“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 within 90 days of applying.”
Pilot to Production, Leaping the Valley of Death in Defense Contracting. Now that’s what I’m talking about: “Both sides feel defeated by the repeated refrain, “Let’s try and get this into the next budget process so we get the money in the next 3–5 years?”… The government should have many in-year options to move $1–10 million to new starts, several in-year options to move $10–100 million for scaling successful small programs, and select $100+ million options to move quickly against urgent capabilities that need to be fielded immediately.”
Air Force warns Boeing’s new CEO that it’s not happy either. Gen. Goldfein: “… to date, progress has been unsatisfactory. More than a year has elapsed and Boeing has yet to provide” a design “that instills confidence.”
The Air Force just killed one of its hypersonic weapons programs.
Across the pond: Changes at the MoD: Who survived Britain’s government reshuffle?
William Gerstenmaier joins SpaceX, and that’s a really big deal. “He immediately brings credibility to the company’s safety culture.” Especially for that Human Landing System. I wonder if he was involved in writing the contract solicitation. However, “NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine demoted Gerstenmaier in July 2019 because he felt the space agency’s exploration programs were not moving forward fast enough.”
Avascent Releases Defense Budget Explorer. It’s free, give it a try!
Pentagon shaves $6.5 billion by selling obsolete equipment, overhauling bureaucracy. CMO Hershman sounding like it’s the 2010s: “We can gain a lot of efficiency and effectiveness just by leveraging our buying power.”
Progress! USS Gerald R. Ford’s EMALS cleared for all aircraft. And that goes to the Advanced Arresting Gear too. However, some conflict with DOT&E’s recent report: “Overall, the poor reliability demonstrated by AAG and EMALS and the uncertain reliability of [Dual Band Radar] and [Advanced Weapons Elevators] could further delay CVN 78 [Initial Operational Test and Evaluation],” says the report, which was published 20 December 2019.
Navy Budgeting $1.1B for 2nd Frigate as Timeline Slows. Not clear what’s leading to higher-than-planned costs, but lots more at the link. Hulls 2-20 objective cost is $800 million (CY$2018), and $950 threshold.
Speculative but exciting: B-21 bomber night flights might have started at Area 51. “I’ve seen things fly at night, and you have no idea what it is.”
Amazon wins injunction in US ‘JEDI’ contract fight. So much for “economies of scale” arguments about big winner take all contracts. It was set to be awarded in September 2018.
Israeli laser defense system successfully intercepts multiple drone targets. “Rafael says its Drone Dome C-UAS had 100% success in all scenarios, including stopping maneuvering quarries.” Just against micro/mini UAS. “Six of the Refael systems were sold to the UK Ministry of Defense in an estimated $20 million deal.”
Pacific missile defense radars nixed, MDA to study sensor architecture in region.
LCS news: The Navy is officially sending 4 ‘little crappy ships’ to an early retirement. “Neither LCS variant is survivable in high-intensity combat.” Are they not even worth chucking Naval Strike Missiles?
Defense Innovation Unit Shifts into Higher Gear. “About 92 percent of U.S. venture capital funding currently goes toward software, resulting in an underinvestment in dual-use hardware.” Another interesting fact: C3.ai helped reduce unschedule aircraft maintenance by 30 percent using AI. And DIU’s budget increased 60 percent in 2020.
The Air Force Could Cut Loose Tons of Older Planes. I’m starting to notice a theme of cutting to push modernization. A slice: “The service would get rid of most of its F-15 Eagle fighters [250 F-15C/D], as well as older F-16s.” And B-1Bs will drop from 62 to 45.
The Pentagon’s weapons tester has concerns about the F-35’s new software development process.
F-35 Mission Capable Rates are up. “Across the US fleet, mission capable rates—the metric that shows how many aircraft in a fleet are available for action at any given time—“increased from 55 percent in October 2018 to 73 percent in September 2019,” she wrote. Marine Corps F-35B readiness leaped from 44 percent to 68 percent during that period, Air Force F-35A jets improved from 66 percent to 75 percent, and Navy jets, which only became operational this year, are over 75 percent mission capable, Lord asserted.” But mission capable doesn’t include aircraft in depot, so if they put them in depot more regularly then mission capable can improve while real performance doesn’t. Right?
Other Transaction Agreements: Where Does An Unsuccessful Bidder Go? “Indeed, by some reports, Department of Defense (DoD) spending on OT agreements has grown from $2.3 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 to, by some accounts, more than $7 billion in FY 2019.”
“The fourth estate keeps growing,” but “It seems like we have been cutting this $5-6 billion for quite a long time.”
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