What are the prerequisites to defense budget reform?
Here’s a snippet from Christopher O’Donnell, acting ASD(Acquisition) at the 2021 GMU/DAU conference: What the MTA has shown is that the JCIDS process and the […]
Month: November 2021
Acquisition headlines (11/22 – 11/28/2021)
JADC2 cross-functional team adds new transport working group. (Fed Scoop) “The Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) Cross-Functional Team (CFT) now has six working groups, […]
Are we starting to see the backlash to OTAs?
Here’s a Q&A from a Mitchell Institute webinar discussing Other Transactions (OTAs): Audience question: There’s lots of new platforms being developed or being procured under […]
UK’s Ajax program in trouble, and industry’s perverse incentives
The UK Army’s Ajax program is an armored fighting vehicle developed by General Dynamic’s European Land Systems. The program has spent more than $4.6 billion, […]
Why aren’t more acquisition offices run like Naval Reactors?
The Navy’s success since the 1950s in procuring and safely operating scores of nuclear-powered ships and in developing a succession of reactor designs using fuel […]
Acquisition headlines (11/15 – 11/21/2021)
Army’s shark tank-style innovation competition is now open to other services. (Army Times) “Over the past year, the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps has held an […]
The process of military innovation — the case of continuous aim firing
One seemingly obvious innovation back a the turn of the 20th century which met heavy resistance within the Navy was an elevation system to keep […]
Release of the DoDI 5000.91 Product Support Management
The DoDI 5000.91 Product Support Strategy contains 12 elements in the Integrated Product Support (IPS) and 10 elements in the Lifecycle Sustainment Plan (LCSP). This […]
How Saab uses agile principles to develop the Gripen fighter
Agile has virtually taken over IT departments, themselves the source of countless innovations. At last count, 85 percent of software developers use agile techniques in […]
Is software showing the cracks in DoD’s industrial age system?
Here are some excerpts from a good long-form article from from Lauren Williams at FCW, Why DOD is so bad at buying software: It can […]
Acquisition headlines (11/8 – 11/14/2021)
Pentagon tech chief seeks to bolster R&D work with allies. (Defense News) “… [Shyu] has discussed the Pentagon’s research and development priorities with her counterparts […]
R&E chief tries to get a handle on the innovation ecosystem
“We’re looking across the entire DoD to look at all the different innovation activity that’s ongoing. I’d like to get my arms around just how […]
GMU Playbook: Striking the balance with intellectual property
Mason GovCon’s sixth play for software-intensive systems seeks to protect the government’s interests while reducing its need for intellectual property. When government adopts commercial technology, […]
Could blockchain help solve JADC2’s composability problem?
Here’s Naval Ravikant’s response to a question from Tim Ferriss on the meaning of “composable” in the context of crypto and software development: The beauty […]
Why the defense industry competes for “required” systems where 80-90% of the cost is preset
Here is Robert J. Judson, Adjunct Prof at NPS, at a 1975 congressional hearing: You will see, if you look next at all of the […]