Appropriations, reprogramming, and the origins of Congressional control
Congress controls the movement of funds between program elements, such as between two space development programs (say, GPS Space Segment and GPS Follow on). For […]
Month: March 2021
Human-machine teaming and the future of Great Power Competition
I believe the department of defense made the conclusion back in 2014 or 2015 that AI-enabled autonomy was the key to future warfighting and it […]
The indecision problem of capital investment during times of crisis
One of the biggest lessons I had reading through WWII industrial mobilization literature is the waffling that goes on in the early days. Companies are […]
Acquisition headlines (3/21 – 3/27/2021)
SpaceX reducing booster production in recent years. (Reddit SpaceX Lounge) Boosters produced increased from two in 2012 to 13 in 2017, then declined to 15, […]
Why monolithic defense programs are inherently fragile
Mother Nature does not like anything too big… Mother Nature does not limit the interactions between entities; it just limits the size of its units. […]
Is the Pentagon’s tech outreach being undermined?
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks specifically called out the “so-called valley of death” as a barrier to innovation in a virtual speech at the National […]
Optionality: A core concept in JADC2 and acquisition
The idea of decision superiority really rests on this sense that optionality is going to be an increasingly important attribute of our future military operations. […]
Should R&D and Procurement be separated or paired together?
Basically research and procurement are incompatible. New developments are upsetting to procurement standards and procurement schedules. A procurement group is under the constant urge to […]
Podcast: Affecting the strategic calculus with Michele Flournoy
Michele Flournoy joined Jordan Schneider and I on a crossover episode of the China Talk and Acquisition Talk podcasts. She is a former Undersecretary of […]
Make 2021 the year of defense budget reform!
Three excellent reports addressing defense budget reform were released between February 25 and March 8, 2021: Competing in Time: Ensuring Capability Advantage and Mission Success […]
Acquisition headlines (3/13 – 3/20/2021)
3D systems and Huntington Ingalls to qualify corrosion-proof shipbuilding alloys. (3D Printing Industry) “3D Systems is formulating novel Copper-Nickel (CuNi) and Nickel-Copper (NiCu) alloys, that […]
Seeing like a state, institutional legibility, and the collapse of defense innovation
The book begins with an early example, “scientific” forestry (illustrated in the picture above). The early modern state, Germany in this case, was only interested […]
Redefining military readiness for Great Power Competition
Under the current readiness paradigm, our answer to “what needs to be ready?” is “the stuff we have today.” However, as we observed earlier, the […]
AF Ventures Impact Report for 2018-2020
Any award occurring after a company’s first AFVentures award is tagged as potential Phase III impact. All awards a company received prior to working with […]
Podcast: eVTOLs, Agility Prime, and AFWERX with Col. Nathan Diller
Colonel Nathan Diller joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss the Agility Prime line of effort that seeks an innovative acquisition approach to […]