Tell us why small businesses can’t get contracts, Pentagon asks. (Defense One) “… the Defense Department received an “A” grade on the Small Businesses Administration’s annual scorecard about contracting with small businesses in 2020. The department has met its contracting goals for seven straight years, she added. “Yet, over the past decade, small businesses in the defense industrial base shrunk by over 40%,” Hicks said.”
The Air Force tried to kill the A-10 by clipping its wings and starving it of parts. (Task and Purpose) “The Air Force’s efforts to starve the A-10, also lovingly called the Warthog, include allowing supplier contracts to lapse so that they can’t provide replacement parts; and reducing the Air Force maintenance depot’s capacity to conduct overhauls. But one of the most effective efforts to ground the plane is the Air Force’s move to delay the re-winging of the A-10, which has basically grounded many jets that can’t fly because their current wings are too old.” [Gun and ammo are problem areas.]
New Navy task force will be all about bringing unmanned capabilities to the middle east. (The Drive) “… the Navy did not specify what unmanned systems would fall under the task force’s auspices. However, the outlet also said that it was its understanding that the full array of platforms would include some of those that the service had demonstrated during a huge unmanned-focused exercise, dubbed Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21, or UxS IBP 21, that was held off the coast of California earlier this year… All told, 5th Fleet/NAVCENT now looks set to become an incubator of sorts for the Navy to begin moving a variety of unmanned concepts of operation out of the realm of experimentation and into actual day-to-day operations in the Middle East and beyond.”
Hyten says Pentagon moving ‘unbelievably slow’ with modernization. (National Defense Magazine) “It’s going to take us 10 to 15 years to modernize 400 ICBM silos that already exist,” he said, referring to the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program. “China is basically building almost that many overnight,” he said, adding that the speed at which the threat is evolving “is what really concerns me most.”… Hyten also highlighted frustrations with the Pentagon’s pace in developing more resilient space architectures. That problem has persisted for over a decade, although efforts are underway at the Space Force and other agencies to address it, he noted. “
Space-based adaptive communications node (Space-BACN). (DARPA) “The Space-BACN program aims to revolutionize the way space-based communications work by developing low-cost, high-speed reconfigurable optical datalinks to connect various low-earth orbit (LEO) constellations.”
DARPA wants cheap laser communications terminals to allow any satellite to talk to another. (The Drive) ““Commercial space companies, on the other hand, are developing ultra-optimized, single-mode coherent systems designed to achieve high-rate communications while lowering cost. These lower-cost systems, however, are not reconfigurable nor compatible with any other standard.” … That’s where Space-BACN comes in. The project is seeking concepts that can produce an optical communications terminal.”
Lockheed unveils new tanker design: LMXT. (Breaking Defense) “Lockheed on Friday unveiled its LMXT tanker design, which is one that should be familiar to tanker aficionados: the platform is largely built off Airbus’ Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) with some technical upgrades and an extended range… [In the Air Force’s RFI,] the service stated it wants to buy 140 to 160 of the interim design in order to help retire some of the oldest KC-135 tankers. A final request for proposals is expected in 2022… The A330 tanker design is already in use by 13 countries around the world, and has been certified for key American aircraft”
AFRL, Defense Innovation Unit launch new phase of Golden Horde vanguard program. (AFRL) “This virtual environment, a digital engineering pipeline that encompasses software, hardware-in-the-loop and surrogate UAVs, aims to rapidly integrate, develop and test transformational networked, collaborative, and autonomous, or NCA, weapon capabilities… DIU recently awarded contracts to six gladiators through its Commercial Solutions Opening including Autonodyne, EpiSci, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Shield AI, and Systems & Technology Research while Georgia Tech Research Institute and an AFRL government team round out the field… Golden Horde, which employs semi-autonomous capabilities to operate without human control ultimately enables weapons to react to changes in the environment as well as losses and degradations in their own systems. Although these systems can operate without direct human control, they only engage targets or specific target groups previously selected by a human operator as part of the mission planning process.”
Procurement decision for powerful Navy jammer heads to court. (C4ISRNET) “GAO decision sided with Northrop Grumman, who alleged the Navy failed to consider the impact of a potential conflict of interest for a Navy employee that developed specifications for the system in question — the Next Generation Jammer Low Band pod — while simultaneously negotiating for employment with L3Harris during the solicitation.”
Ellen Lord; Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good with CMMC. (Fed Scoop) “The program has been under an internal review since March, essentially halting progress on its implementation and keeping many leaders in the department mum on the program… “While I think there should be collaboration with CIO, I do not support the moving of billets to CIO or handing of overall leadership [from ASD Industrial Policy],” she said… Lord said she frequently heard from industry groups that costs associated with CMMC would be too high, creating barriers to entry especially difficult for small businesses to overcome… One idea DOD is still contemplating is a government-approved cloud infrastructure for software development, she said. “
Air Force eyes artificial intelligence and machine learning for cognitive electronic warfare. (Military Aerospace) The AFRL presolicitation will “… enable attack aircraft to engage and defeat next-generation enemy integrated air-defense systems (IADS)… Future U.S. aircraft must deal with missiles guided by electro-optical and RF sensors for detection, navigation, and tracking…AI and machine learning can help generate and analyze growing amounts of mission data in real-time, and open opportunities for using autonomous cognitive EW.”
Milrem and Kongsberg are building a robotic wingman. (Defense News) “The Type-X tactical vehicle platform is designed to deliver “equal or overmatching” firepower to be used by units with Infantry Fighting Vehicles… The vehicle can accommodate up to a 50mm cannon as well as anti-tank missiles and a tethered drone… Kongsberg’s network-based fire control capability is already fielded to the Norwegian Army and is participating in evaluations for the U.S. Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle program… The Type-X also comes with “intelligent functions” including follow-me, waypoint navigation and obstacle detection using artificial intelligence as part of the algorithms.”
Former US Air Force acquisition czar could help the UK build its future fighter. (Defense News) ““[Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston] asked to meet with me in Washington and said: ‘We want to digitally transform the whole service, and we need help to do it,’ ” Roper said. “They want to chase [a] digital engineering approach for future fighters; they want to do the same cloud approach that we did with doing containerized development [for software].”… One of Roper’s first tasks will be to provide input to the RAF on how to build a cloud environment and coding infrastructure for agile software development.”
The Pentagon’s army of nerds. (The Atlantic) “There is a perception that “you can’t do anything in government because bureaucrats don’t care about technologists … it’s a waste of your talents,” Lynch told me. When a friend of Lynch’s shared that he was going into government through the U.S. Digital Service, Lynch told him flat out, “That is the dumbest fucking idea I’ve ever heard.”… The same year Facebook released software that could describe images to the blind, the Pentagon needed help converting JPEG files to PDFs.” [Long article on Rebellion Defense, export controls, AI/ML, and more, hard to excerpt but worth a read.]
The US Navy launched a missile from a ghost ship. Wait, what? (Popular Science) “A video shared by the Department of Defense last week shows an uninhabited ship, the USV Ranger, successfully firing an SM-6 missile. The uncrewed surface vessel Ranger is one of at least two robot ships that the Navy uses to test autonomy, in collaboration with the Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities office…. Alongside USV Nomad, USV Ranger is a repurposed commercial fast supply ship, or the kind of boat used to regularly and quickly bring deliveries to oil rigs. “
Air Force software platform expansion stalled by cybersecurity concerns. (Fed Scoop) “Efforts to expand the Air Force’s software development environment, Platform One, have stalled after some senior military IT leaders raised cybersecurity concerns about the platform… The concerns center on officials’ understanding of the architecture, policies of the environment and a perceived lack of security documentation. Some officials have tried to outright ban the use of code stored in one of its repositories… The problem for some, Slaughter said, is: “They [Platform One] just don’t have the homework in the right format.”… The Navy is working on its own DevSecOps platform similar to Platform One called Black Pearl. Officials in the Navy and Air Force have been negotiating a reciprocity agreement to avoid the Navy re-doing work already accomplished by Platform One. But talks stalled over technical details concerning the way Platform One accepted risk and how it stored documentation about its security practices, officials said.”… Knausenberger added that Platform One sometimes attracts criticism because it regularly works with cybersecurity red teams — white hat hackers tasked with playing the role of the adversary — and. because the teams are good at what they do, they occasionally identify vulnerabilities.”
IAI debuts new hybrid ground robot joining the UK army inventory. (Defense News) “REX can perform a range of missions and offers improved maneuverability with all-wheel drive, the ability to climb obstacles, significant endurance and a large payload capacity of 1.3 tons, Avni said. The hybrid-electric vehicle is capable of “silent watch,” meaning it can perform certain missions without running an engine that would allow for easy detectability by enemy forces. REX comes equipped with a system of electro-optical sensors and radar that give it the ability to perform surveillance and reconnaissance for units at the tactical edge and can be armed with weapons like a 7.62mm machine gun and a .50 caliber heavy machine gun. The robot is also able to operate on land or amphibiously and can perform autonomous missions or be controlled by a single operator remotely.”
The Pentagon: Newly acquired construction photos by Harold Lang. (Library of Congress) “Initially projected to take four years, this mammoth project was completed in just 16 months, with a crew of 4,000 workers working 24 hours a day in three shifts, spurred on by the threat and eventual declaration of World War II… Using eminent domain, the federal government seized the neighborhood of East Arlington and forced the relocation of over 900 residents within two months of receiving notice. East Arlington was a Black community with many members descending from residents of Freedman’s Village – established by the federal government in 1863 to house displaced and formerly enslaved people. When residents received notice to vacate, only those who owned homes, estimated at 40% of households, were compensated for their property at a value set by the government.” [Good photos, look through them!]
New program helps dual-use hardware startups accelerate product development. (DoD) “Less than 30% of private U.S. venture capital is invested in hardware companies, and less than 10% of that is invested at early stages where it’s most needed. In many cases, hardware startups were having to turn to foreign sources of capital… Since NSIC began in February, it has received $15 million in funding from Congress. It is on track to obligate all of those funds by the end of September.”
UK signs up for Anduril AI base defense technology. (Breaking Defense) “The two-year, £3.8 million ($5.2 million) agreement was awarded as part of the TALOS project from the MoD, which seeks to bring new technologies into the military with a focus on command and control. Notably, the contract is set up through a subscription model, a new type of contract for the MoD… It puts the onus on us [Anduril] to not only deliver the original standard they asked for, but to continually develop functionality, continually build on the capability of the system as its delivered in order to keep that subscription model.”… the AI software can be integrated with many third-party technologies, including more traditional air defense systems.”
Can US Army transform without a new approach to warfare? (Breaking Defense) “The Army is proceeding full speed ahead with its modernization efforts, the so-called 31+4 programs. Over the next few years, the Army claims it will achieve initial fielding of capabilities from at least 22 of the 35 programs. These include a hypersonic missile, several long-range precision strike weapons, enhanced soldier vision systems, tactical lasers, and artificial intelligence… In support of its efforts to produce transformational capabilities, Army leadership harvested some $35 billion dollars from existing acquisition and R&D activities in a series of budget reviews, labeled “Night Courts.” “
Austal ahead of schedule in yard upgrades, but still awaiting ships to build. (Defense News) “The company is investing about $200 million to improve and expand its shipyard and to grow its ship repair business… In the Navy’s fiscal 2022 budget request, the service asked for eight ships, only one of which Austal could potentially compete for: the T-AGOS ocean surveillance ship.” [They’re looking for expeditionary fast transport, Cost Guard cutter, or frigate construction awards.]
SpaceX wins contract to launch weather satellite after ULA withdraws. (Space News) “NASA announced Sept. 10 that it awarded a contract to SpaceX for the Falcon Heavy launch of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) U spacecraft. The launch is scheduled for April 2024 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The agency said the contract is valued at $152.5 million… The value of the GOES-U contract [SpaceX] is slightly less than the award made to ULA in December 2019 for the GOES-T launch, $165.7 million… Bruno said the company did not expect to order additional Russian-built RD-180 engines used in the Atlas 5 first stage…Falcon Heavy has launched three times, all successfully, but the last launch was the Space Test Program 2 mission in June 2019.”
Radical new stealth submarine, Type-212CD, will be much longer. (Naval News) “Submarines rely on stealth to maintain the element of surprise and escape threats. For decades this has focused on reducing the noise emitted by the submarine. A resurgence of using active sonar to locate submarines now means that new stealth measures may be required. German submarine builder TKMS appears to be the first to apply radical stealth shaping… Active sonar is when someone broadcasts noises and listens for the echoes when they bounce off the submarine. Passive sonar is simply listening for any sounds emitted by the submarine, such as pumps, engines, even the flow of water over the surface… One of the driving factors for the increase in size is that the submarine is now enclosed in a large outer hull… [Also,] The flat sloping sides are the primary way it reduces its sonar signature, known as the target echo strength.”
BAE bets on battery-powered quadcopter drone for cargo hauling. (Defense News) “BAE Systems is moving into the quadcopter drone sector in a collaboration with drone maker Malloy Aeronautics to produce an electric-powered vehicle capable of lifting loads up to 300kg… The two companies said they are looking at a concept vehicle called the T-650 offering a top speed of over 140 km/h with a range of over 30 km when carrying its full load capability of 300kgs… Now the company’s products, including a battery powered vehicle capable of lifting 180kg payloads in excess of 70 km, has already drawn interest from the U.S. and U.K. militaries, including the Royal Marines.”
Pentagon awards Lockheed Martin $6.6 billion sustainment contract for F-35 fighter jets. (Yahoo!) “The air vehicle sustainment contract is for fiscal year 2021, with options for years 2022 and 2023, and is intended to reduce sustainment costs… “These contracts represent more than a 30% reduction in cost per flying hour from the 2020 annualized contract.””
DoD RDT&E budget markups: AI and INFOSEC among potential winners. (Vector Analysis) “As you can see from the figure above, “AI, Data, Cyber, and Simulation” received the bulk of the HASC increase: $2B of the $6B HASC suggested increase went to this category of funding.”
Brian’s Laws, Part II. (DAU) “Law No. 11. Isaac Newton’s first law of motion applies to the defense acquisition system. “A body in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by another force.” Law No. 12. The acquisition program baseline is now a relic (and should be displayed in a museum for its notoriety). Law No. 13. Parkinson’s Law is no longer valid—traditional waterfall-based design and development will expand to slip the program schedule. Law No. 14. Acquisition reform without financial management reform is akin to “a rotten apple spoiling the bunch.” Law No. 15. Increasing program complexity drives the need for simplified acquisition. Law No. 16. Avoiding high risks is our highest risk. Law No 17. There is no free lunch, but we must pay less for everything. Law No. 18. The PM body of knowledge needs to go on a diet and get lean and mean. Law No. 19. If you want to overcome a significant challenge, keep telling the team they will not succeed. Law No. 20. Acquisition policy should include a self-destruct mechanism to ensure it does not last very long.”
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