VSE Corporation Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Business Segments and Customer Information (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015 Segment	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2014
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of reportable operating segments	4us-gaap_NumberOfOperatingSegments
Revenues	$ 120,791us-gaap_Revenues	$ 119,409us-gaap_Revenues
Operating income	10,684us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss	11,357us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss
Total assets	643,470us-gaap_Assets		355,330us-gaap_Assets
Supply Chain Management Group [Member] \| Operating Segments [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	46,242	40,623
Operating income	8,306	7,821
Total assets	216,098		192,720
Aviation Group [Member] \| Operating Segments [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	22,764	0
Operating income	2,113	0
Total assets	277,844		0
Federal Services Group [Member] \| Operating Segments [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	37,792	63,270
Operating income	(267)	2,718
Total assets	38,050		36,225
IT, Energy and Management Consulting Group [Member] \| Operating Segments [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	13,993	15,516
Operating income	1,215	1,453
Total assets	24,722		49,790
Corporate/unallocated [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Operating income	(683)	(635)
Total assets	$ 86,756		$ 76,595