Amid shifting priorities, transparency is key, says Army acquisition head

AUSA 2025 — The Army is reprioritizing some of its programs in line with its Army Transformation Initiative and looming acquisition shakeup, the head of acquisition told Breaking Defense. But, he added, amid these changes it’s vital the service is transparent with vendors on what it is and isn’t going to purchase.

“When I think about the little bit of budget that the Army has to actually modernize, we’ve got to be much more effective with that, and that’s how we think about programs that are maybe not as effective on the battlefield today and how we could use that money to modernize the Army with the right capabilities,” Brett Ingraham, head of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology ASA(ALT) shop said in an interview.

Ingraham, who just last month took over as the leader of the weapons-buying office, noted that the service’s ongoing Transformation in Contact (TiC) exercises will help inform leadership on what weapons and platforms it will and won’t go forward with as part of the ATI. TiC is the service’s push to rapidly test new equipment with units both inside the US and abroad to understand how that technology will operate in real-world environments. 

“I think as we continue to execute some of the Transformation in Contact, we will learn about what other priorities popped at the top of [our] list as we continue to evolve. So from an acquisition approach we have been putting units in the field … so that we could get that feedback as they’re getting that sort of current feedback on what they need. It helps us be much more effective and efficient at delivering,” he added. 

ATI is the service’s sprawling initiative that has involved a rethinking of major programs, appearing to paint a dim future for vehicles like Humvees and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, Breaking Defense previously reported. For aviation, the Army has halted buys of General Atomics’ Gray Eagle drone, stopped a Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft System competition, and is looking to shelve AH-64D Apaches. The service is also looking to potentially end General Electric’s development of the Improved Turbine Engine Program and reduce the quantity of High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation Systems. Such cuts and potential cuts to aviation are to pay for its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program, per the ATI.

According to Ingraham, with more units completing TiC exercises, there will likely be more programs that the Army will stop buying new products for as priorities change. Further, he noted that the Army’s flexible funding will allow it to shift its priorities in response to the demand signal. 

As priorities shift, the Army must be a “better partner” with industry by being more up front about its plans, Ingraham said. 

“One word, ‘transparency.’ That needs to be done from day one,” he said. “We’ve got to be better buyers. We’ve got to let industry know where we’re going, what sort of capabilities we’re looking for and just be open with them about what we need to buy [and] we don’t need to buy.

In the fiscal 2026 defense budget request, the Army received three pots of flexible funding. Such pots of money, commonly referred to as “colorless money,” allow the services to have more control over money that is not tied to one specific requirement.  

Ingraham said that he would ideally have even more flexible funding, however, he admitted that he does see this as a potential concern for industry since vendors lean on specific line items to see what the Army will buy. 

“We have not necessarily always been that open and transparent with industry, and so they go off and use IRAD [independent research and development] dollars to go off, develop things that maybe are not where we’re headed. So getting a tighter loop between industry and the government’s understanding where there’s opportunity to share risk on programs and projects, I think, is really the key and how we can continue to transform,” he added.