{"id":16672,"date":"2021-11-10T21:27:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T21:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:39:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:39:47","slug":"soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The head of the Army\u2019s new software organizations say the service won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for software support, and that\u2019s why the Army needs in-house coders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor a very long time, the Army got comfortable operating with contractors all over the battlefield,\u201d said Lt. Col. Vito Errico, director of the Army Software Factory, at C4ISRNET\u2019s CyberCon event Nov. 10. \u201cIt was sort of commonplace in Iraq and Afghanistan to co-locate contractors with servicemembers to do technically oriented things. &#8230; That was the way that we were able to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut looking ahead, we might not always be able to fight that way. A future enemy might have the ability to deny us the ability to move contractors and civilians around the battlefield, and that burden of technical competence, that last tactical mile of software development or fusing data sets, might fall on the uniformed servicemember,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/battlefield-tech\/it-networks\/2021\/04\/14\/army-software-factory-experiments-with-a-new-culture-to-unleash-coders-in-its-ranks\/\">a relatively informal, less hierarchical structure<\/a> than a typical military organization, the Army Software Factory\u2019s goal is to grow the number of soldier coders within its ranks. Hosted at Austin Community College in Texas, the first cohort of 25 soldiers launched in January. That cohort will stay at the factory for a three-year rotation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/digital-show-dailies\/ausa\/2021\/10\/11\/army-software-factory-to-churn-out-soldier-coders\/\">during which time they will take courses and learn software skills<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The nascent software factory operates as a pilot program under Army Futures Command, as the Army assesses whether the factory can be beneficial and whether the service\u2019s approach to software is good enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a nice empirical use case to help inform senior Army officials on where they need to go with policy,\u201d said Errico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An additional benefit of using soldiers to code is the soldiers are themselves users of the software they\u2019re developing. The factory\u2019s tagline is \u201cBy soldiers, for soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The approach is already bearing fruit, said Errico. After observing tactical logistics warehouses at Fort Hood, Texas, factory participants were able to develop software that automated some of the ordering processes, giving soldiers time back to spend training on terminals to help reduce waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That software gained popularity organically as the various tactical warehouses adopted it. Now it\u2019s being used by the bigger depots, said Errico, and the software is estimated to have saved more than 3,500 soldier hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pilot program is already bearing fruit as participants develop soldier-centric software for the Army.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":32214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":109,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[109,160,33,36,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3385],"class_list":["post-16672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybercon","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-newsletters","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"57SQRZHHABFABGL5GG6PDX3O6U","arc_canonical_url":"\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The pilot program is already bearing fruit as participants develop soldier-centric software for the Army.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The pilot program is already bearing fruit as participants develop soldier-centric software for the Army.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-10T21:27:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T17:39:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathan Strout\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathan Strout\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-11-10T21:27:26+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T17:39:47+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 403,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/software-factory-5.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"CyberCon\",\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Home\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Special Multimedia Reports\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/software-factory-5.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-11-10T21:27:26+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T17:39:47+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"The pilot program is already bearing fruit as participants develop soldier-centric software for the Army.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/software-factory-5.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/software-factory-5.jpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/10\\\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Special Multimedia Reports\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"smr\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"CyberCon\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/smr\\\/cybercon\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"cybercon\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 4,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director - Defense News","description":"The pilot program is already bearing fruit as participants develop soldier-centric software for the Army.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director","og_description":"The pilot program is already bearing fruit as participants develop soldier-centric software for the Army.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2021-11-10T21:27:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T17:39:47+00:00","author":"Nathan Strout","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nathan Strout","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director","datePublished":"2021-11-10T21:27:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T17:39:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/"},"wordCount":403,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/software-factory-5.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["CyberCon","Daily News Roundup","Home","Newsletters","Special Multimedia Reports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/","name":"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/software-factory-5.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-10T21:27:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T17:39:47+00:00","description":"The pilot program is already bearing fruit as participants develop soldier-centric software for the Army.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/software-factory-5.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/software-factory-5.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/2021\/11\/10\/soldiers-wont-always-be-able-to-rely-on-contractors-for-coders-says-army-software-factory-director\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Special Multimedia Reports","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/","ad_zone":"smr"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"CyberCon","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/cybercon\/","ad_zone":"cybercon"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Soldiers won\u2019t always be able to rely on contractors for coders, says Army Software Factory director"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/software-factory-5.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16674,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16672\/revisions\/16674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16672"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}