Acquisition headlines (1/24 – 1/30/2021)
The history of the connected battlespace, part one: command, control, and conquer. (ArsTechnica) Recommended. “[C2] represents a top-down mentality applied in a rigid or mechanical […]
Month: January 2021
Was Eisenhower’s military-industrial speech a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Eisenhower was going to call this new animal the “military-industrial-congressional complex,” which most would agree today is a pretty accurate description of the system since […]
There’s no free lunch in DoD organizational design
When Burke became chief of naval operations, the conflict between the Bureau of Ordnance and the Bureau of Aeronautics in the guided missile field, under […]
Defense industrial strategy for the Biden administration
The fundamental challenge I see for the Biden administration is balancing reshoring versus Buy America. The Buy America approach is problematic when it comes to […]
Some insight into the Chinese defense industry
China’s defense industry itself has also undergone extraordinary changes since the mid-1990s. Originally established as industrial ministries in 1950, over the course of four decades […]
Setting a new precedent for pricing defense contracts
When you’re trying to buy a product in the industrial era, most of the cost was in the physical attributes of the thing you’re buying. […]
Jacques Gansler’s take on congressional micromanagement
Congress has not in recent years demonstrated a willingness to delegate fiscal authority to operating managers in the DOD. On the contrary, Congress has tended […]
Acquisition headlines (1/17 – 1/23/2021)
Top DoD weapons buyer: How the Pentagon transformed its approach to information-age warfare. (Business Insider) “People, however, are the most important aspect of this revolution. […]
George Mason kicks off an acquisition playbook for the information age
For the past 50 years, there has been a stable consensus about the benefits of competition in the Department of Defense. Unfortunately, infrequent “winner-take-all” programs, […]
What is the difference between JADC2 and Mosaic Warfare?
I would argue that JADC2 is about giving the warfighter more options. What we’re trying to do with mosaic is do that with speed. The […]
Futurist and traditionalist views of national security
… the leaders and thinkers of this futurist camp have built a consensus that victory in great-power competition, especially between China and the United States, […]
How the US auto industry scaled and improved Army tanks in WWII
One of the first things he [Bill Knudsen] does in the process, he makes a call in the summer of 1940 to his pal KT […]
On the question of planning in agile development
There are many misconceptions organizations fall prey to as they move from traditional predictive project management practices to agile product delivery practices. Some of these […]
Cost-per-desired-effect and the F-35 vs F-15EX debate
Let me give you one specific example. The leverage provided by stealth aircraft in the First Gulf War is fully illustrated by this particular attack. […]
Acquisition headlines (1/10 – 1/16/2021)
DoD releases industrial capabilities report. (DoD) Top 10 largest DoD suppliers $743B in market cap, compared to $778B for Facebook. 17,000 companies ceased being prime […]