National Defense Authorization Act provisions sparked support and skepticism from several experts. (Nextgov) “Several of the officials pointed to the noteworthiness of section 1004 in the NDAA, which formally establishes the independent ‘“Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution Reform,” within the legislative branch… [Ellen] Lord pointed out that the provisions refined by this mandate date back to the 1960s. The U.S., she said, needs to update its budget processes to keep pace with today’s technologies… Tucked into the NDAA is a provision to modify the Joint Common Foundation, or JCF—the DOD Joint Artificial Intelligence Center’s program and cloud-based experimentation tool built to test and develop AI—to ensure that department components “can more easily contract with leading commercial artificial intelligence companies.””
Pentagon’s ponderous budget process is next target for Congressional reform. (Federal News Network) “One sets up an expert commission to take the current process apart and come up with alternatives. A second orders DoD itself to create a plan to consolidate all of the IT systems it uses to plan and execute its budget… Under the new law, the new commission will start to take shape in February, and will have until September 2023 to deliver a final report to Congress and the Defense secretary. Its 14 members will be chosen by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, top House and Senate leaders, and the chairmen and ranking members of each of the congressional defense committees.
Congress extends deadline to replace Pentagon oversight reports. (Roll Call) “It’s a unique class of documents that experts say has improved oversight of such spending for more than half a century. The fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act had required that the documents, called Selected Acquisition Reports, be terminated after fiscal 2021. The new fiscal 2022 NDAA retains the termination mandate but extends the deadline by two years. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is working on a replacement reporting system that would make the information available in a database in real time instead of in quarterly or annual reports. But the new system is not yet ready, and its proposed elements are not clear… Virtually everyone agrees, however, that if they are to be replaced, it must be by a system that is as good or better at keeping track of how officials are doing at meeting commitments to deliver hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons on time and on budget.”
Is America really losing the hypersonic arms race? (Sandboxx) “All told, there are at least 70 hypersonic programs drawing funds from this pool, seven of which are for publicly disclosed hypersonic missiles… All the way back in 2004, NASA’s 12-foot long scramjet technology demonstrator known as the X-43A reached Mach 9.6 in testing. In 2011, Boeing’s B-51 Waverider, also a scramjet technology demonstrator, flew under scramjet power for 210 seconds, reaching Mach 5.1. In August of that same year, DARPA’s Falcon Project and its HTV-2 boost-glide vehicle achieved Mach 20 during a nine-minute flight test. And in 2017, the U.S. and Australia conducted a joint test of the HiFire scramjet missile, reaching speeds in excess of Mach 8… “The U.S. focus relative to hypersonic weapons is on the delivery of conventional weapons while Russia and China are more likely to use hypersonic missiles for nuclear payloads.” … In all, the Pentagon has only had six successful hypersonic weapons tests since 2010 [out of 16 total], with the most recent in September of this year… Maybe it’s not quite fair to say that nobody is currently winning the hypersonic arms race, because it seems clear that not all nations are pursuing this technology with the same goals.”
For Space Force, it’s acquisition, acquisition, acquisition. 2022 Preview. (Breaking Defense) “To build a resilient force structure, Space Force leaders want to develop what they are calling a “hybrid architecture,” mixing small constellations of large, exquisite and expensive military satellites with large constellations of smaller, less costly-but-still-bespoke satellites dispersed into a variety of orbits… Frank Calvelli (assuming he is confirmed) will need to manage SDA’s approach to rapidly iterating prototypes for new satellites and ground systems, while at the same time figuring out how to turn those prototype systems into “real-boy” programs of record without stifling that innovation. And of course, the 2023 budget for SDA will be an indicator of which way the wind is blowing.”
China wants to build a mile-long spaceship. Is that even possible? (Interesting Engineering) “Extrapolating from [the ISS], sending material equivalent to the entire International Space Station into space 10 times over, in order to create a mile-long spacecraft, would take more than 300 missions and around $1 trillion dollars… the longer the vessel, the more stresses can be amplified or ripple through a structure, requiring more consideration of the forces that any mile-long ship would be subjected to… The proposal only includes a grant for $2.3 million dollars, however, which clearly isn’t enough to actually build, or even develop, such a spacecraft.”
Despite defense buildup, Japan’s arms industry struggles. (Defense News) ““People may think Japan has advanced technology and it can quickly catch up with others and start selling equipment if it only gets serious, but I think that’s wrong,” said Heigo Sato, an expert on defense issues and professor at Hokkaido’s Takushoku University… Japan created its own Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency in 2015 to try to energize the sluggish domestic defense industry… Japan is the world’s 12th largest arms importer, with a 2.2% global share. Most purchases are from its ally the United States.”
The unplanned costs of an unmanned fleet. (War on the Rocks) “while the LCS is not unmanned, it is further on the unmanned spectrum than any other U.S. Navy vessel in operational use, making it the closest real-world test case for future surface fleet architecture…In the case of the LCS, this promise was a fallacy for two reasons. First, replacing sailors with technology reduced maintenance at the operator level, but increased it at the regional maintenance center and original equipment manufacturer levels. This raised costs overall, meaning fewer platforms could be purchased. Second, minimal manning made platforms less resilient. Fewer sailors meant fewer problems spotted, and less capacity to fix them while underway.”
USS Gerald R. Ford’s final weapons elevator passes its tests — 11 years after original due date. (Daily Press) “The elevators can lift more weight — up to 24,000 pounds — than those on other carriers. Their design also allows significantly safer operation… They’re arranged differently, too. Elevators on the Navy’s other carriers lift ordnance from magazines deep in the hull directly to the flight deck, which is where ordnance sailors often must do final assembly and arming. The Ford’s elevators are set up to deliver weapons in two stages.”
Why the Pentagon failed another audit. (CNBC) ““It took the Department of Homeland Security a decade to pass its audit, and it’s a fraction of the size of the Defense Department,” said Mackenzie Eaglen… “it doesn’t know where it’s spending its money. And it does. But what it doesn’t do well is track it at an enterprise level.”… One example of an item found in the recent audit was a Navy warehouse that was not on the Navy’s property records and that housed aircraft parts worth $126 million, according to the Government Accountability Office. “
Air Force breakthrough brings space-based solar power one step closer. (Defense One) ““Normally with space photovoltaics, we’re looking around 30 to 40% efficiency. But the biggest loss comes from that conversion process. And then getting [power] back to the ground,” said Kyle Gleichmann, [an] AFRL mechanical engineer… while solar energy can be collected more efficiently in space, that doesn’t mean that it’s a substitute for solar power on Earth. Delany estimated that some 1,000 square meters of tiles would be necessary just to power one forward operating base.”
Naval group launches MIRICLE next gen mine warfare project. (Naval News) “On December the 1st, the European consortium led by Naval Group Belgium kicked off the MIne RIsk CLearance for Europe (MIRICLE) project for which it was selected in July 2021 by the European Commission and approved by Member States.”
Top stories 2021: US Marine Corps Acquisition. (USNI News) “the Marines have made capabilities like anti-ship missiles a top priority for the island-hopping campaign that would prove out the Corps’ Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept… “The Marine Corps is currently pursuing MQ-9 as the first UAS to fulfill the MUX Family of Systems (FoS) that will provide the capability necessary to modernize the aviation combat element.” … The Navy in its FY 2022 budget request asked for 9 CH-53Ks … the Amphibious Combat Vehicle program continued full-rate production after reaching initial operating capability late last year. The Marine Corps plans to purchase four variants of the ACV – a personnel carrier, a recovery variant, a vehicle with a 30-mm cannon, and a command and control variant.”
Army’s IVAS program under scrutiny from Congress, lawmakers withhold funds. (Federal News Network) “The bill would fence off about a quarter of billion dollars from the $1.1 billion the Army wants to spend on IVAS until the service can provide Congress with a report on the program… The Army has been using Microsoft’s HoloLens technology paired with a variety of sensors to create the goggles. According to Microsoft, by February 2021, the company had collected almost 80,000 hours of soldiers feedback over four rounds of testing prototypes.
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