The pitfalls of factoring in security and CMMC costs. (National Defense Magazine) “Up to [CMMC] Level 3 will be included in your indirect rates. So, you don’t get a direct charge to do it, but you do get to recoup the cost over time; you have to spread it across all of your business.” [Total annual cost of CMMC level 3 is estimated at just $60K… which is hard to believe.]
New Report to describe incentives in resourcing processes. (National Defense Magazine) “Congress’ annual budget cycle is incongruous with the Defense Department’s five-year planning process, which creates conflicting incentives for both parties as they seek to balance short- and long-term funding and programmatic priorities. These different time horizons create conflicting incentives for both parties related to balancing short- and long-term outcomes… NDIA is producing a report tentatively titled, “Stepping Back from Acquisition Reform: How Our Resourcing Processes Drive Defense Outcomes.””
The US Air Force completes tests of swarming munitions, but will they ever see battle? (Defense News) “… the Air Force sent an in-flight target update from the ground station to the swarm of CSDBs, directing the bombs to abandon their current trajectory and go after a new target… “These technologies are completely changing the way we think about weapon capabilities, much like the laser-guided bomb did several decades ago.””
Army research budget focused on tactical electronic warfare architecture. (C4ISRNET) $12M for jamming pods, $39.7M for integrated cyber, SIGINT, and EW system, $16.8M for EW planning and visualization tool, and $19.5M for sensing and geolocating.
HII launches first DDG-51 Flight III destroyer for US Navy. (Naval News) “Flight III destroyers will have improved capability and capacity to perform Anti-Air Warfare and Ballistic Missile Defense [enabled by] the SPY-6 radar, in association with Aegis Baseline 10, which includes larger electronically scanned arrays and the power generation and cooling equipment required to operate the powerful new radar.”
Ingalls to hire 3,000 full-time shipbuilders. (Defense News) “The company said it’s adding ship fitters, electricians, pipefitters, pipe welders and structural welders, and is also seeking applicants with mechanical, hot work or carpentry experience.”
Cost estimates for lead boat in Columbia-class program grow by $637M. (USNI News) “… the lead ship in the class of 12 ballistic-missile submarines, is now $15.03 billion, compared to a $14.39 billion estimate in the FY 2021 submission… “Estimate updates were primarily driven by updates to shipyard construction performance and material escalation,” the budget books read.”
Boeing drone refuels US Navy fighter jet in midair for the first time. (CBS News) “… the Super Hornet approached the drone, known as a MQ-25 Stingray, from behind and were as close as 20 feet from each other… The drone transferred 325 of the 500 pounds of fuel available during the approximately 4.5-hour test flight, Dave Bujold, Boeing’s MQ-25 program director, said.”
DARPA’s interceptor drone shoots “stringy streamers” to drop enemy drones. (The Drive) “the MFP interceptor can be seen bringing down a single quadcopter drone using a blast of its “stringy streamers” which appear to clog the drone’s rotors to the point of complete loss of lift a few seconds after impact.”
Navy finds 32 problems with Littoral Combat Ships. (Defense One) “The combining gear, which connects the ship’s two engines, had already been determined to be a class-wide defect [Freedom-class] following propulsion failures with multiple ships… The Independence-class needs water cylinder replacements, pressure switch replacements, diesel engine replacements, and water jackets on the diesel engines.”
US Army to use HoloLens technology in high-tech headsets for soldiers. (Microsoft) “The Microsoft team learned about navigating on the ground, maneuvering in the dark and communicating in the field. The goal was to help the engineers understand the challenging environments soldiers operate in… The devices met the Army’s requirements of rugged, waterproof and shockproof. But no one had considered, for example, that the headsets needed to allow users to brace a rifle against a cheek.”
Relativity Space unveils fully reusable, 3D-printed Terran R rocket. (Space.com) “Terran R will be a big step up in power and performance from the two-stage Terran 1, an expendable rocket that Relativity Space expects to start flying later this year… Terran R’s payload capacity is close to that of SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9.”
What’s a fair price for KC-46 spare parts? The Air Force isn’t sure. (Defense News) “Thus far, the company has paid more than $5 billion in cost overruns after winning a fixed-price contract in 2011 worth $4.9 billion. “They’re trying to recover some of their costs on the back end, and they’re starting to recover their costs basically on some of these spares,” said one government official… One part in particular now costs 15 times what the Air Force previously paid for it.”
BAE Systems’ factory of the future is driving digital connectivity. (Aerospace) “We have intelligent workstations that deliver tools to engineers by autonomous robot before operators even know they need them.”
Russia’s powerful Northern Fleet just got the first of a new class of submarines that has the US Navy worried. (Business Insider) “the Yasen-M class features new control systems, new quieting technology, new sensor suites, new personnel-rescue systems, new damage-control systems, and even an updated nuclear reactor designed to make less noise… Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, the commander of the 2nd Fleet, warned last year that “our ships can no longer expect to operate in a safe haven on the East Coast or merely cross the Atlantic unhindered.””
Pentagon chief Hicks pursuing workarounds to fast-track military tech acquisition. (Fed Scoop) “Hicks said she is looking at options including the expansion of adaptive acquisition pathways, and redefining what is categorized as a “new start” program… New start programs can take longer to flow to contractors because it typically refers to projects that have yet to be justified by the department and funded by Congress through the normal budget process.”
US Army looks for nontraditional business to tackle robotic vehicle sustainment. (Defense News) “The AAL is establishing a cohort of innovators “who can develop hardware and software components around sensors and sensor data to gather, fuse and interpret RCV sustainment requirements and operational capabilities in order to deliver actionable information to decision makers.”
Israelis fare well in US Army counter drone tests. (Breaking Defense) “DKD uses a combination of on-board processing, autonomous flight control and optical target lock to find and strike the target. It contains an entanglement net of cut resistant wires that spring-release during flight and entangle the enemy’s rotors for an extremely high kill rate.”
Pentagon to redirect $2.2B in border wall funds back to military projects. (The Hill) “The money will go to 66 projects in 16 countries, 11 U.S. states and three U.S. territories in fiscal 2021… Among those is $79 million for an elementary school for children of military personnel in Germany, $94 million for another such school in Japan, $50 million for a Marine Corps machine gun range in Guam, $10 million for a missile field expansion at Fort Greely, Alaska.”
DOD ‘a work in progress’ on reforming software practices as 18 programs adopt new acquisition pathway. (Inside Defense) “The pilot [BA 8] is just one potential solution to addressing the increasingly popular hypothesis that DOD’s planning, programming, budgeting and execution (PPBE) process is outdated and inhibiting the department from adopting innovative technologies. Mike Brown, the director of the Defense Innovation Unit and President Biden’s nominee for Pentagon acquisition chief, is among those pushing for budget reform.”
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