Summed up into a single #miltwitter meme. @AcqTalk @PeteModi @thedanward pic.twitter.com/Z5FaPYJ35O
— The Merge (@MergeNewsletter) May 12, 2021
I like that thread because it highlights two excellent groups:
(1) Dan Ward, Matt MacGregor, and Pete Modigliani from MITRE. They published a Defense One piece on their Five by Five initiative which summarizes their excellent paper. I must say that there is a lot to like in their recommendations, and they highlight two of my hobby horses: portfolio management and budget transformation. At the end, they name DepSecDef Kathleen Hicks as the point person for these reforms. As I was once told, a recommendation isn’t actionable unless you call someone out by name who has the authority to take responsibility for implementation.
(2) Mike Benitez and Ryan Fishel from The Merge, self described as “A national defense newsletter that doesn’t suck.” I agree with that assessment. Follow them on Twitter @MergeNewsletter. Sign up for their weekly newsletter here. I’m a big fan. Here’s an interesting bit from a recent newsletter on active protection systems:
Now, the U.S. Army is hosting a shoot-off competition to decide which mature light-weight system to buy: Rafael’s Trophy VPS or Rheinmetall’s ADS. It’s not apples to apples though.
The German solution uses a large amount of small computer-controlled explosives around the vehicle that are designed to detonate right before the incoming threat hits the vehicle. Israel’s Trophy shoots a single tiny missile to intercept the incoming threat further away from the vehicle.
OBTW: These mature ground vehicle protection systems autonomously complete the entire kill-chain (detect, engage, and defeat) in well under 200 milliseconds. That is wicked fast! In fact, you can only tell what’s going on when replaying the video in slow motion.
… Imagine a legacy RPA (like the RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-9 Reaper) outfitted with an APS and how that might change things.
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