Acquisition headlines

Inside project convergence: How the US Army is preparing for war in the next decade. “… this generation’s digital Louisiana Maneuvers” in the Arizona desert, as the service aims to bring key technologies together designed to fight across air, land, sea, space and cyber.”

Global Strike Command Opens New Innovation Hub. … set up a new facility called STRIKEWERX in May to connect with academia, small businesses and even “garage inventors,”

Other Transaction and data rights. “There are three basic pathways to negotiating data, data license rights, data markings, and data delivery in an OT: (1) adapt the language and concepts from the DFARS; (2) leverage commercial marketplace rights customary to what is being bought; or (3) negotiate from a blank piece of paper.”

Budget dysfunction threatens delays to US Navy’s Columbia program. “The two-boat buy constitutes a “new start,” and thus would not be authorized under a stopgap spending measure if Congress fails to pass a budget.”

Behind the scenes of the US Air Force’s second test of its game-changing battle management system. Interesting throughout! “We did have things go down on the range — different links — as we were connecting all of the different centers that were participating,”

Updated DoD Directive 5000.01.

JAIC wants AI victory gardens across DoD. “JAIC will provide curated datasets that the rest of DoD can use to train and test its algorithms, but “there isn’t going to be a single gigantic Fort Knox of data,” Mulchandani said.”

NASA megarocket blasts past cost estimates, forces Congress notification. “The new development baseline cost for SLS is $9.1 billion, and the commitment for the initial ground-systems capability to support the [rocket’s first] mission is now $2.4 billion.”

Charlie Bolden says the quiet part of loud: SLS rocket will go away. “because at some point commercial entities are going to catch up. They are really going to build a heavy lift launch vehicle sort of like SLS that they will be able to fly for a much cheaper price than NASA can do SLS. That’s just the way it works.” All the formality of measuring cost growth and notifying Congress did not control the SLS program at all — what did was the availability of a SpaceX competitor.

ComNavOps: AI breats fighter pilot – no really. “I came away from it thinking the event was almost a waste of time for all parties and was tantamount to the usual staged war games and exercises that the military is so famous for.”

A fighter pilot will dogfight an AI-controlled jet in 2024, Esper says. “”The AI agent’s resounding victory demonstrated the ability of advanced algorithms to outperform humans in virtual dogfights.”

Anduril’s new drone offers to inject more AI into warfare.  “A swarm of Ghost 4s, controlled by a single person on the ground, can perform reconnaissance missions like searching for enemy weapons or soldiers…  the drones can carry a range of payloads, including systems capable of jamming enemy communications or an infrared laser to direct weapons at a target. In theory the drone could be fitted with its own weapons.”

New Chinese Space Plan landed at mysterious air base, evidence suggests. “… the new Chinese vehicle probably resembles a robotic spacecraft called the X-37B.”

Jim Hasik: Air Force: buy those surplus jumbo jets now! “Over the past 50 years, Boeing has built 1,556 of its 747s. Over the past 15 years, Airbus has built 242 of its A380s.”

Sci-Fi Awesome: A US Army howitzer just shot down a cruise missile. “A U.S. Army self-propelled howitzer firing a Mach-5 shell just shot down a cruise missile for the first time… China possesses around 1,300 rockets and cruise missiles that, during a major war, could rain destruction on America’s Pacific bases.”

Not only stealth F-35s, Russian S-500 missile can also shoot down low orbit satellites. Take with a grain of salt: “According to publicly available information, the S-500 will feature the 40N6 extended-range guided missile capable of engaging targets up to 155 miles away. It would be able to detect and attack up to ten ballistic missile warheads flying at speeds of over four miles a second… The 30-foot-long two-stage solid-fuel missile travels at nine times the speed of sound and is able to intercept targets moving at a speed of 15.6 Mach.”

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply