The (apparent) winner-take-all JEDI cloud contract creates tension — and micromanagement: “The House Appropriations Committee’s version of the 2020 Defense spending bill would prohibit DoD from spending any money to migrate apps or data to Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) until it meets several conditions.”
F-35 troubles require more software fixes, particularly to ALIS, and DOD claims that it is Congress’ fault that they can’t slush fund the O&M budget to develop more software. I am sympathetic to the underlying claim about the color of money, but that isn’t an excuse for 20 years of inadequate development.
Marines to do an Analysis of Alternatives on Armored Recon LAVs. A slice: “There may be some things the Marine Corps absolutely wants that are A) not going to be technologically mature enough to integrate, or B) are just going to be too expensive. We don’t know enough about that yet to say much on that…” No doubt. Not sure why they are even doing a paper AoA. This isn’t exactly like an SSBN, a carrier, a new bomber. Why is there no “technology-push” path to a program of record? An AoA will just constrain and probably defeat any shot at a cost-effective prototype.
Another instance of DARPA living in the distant future or duplicating commercial basic research rather than supporting defense programs needs… DARPA wants soldiers’ minds controlling machines, and vice versa. More on that: DARPA wants soldiers to control drones with their thoughts.
Critics have argued the tiltrotor aircraft could never be as nimble at low speed and low altitude as a helicopter. Bell says it’s proven them wrong. Max speed: 345 MPH. Hover: 6K feet at 95 degree temp. Radius: 229 nautical miles. Also has good low-speed agility. Now… if the DOD didn’t screw up the V-22 in the 1980s, we probably could have had this improved tiltrotor aircraft back in the early 2000s.
Management story from the Javelin program using Earned Value Management data.
House appropriators to Pentagon: Figure out an alternative to Space Force. Rep Adam Smith says that “Three more four-star generals are not going to make us stronger in space.” Apparently $72 million for a new space force headquarters is just too much. I’ve heard some predict that space force budget would grow until it becomes roughly equal with the other three departments.
The Pentagon’s Civilians Are Unhappy. That’s Dangerous for Us All. A longish slice: “… many if not most people take these jobs out of a sense of service, willing to take modest pay compared what they could make in the private sector. “However, federal personnel policies — especially within DOD — are so hidebound that it is nearly impossible to get things done…” Nice chart at the link. DOD civilians fell from an average of about 1 million in 1950s-1980s to about 700K in between 2000 and 2019.
Boeing wants to use its T-X trainers to do light attack. “Other light attack and trainer aircraft won’t be able to touch us on cost – either procurement or through-life support. We will have all of the capability, but without the expense.” Such a choice would be a travesty, nothing short.
“The standard tactics include simply buying a smaller company to gain its technology or investing in a startup in order to control the direction of its research. Instead, BAE’s FAST Labs is attempting to serve as a middle man connecting startups with DoD customers and BAE’s various units.” See the link here.
Leave a Reply