DARPA’s DyNAMO connects incompatible datalinks under electronic attack. (Janes) The radio-frequency (RF) technologies embedded into the DyNAMO system enable “automated, real-time dynamic configuration of tactical networks to ensure that heterogeneous radio nodes – whether on ground, air, or sea – can interoperate in a contested battlespace.”
Geurts: Unmanned systems will ‘scale faster than we think’. (Inside Defense) “Unmanned systems will take time to develop, but then move faster than many anticipate, Navy acquisition executive Hondo Geurts said Wednesday. “I think, like aviation, it will seem harder than it appears at the front and then it will scale much faster than we think on the back end of it,” he said”
Army official details decision to drop idea of submitting its own design for OMFV. (Defense Daily) “Industry made it clear they thought it was too much conflict of interest. As time went along and data started materializing and facts emerged, it became clear if we continued as a full-fledged competitor that…the chances of protests, and significantly long protests, were so likely that would only delay the overall program months and months and maybe even years.” In other words, perception and protest. It’s absurd that industry is telling the government it can’t build something with its own money.
OMFV: Army Wants Your Weird Ideas For Bradley Replacement. (Breaking Defense) ” “Previous programs have required the government to be omniscient, and we all know that we’re not omniscient. We can’t predict what’s going to happen in seven years or eight years or nine.” … But then they also show a schedule out to FY 30 and full rate production.
Navy now has 15 tech bridges across US and in UK to tackle fleet problems in new ways. (USNI News) “The primary focus areas for this Tech Bridge will be crewless and autonomous technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, space, and directed energy and lasers.”
US Defense Department looks to bolster domestic chip manufacture with new program. (Reuters) The rise of industrial/capital programs? “There is currently no commercially viable option that can provide a U.S. located leading-edge foundry that can fabricate the assured leading-edge custom integrated circuits and Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) products required for critical DoD systems. The purpose of the RAMP-C program is to incentivize such an option… TSMC, a major supplier to Apple, is also independently working to build a $12 billion chip plant in Arizona.”
We need a Goldwater-Nichols Act for emerging technology. (Defense One) “We need a similar approach today as we move from an industrial-age, hardware-driven force to an information-age, software-driven, more risk-tolerant one.”
Pentagon reveals first contracts to serve as pathfinders for CMMC. (Federal News Network) Just 7 contracts named, not the 15 previously thrown out there.
Vendors, consultants describe an increase in ‘bullying’ tactics by GSA to get lower schedule prices. (Federal News Network) “… the pendulum has swung too far in how the Federal Acquisition Service is requiring vendors to renegotiate prices, with some being reduced by as much as 40%.”
Skunk Works reveals details of Mid-November U-2S Demo. (Aviation Week) “A U-2S in mid-November enabled the Air Force to push a containerized software update to an airborne network. The event demonstrated that the Air Force may no longer need to wait until a combat fleet has returned to base to receive vital software updates, such as adding a new jamming technique to the aircraft’s electronic warfare library.”
Air Force Research Lab demos ‘record-breaking’ scramjet and ‘high speed’ warhead. (Flight Global) Apparently aiming to solve the timing challenge, the AFRL says its recent sled tests show progress in detonating a warhead at “high speeds”.
As China leads quantum computing race, US spies plan for a world with fewer secrets. (Newsweek) “China is reportedly spending $10 billion on the effort, building a center devoted to quantum computing and artificial intelligence; the U.S. government has committed $1 billion.”
GatewayONE and attritableONE test moves joint force one step closer to ‘IoT.mil’ demonstrates F-22, F-35 first secure bi-directional data sharing. (US Air Force) “The real win of the day was seeing the gatewayONE establish a secure two-way translational data path across multiple platforms and multiple domains. That’s the stuff ABMS is all about.”
Advances in supercomputing make DARPA confident about CRANE active flow control. (Janes) “… computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes had improved in the past 10 years. This enables engineers to better leverage computers to verify designs and effects, and spot checks in wind tunnels.”
How DoD can improve its technology resilience. (C4ISRNET) “Resilience is a key challenge for combat mission systems in the defense community as a result of accumulating technical debt, outdated procurement frameworks, and a recurring failure to prioritize learning over compliance.”
The Congressional Budget Office’s menu of defense cuts. (AEI) “… the CBO provided 14 options for potential defense cuts that in many cases may lead to saving money in the short term but without regard for the consequences to morale, readiness, and missions globally.”
Air Force, DOD leaders discuss cutting edge innovation. (DoD) “Swarming drones are increasingly things that terrorist groups can do, that hobbyist groups can do with the right technical know-how.”
The strategic theory of John Boyd. (Tasshin’s Blog) “Individuals or organizations that can understand themselves as complex adaptive systems are at a competitive advantage against those that do not.”
Roper: ARRW hypersonic missile will fly this month. (Air Force Magazine) “… developing ARRW as a rapid prototype meant the missile will receive operational capability in 2022—five years earlier than if it was a traditional program.”
Trump’s massive Navy buildup bets on savings that wont materialize, experts say. (Defense News) “But the savings they tout to pay for this will be difficult to achieve and/or are not realistic, like $35 billion from getting out of so-called endless wars and $6.6 billion from cutting unspecified legacy systems.”
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