Congress skeptical of Navy’s unmanned vessels plans. Navy wants $464 million for unmanned surface vessels, Congress is unimpressed. HASC agreed to just $270 million. SASC didn’t authorize any of the request! “Furthermore, legislators remain unconvinced that the current unmanned vessels can hold up to the physical environment of extended operations at sea.” Well, fund it enough to see!
Moving further into the information age with Joint All Domain Command and Control. “The bad news is that the services are pursuing a number of individual, stove-piped efforts aligned with their own distinct requirements.” I think at this early stage, there must be a number of competing programs to spur innovation and downselect later, like Eisenhower did for the missiles program.
US Air Force cadets study idea of Space Force bases on the Moon. “In Military on the Moon, they’re looking at whether it’s necessary or even possible to have a sustained military presence on the Moon—not weaponizing the Moon, but militarizing the Moon.”
NASA’s inspector general report roasts Lockheed Martin for Orion fees. NASA spends about $1.1 billion annually on the crew module, and despite not performing is given their award fees. What you get with cost-plus contracts, I suppose.
Related: Will product deliveries aid Lockheed’s Q2 Earnings? (Or is it, non-deliveries in Orion case?) Lockheed’s stock bumped from $150 at the start of 2019 to $390, unfazed by the Covid-19 scare. Combat-jets comprise 40% of its topline!
DARPA pays $1 million for an AI app that can predict an enemy’s emotions. “There is no sound scientific consensus that the ability to automate the prediction of emotions based on people’s physical features, mannerisms, voice, or whatever, is even possible.” That seems like the least of their problems with this
Air Force lacks ‘adequate’ plan for next-gen reaper: HAC-D. Explains the plus-up of 16 Reapers for $344M in HAC-D procurement plan, where the Air Force wanted to terminate production. If there wasn’t a plan, then that money would’ve better gone to prototyping and testing than buying more Reapers.
Delayed use of Defense Production Act leads to ongoing shortages of protective gear. “Experts” think shortages could have been avoided by using the DPA a few weeks earlier. That’s just intellectually dishonest in my view. The US isn’t expected to meet 70% of peak demand for N95 mask production until January 2021!
House appropriators criticize Space Force management of acquisition programs. “… blasts the U.S. Space Force for not having a dedicated civilian leader in charge of acquisitions.” Well, there is Roper for the entire Air Force, just like Geurts manages acquisition for the Navy and the Marines. No one’s complaining there. I thought the Space Force should also have a dedicated acquisition executive, but I think their point is that fewer decisions would be delegated to the PEOs and PMs in that case, as the executive would want to actively manage things.
China’s stealth fighter goes into mass production after thrust upgrade. “The J-20B has overcome agility problems to finally be considered a fully fledged fifth-generation fighter, military source says. Aircraft still will be fitted with Russian engine but ‘Chinese version could be ready in a year or two’”
Defund the Pentagon: the conservative case. “At a time of enormous deficits and record debt, this can no longer be acceptable… Congress also needs another 10 years of discretionary budget caps.”
Silicon Valley giants — not startups — dominate DoD Tech $$. “It also highlights the size advantages that enable giants like HP, IBM, and Microsoft to navigate government contracting, while even explicitly military-friendly firms like Palantir and Anduril lag behind their more established peers.”
Top defense firms get biggest share of accelerated virus funds. “[Lockheed] has said it’s received $1.1 billion so far out of a total that Lord has estimated would be about $3 billion.” That $1.1 billion is just for accelerated progress payments.
We need $10B to pay contractors’ coronavirus expenses, Pentagon tells Congress. “Last week, defense analyst Jim McAleese estimated that between $12 billion and $15 billion would be needed to cover companies’ coronavirus expenses. If Congress does not appropriate the funds, the Pentagon would likely cut weapons buying and research funding to cover the costs”
Peter Thiel’s new man in the Defense Department. “The Pentagon’s new 33-year-old head of research and engineering lacks a basic science degree.” Big turn around from Mike Griffin.
Distant military applications? Vantablack? Meh. Meet the Ultra-black vantafish. “Scientists have found that some fishes absorb up to 99.956 percent of the light that hits them.”
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