defender, which is, after all, the historical norm. With the further maturation and proliferation of long-range precision guided weaponry and attendant open-source battle command networks, warfare may be entering the “post-power projection era.”

Mounting troubles in the littorals represent a growth marketplace for the Navy’s irregular warfare forces as they try to influence populations ashore, according to a brief by Rear Adm. Greene, director of the Navy’s irregular warfare office. Investment priorities for Navy IW include more tactical and mid-range sea based aerial drones, new LCS mission modules, more helicopters and more training for civil affairs missions.

HASC chair Rep. Ike Skelton said his committee is examining ways to trim waste from the defense budget to free up money for spending on high priority areas such as Navy shipbuilding. Skelton made clear he was unwilling to cut force structure, a move he said was a mistake made in the 1990s that led to critical personnel shortages in operations from Bosnia to Iraq. He also doubted President Obama would veto the defense bill over the second engine for the JSF because the bill contains a repeal of DADT.