Will Roper: Startup.mil to Startup.com? “Like the impeded response of Xerox to personal computers, Sears to e-commerce, or Blockbuster to video streaming, our military could easily face the barrel of disruptive technologies — instead of the sights — unless we wake up now.”
Air Force looks to bridge valley of death for small tech firms. “”There is no phase 3 funding that’s allocated by Congress. That is where you have to have a program office working with you,” Roper said.” Surprised Roper wants to follow more of an In-Q-Tel model where a nonprofit takes equity stake (what happens with that stock, by the way?)
OMB’s interim supply chain rule targets untrustworthy vendors. “One thing the rule doesn’t address is legal liability for private companies who share information about possible supply chain threats.”
DISA Bets one $11.7B deal can streamline 4th estate networks. DoD never learns its lesson in enterprise IT. “The Defense Enclave Services, or DES, seeks to tie the disparate systems of everything from the POW/MIA Accounting Agency to DARPA to a single network, managed by DISA. “
US Air Force gives blockchain firm $1.5M to build supply chain network. “Emerging technologies like SIMBA Chain’s blockchain platform have the potential to achieve the reliable exchange of information over an unreliable network where not all participants can be trusted.”
More ambitious ABMS demo uses 5G: Roper. Next AMBS demo “will be much larger in scale and scope than its predecessor, involving 33 different platforms, 70 industry teams and 65 government teams.” More on that: Advanced battle management system field test brings Joint Force together across all domains during second onramp. $3.3B over five years
On defining Industrial Policy. “A more narrowly-defined conception of industrial policy actually fits inside a larger “innovation policy” bubble.”
As investigators ID big problems, US Navy Blames “Fat Leonard” “It is a cultural problem. The Navy’s long-standing ship handling, disease control and fire prevention shortfalls are knotty problems.”
Pentagon, defense contractors are out of step on tech innovation, GAO finds. And the GAO is… in step with tech innovation? Defense primes do IRAD on what government will actually fund, major legacy platforms, not what it says it wants to fund.
The excellent Jim Hasik: Close the pentagon – it’s too big of a target. Not just an easy kinetic target… “With its concentrated culture of scripted updates, hostility to analysis and mid-century office technologies, “The Building” is much of the problem.”
Is the ratio of investment between research and development to production in major defense acquisition programs experiencing fundamental change? Yes, ratio of procurement to R&D fell from 3.5-to-1 in the 1950s to about 1.5-to-1 today. Good fact: in 1960, software performed 8% of F-4 functions, 45% of F-16, and 80% of an F-22. Really an interesting report.
Ruthless aircraft-buying decisions needed to avoid defeat: USAF. “However, China and Russia have invested heavily in anti-aircraft missile batteries to shoot down USAF aircraft, as well as long-range ballistic and cruise missiles that can destroy aircraft on the tarmac and hit the mainland USA. “
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