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Month: February 2020

Air Force partners with commercial industry to accelerate “flying cars”

February 29, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

Another example of smarter acquisition is Agility Prime, a non-traditional program seeking to operationalize commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles (i.e., “flying cars”) […]

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The extreme wisdom of duplication in military acquisition

February 28, 2020 Eric Lofgren 2

We enter a scene at a Congressional hearing in April 1944 — just months ahead of the D-Day landings — where top defense officials were […]

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Economics doesn’t describe the reality of production

February 27, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

The revenue or cost of each additional unit is called the margin. Economists assume that corporations seek to maximize profit, which occurs at the unit […]

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Modular design requires rethinking the program concept

February 26, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

It will be essential to focus the marketplace on commercial technology areas that have clear applications across a broad range of national security capabilities, and […]

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Lessons for Today: Opposition to ballistic missiles in the 1940s/50s

February 25, 2020 Eric Lofgren 2

There was, without question, deep and sincere opposition to the accelerated development of ballistic missiles. It was chiefly effective in the years between 1950 and […]

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Role of government in the innovative ecosystem

February 24, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

There’s plenty of private money out there and interest rates are very low — the money will flow into where ever there is a good […]

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Acquisition headlines

February 23, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

Blue Origin Fact Sheet on New Glenn, Engine Development. “To date, Blue Origin has invested an unprecedented $2.5 billion into the development… the seven engines […]

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Program offices may face hard choices with Air Force Ventures

February 22, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

Here is Air Force acquisition chief William Roper talking at an Ask Me Anything webinar. He was discussing the pitch day events, which starts at […]

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When should cost-effectiveness studies start?

February 21, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

… you can’t apply cost effectiveness to really basic research. Otherwise you never would discover new genes in biology for example if you had to […]

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New proposals for the military’s tech transfer problem

February 20, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

These two groups [military operators and lab technologists] have different cultures and values, and frequently speak different languages. To operators, risks are to be minimized […]

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Rickover on profits invisible to government

February 19, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

Suppose it costs the parts supplier $100 to make the parts. To this he adds 10 percent for profit. He then charges the motor manufacturer […]

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Podcast: All about Other Transactions Authority with Richard Dunn

February 18, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

In this episode of the Acquisition Talk podcast, I speak with Richard Dunn about commercial contracting, and in particular, Other Transactions Authority (OTAs). He is […]

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Startups won’t scale in defense without budget flexibility

February 17, 2020 Eric Lofgren 2

These challenges can be met. But the concept still requires a major feat. Congress must amend the budget process so that relatively big dollars can […]

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Acquisition headlines

February 16, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

“This represents a single front door for the DoD, where small companies can access a portion of the approximately $1.5 billion of DoD SBIR funds […]

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Commercial contracting for space launch, then and now

February 15, 2020 Eric Lofgren 0

Working together with industry to identify and resolve problem areas, NASA has evolved innovative contracting approaches which emulate good commercial contracting practices while retaining some […]

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