DoD has promising tech. Now it’s time to scale it up, officials say. “Michèle Flournoy, widely believed to be President-elect Joe Biden’s top pick to lead the Defense Department, put the spotlight on emerging technology when she told the Aspen Security Forum she believes future Defense Department budgets are likely to flatline, necessitating “big bets” on innovative technologies. “
China’s new anti-stealth radars can detect, track & Shoot US F-22 and F_35 fighter jets. “Wu solved the issue by designing the world’s first practical meter wave sparse array synthetic impulse and aperture radar,” according to Global Times. “Wu said that his radar has multiple transmitting and receiving antennas tens of meters high, scattered in a range of tens to hundreds of meters. They can continuously cover the sky as the radar receives echoes from all directions.”
DoDI 5000.89 — Test & Evaluation. “The software pathway policy
additionally requires the identification of test platforms and infrastructure be included in the acquisition strategy; the estimated T&E costs be included in the cost estimate; and the periodic delivery of the technical baseline to include scripts, tools, libraries, and other software executables necessary to test the software.”
DoDI 5000.88 — Engineering of Defense Systems. “The modular and open systems approach will be documented in the digital authoritative source of truth. The PM will acquire the appropriate rights to the interface technical data to allow system evolution and interoperability in accordance with the program’s IP strategy.”
Building a 21st-century American Economy. Ash Carter, Orin Hoffman, et al. “Centralized global competitors such as China have engineered an incredibly powerful and integrated support system for their respective Tough Tech ecosystem.”
US Air Force chief’s top modernization priorities aren’t what you think they are. 1. Nuclear modernization. 2. ABMS. 3. acquisition reform.
DoD announces rare earth element award to strengthen domestic industrial base. “Department of Defense will contribute $9.6M to MP Materials’ effort to add value-add processing and separation capabilities.”
Services looking for Synergy in JADC2 efforts. “There’s not some Skynet that we’re all building to make work. It’s about taking the systems we have – the legacy systems we have, making them work together – and for all future systems we roll out and develop, they’re going to be built that way.”
Related: Navy makes major JADC2 push, linking sensors & shooters. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown has said he has spoken with Gilday about a possible accord to cooperate in developing a joint command and control network for future all-domain operations — along the lines of the MoU he signed Oct. 2 with Army Chief James McConville.”
Market Research— Promise or Problem? “The lack of knowledge of the requirement, the commercial market, and industry capability each can have an impact on decisions related to full and open competition.” In other words, subject-matter expertise is required.
SAC kills AF push for funding flexibility; Space Force likely hit. “Congress in general has never liked the idea of portfolios — or anything like that — that sort of has a flavor of slush funds; you know, that DoD can move the money around on its own authority without controls by Congress.”
How The Department Of The Air Force Is Driving Forward With AI. “We built the VAULT Data platform with the vision to have a self-service capability so that Air and Space professionals of all levels could access data and drive innovation.”
The Congressional Research Service Takes a Peek at the Next Big War. Governments worldwide are spending or budgeting a lot of money on defense with guesswork for guidance. “Which is why I found a recent report by the Congressional Research Service particularly interesting,” writes columnist and strategist Austin Bay. The CRS analysis examines six different weapons-technology categories.
GAO: Most DOD Aircraft Missing Availability Targets. In a new survey of 46 Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, the Government Accountability Office found that only three met their mission-capable goals in most fiscal years between FY-11 and FY-19—demonstrating the readiness and cost implications of the military’s aging aircraft fleet.
GAO: Cyber Command’s Joint Warfighting Programs Lack Interoperability Goals, U.S. Cyber Command’s key warfighting programs lack interoperability goals such as data tagging standards, potentially putting at risk the ability of those systems to share information and work in coordination, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Pentagon Acquisition Chief Signs New Policy for Managing Loss of Manufacturing, Supply Sources. The Pentagon’s acquisition chief has approved a new enterprise policy for managing the potential loss of manufacturing sources amid broader concerns about declining electronics production and other supply chain shortfalls. The new instruction for “Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages Management” was approved Nov. 5 by Ellen Lord, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.
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