DoD cancels $10B JEDI contract. (Fed Scoop) “Acting DOD CIO John Sherman told reporters Tuesday that while JEDI was conceived in 2017 with “noble intent,” it was “developed at a time when the department’s needs were different and our cloud conversancy less mature.” … Now the DOD is headed in a new direction with its enterprise cloud effort, launching the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) — a multi-billion-dollar, multi-cloud, multi-vendor contract.”
Microsoft’s commitment to the DoD remains steadfast. (Microsoft) “The 20 months since DoD selected Microsoft as its JEDI partner highlights issues that warrant the attention of policymakers: when one company can delay, for years, critical technology upgrades for those who defend our nation, the protest process needs reform. Amazon filed its protest in November 2019 and its case was expected to take at least another year to litigate and yield a decision, with potential appeals afterward.”
Military applications of 3D printing. (All3DP) “With metal 3D printer from Markforged, the Army was able to fabricate hatch plugs that were not only significantly cheaper, but sleeker and more efficiently designed. Army engineers simplifying the design of the hatch plug down to four parts from ten. Additive manufacturing saved the Army more than $244,000 in costs for low-volume production, as well as streamlined the design of crucial equipment.” The article goes through tons of use case examples. Interesting throughout!
US Air Force looks to fly with 3D printed parts. (Automation World) “… the Air Force’s Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO) was receptive when representatives from GE Additive approached them last year with the idea of making some parts with 3D printing. That collaboration is now bearing fruit. GE’s engineers are building a 3D-printed sump cover for the GE F110 engine… [Moreover, GE was] able to use the technology to combine more than 300 engine parts into just seven 3D-printed components in the new GE9X engine, which GE claims is the most powerful jet engine in the world. Thanks to 3D printing and other technologies, this engine is 10% more fuel-efficient than its predecessor, the GE90… [and for a turboprop engine,] GE’s engineers distilled about 800 parts down to a dozen or so.”
NATO hopes to launch new defense tech accelerator by 2023. (Defense News) “DIANA will also be responsible for building and managing a network meant to help relevant startups grow and support NATO’s technology needs via grant programs. [Also,] The NATO Innovation Fund, as it’s called, would have a running time of about 15 years to start, and would be underwritten by about 70 million euro (about $83 million) per year, per van Weel.”
A look into the secret world of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office. (Federal News Network) “We have about five people on average on each program, that’s it,” Roberts said. “That’s the way we keep our organization small and agile. We also just put the best of the best on those programs and they are all experts in what they do and can go get it done with a smaller team.” … Roberts said his office is working eight months faster than the average Defense Department pace for awarding contracts. In the time the office has been active, it has awarded 50 contracts and expects to award five more by the end of the year.”
Space RCO Head: Too soon for single acquisition shop. (Breaking Defense) “There’s a lot of conjecture about, you know, we need to go to one acquisition organization for all of space. Do I think that’s the right answer? Mike’s answer to that is not right now… coordination and cooperation has been enhanced by the creation of the Space Force Program Integration Council (PIC) last September. PIC includes SMC, Space RCO, the Air Force RCO (which has some legacy space efforts), the Missile Defense Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Space Development Agency.”
DHS’s Correa to retire after 40 years in government. (Federal News Network) “Her dynamic leadership and unrelenting focus upon procurement integrity and innovation has been her hallmark within the government acquisition community. In particular, her vision in standing up the landmark Procurement Innovation Lab has paid off handsomely.” Soraya Correa is acquisition all-star if there ever was one! See my conversation with her here.
Former Air Force procurement leader named CEO of drone firm Volansi. (Fed Scoop) “It felt like a natural fit for me to bring my industry knowledge as well as operations and logistics experience to help create disruptive solutions for the transportation of medium to heavy weight payloads. It’s an exciting opportunity.”
China bill doubles DARPA’s budget, adds $52B for US chips. (Breaking Defense) “The United States Innovation and Competition Act, formerly called the Endless Frontiers Act, passed the Senate 68-32 and appears likely to become law. The bill now goes to the House. President Biden has said he supports the bill.”
USAF releases JADC2 CSO. (Intelligence Community News) “… problems associated with getting the right information to the right platform/decision maker in the most efficient manner thereby reducing kill chain and Observe, Orient, Decide and Act (OODA) timelines and cycles…This solicitation is not requesting any white papers or proposals at this time. This CSO functions as the overarching umbrella solicitation from which Calls will be published.” And Air Force posts Kill Chain Integration BAA. “The areas of interest include: ISR state of-the-art advancement, Enhancing situational awareness, Mobile networking and communications equipment, Improvements to existing AF/DoD infrastructure, USAF cryptographic operations advancement,” etc.
To Provide an Maintain a Navy: Understanding the business of Navy shipbuilding. USNI News) SASC’s Reed and Inhofe: “With competition limited because of low volumes, specialized construction needs, and high barriers to enter the market, Navy shipbuilding often fails to realize the benefits of being a monopsony… Since the 1960s, 14 U.S. shipyards that construct ships for the Navy have closed, and three have left the defense industry. Only one new shipyard has opened. As a result, just seven shipyards, owned by four prime contractors, build large Navy warships today. By comparison, China has more than 20 shipyards supporting its naval surface ship expansion, with dozens of commercial shipyards that dwarf the largest U.S. shipyards in size and throughput.”
China declassifies underwater drone amid Taiwan escalation. (Daily Sabah) “The drone was test-fired in the Taiwan Strait without human input a decade ago, reported daily South China Morning Post, adding the drone “could detect a mock craft, use artificial intelligence to identify its origin, and hit it with a torpedo.”… Specifics suggest the unmanned drone can patrol “about 10 meters (32 feet) below the surface following a predetermined route.””
Marine Corps wants a digital blueprint locker for access to 3D printing plans anywhere. (USNI News) While more than 300 3D printers already are in use by units across the Marine Corps, “what we have is a data problem.” “There’s a lot of data already out there,” she said, “but it’s all disaggregated and it’s unclear what we have, what we don’t have, and getting fleet access to what we do have can be quite difficult.””
Israel downs drones with airborne lasers. (AV Web) “The system, built by the air force with Elbit Systems, is mounted on a Cessna Caravan and easily blasted all the drones it encountered on the test.” The video was interesting, with the system taking out a number of UAVs from one kilometer or further. Still in the early days.
Raytheon, BAE, and Northrop selected for DARPA’s DENCE project. (Air Force Technology) “The development of these neuromorphic camera technologies will enable intelligent sensors that can handle more dynamic scenes and aid future military applications. Event-based imaging sensors operate asynchronously and only transmit information from pixels that have changed. This leads to much lower latency and lower power.”
F-16 fighting falcon is latest aircraft to join Wichita State ‘digital twin’ program. (The Wichita Eagle) “The contract with Wichita State involves disassembling and scanning two F-16s… “The data will be used to help address future parts obsolescence and mitigate supply chain risks because we won’t have to rely on legacy manufacturing sources and processes. We’ll have the 3D models and designs that we can send to the manufacturers we choose.””
US Army to test electronic warfare coders at the edge during upcoming exercise. (C4ISRNET) “Recently, the Army created a new military occupational specialty within its cyber branch dedicated to software development. Those specialists sit alongside operators and build tools on the spot to keep up with the dynamic environment of cyberspace… If the Army finds itself in a conflict with a top nation-state, it will likely come across signals it hasn’t seen before. This presents problems for the force because it won’t know how to exploit or defeat those signals until it categorizes them. In the Cold War, this could take years, but now with software-defined systems, new signals can be deployed, detected and tweaked in weeks.”
Watchdog group finds F-35 sustainment costs could be headed off affordability cliff. (Defense News) “the Defense Department will face a $6 billion gap in 2036 between the actual cost of sustaining the services’ F-35s and the cost the services can afford, the GAO said… Air Force officials told the GAO that unless sustainment costs decrease, “the service’s only available remaining options to meet the affordability constraints are to reduce the total number of F-35A aircraft they plan to purchase, or to reduce the aircraft’s planned flying hours.””
Ghost 60 UAVs with incredible payload are US special operations forces’ new toy. (Auto Evolution) “As a long-time collaborator of the Department of Defense (DoD), the woman-owned UAV Solutions company, based in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor, had just what it takes to deliver a great product. In-house engineering, composite layup, and 3D printing are just some of the assets that were used.”
USAF awards Raytheon $2bn for next stage of LRSO nuclear cruise missile. (Flight Global) “The LRSO is to replace the AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), the service’s current nuclear-tipped weapon… The EMD phase is expected to be complete by February 2027… The USAF has said that it plans to buy 1,000 to 1,100 LRSO missiles for about $10.8 billion.”
AFSOC’s unique array for armed overwatch competition. (Real Clear Defense) “The chosen system is a multi-role aircraft capable of performing well in both ISR and close air support missions. It must be flexible, with reconfigurable ISR and the ability to carry different types of munitions. The platform must be able to fly from austere airfields with a light logistical footprint. It must be transportable, either in a C-130 or C-17… the chosen aircraft must have significant range and endurance with a substantial payload, plus the capability to loiter for hours over an area of interest… One of the most interesting candidates is the Bronco II, offered by a team led by Leidos with the American subsidiary of the South African Paramount Group… It is the only entrant designed from the wheels up to be an ISR and close air support platform for austere environments.”
To compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink, China’s private space ventures must work with their state-owned competitors. (South China Morning Post)
Maneuver warfare in space: The strategic imperative for nuclear thermal propulsion. (Defense News) “Traditional chemical propellants used in current satellite designs are only designed to last for a limited life span, increasing the likelihood an adversary could “run them dry” by forcing more defensive maneuvers than their energy stores can sustain… Nuclear thermal propulsion provides much higher thrust and twice the propellant efficiency of legacy chemical systems.”
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