Change how OTAs are used to make them an essential tool against China. (Breaking Defense) “Section 824 of the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act requires the Secretary of Defense to explore the merits of expanding OTA authorities, including allowing use for procurement and sustainment. Herein lies an opportunity for the DoD to harness OTAs to unlock the potential of the broader technology market, by substantially broadening the funding available to commercially-oriented companies.”
Navy looks to 3D printing for submarine parts to ease burden on strained industrial base. (Defense News) “… fabrication has already begun on the first Block V Virginia with a mid-body Virginia Payload Module that increases the construction workload by about 25%. And the Navy will buy its second Columbia SSBN in 2024 and start one-a-year production in 2026…For aviation programs, additive manufacturing advocates sought permission to print non-critical parts — but the Navy wouldn’t allow it… Putting printed parts on a submarine is as risky a proposition as putting them on aircraft… the [Columbia-class] program office has a ranked list of six to 10 components they’d like to print, based on a list of “trouble components” consistently unavailable at the public shipyards.”
Microsoft’s HoloLens 3 ‘s–t show’ proves it still doesn’t understand the consumer market. (Windows Central) “An explosive new report from Business Insider confirms everyone’s worst fear regarding HoloLens and Mixed Reality: Microsoft has no idea what it’s doing…
- HoloLens 3 was reportedly canceled in mid-2021.
- The choice to rely on Samsung for hardware while Microsoft focuses on software is causing disruption.
- The mixed reality and HoloLens teams are infighting over strategy: consumers vs. enterprise (and military).
- The $22 billion Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) for the US military is having major quality issues and is behind schedule.
- At least 25 Microsoft mixed reality employees left Microsoft and joined Facebook’s Meta in 2021, but it may be more than 100 employees.
Scientists engineer new material that can absorb and release enormous amounts of energy. (University of Mass – Amherst) ““Imagine a rubber band… You pull it back, and when you let it go, it flies across the room. Now imagine a super rubber band. When you stretch it past a certain point, you activate extra energy stored in the material. When you let this rubber band go, it flies for a mile…. By embedding tiny magnets into the elastic material, we can control the phase transitions of this metamaterial. And because the phase shift is predictable and repeatable, we can engineer the metamaterial to do exactly what we want it to do: either absorbing the energy from a large impact, or releasing great quantities of energy for explosive movement”… This research, which was supported by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Research Office as well as Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen (HITSZ).”
Palmer Luckey’s startup bought an underwater drone company. (Engadget) “The company has bought Dive Technologies, a startup focusing on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)… The customizable drone can handle not only military tasks like anti-submarine warfare and undersea combat zone awareness, but peaceful duties like mapping seabeds and oceanographic sensing… Dive builds the DIVE-LD using a combination of large-scale 3D printing (Large Format Additive Manufacturing) and unique architecture that dramatically reduces the cost and time to make a given drone.”
Shield AI wins Air Force contract intended to help bridge ‘valley of death.’ (Fed Scoop) “Shield AI, the defense-focused autonomous drone startup, won a possibly $60 million contact from the Air Force… through the Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) Program… Companies that show promise of being able to make it on a program of record can earn up to $60 million over three years under a structure that gives $15 million the first two years and $30 the third.”
Scale AI awarded $250M contract by Department of Defense. (Fed Scoop) “The contract was issued by the Department of Defenses’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center… The company said it will develop a range of test and evaluation AI products that will focus on image analysis, autonomy, natural language processing and interfaces like augmented reality. It’s the startup’s largest federal contract to date… [CEO Alex] Wang said this is the culmination of “years” of work discussing data tools with the JAIC. “
Organic industrial base $16B modernization plan to be briefed to senior Army leaders. (Breaking Defense) “… investment to modernize the service’s organic industrial base — made up of 23 depots, arsenals and ammunition plants managed by AMC — is sorely needed. “The organic industrial base was designed and really implemented in World War Two.””
Developing a ‘national defense science and technology’ strategy: memo. (Breaking Defense) “The first group is labeled as “seed areas of emerging opportunity” such as biotechnology, quantum science, future generation wireless technology and advanced materials. The second category is “effective adoption areas,” or in other words, technology already available in the commercial sector. Those capabilities include artificial intelligence and autonomy, integrated network system-of-systems, microelectronics, space technology, renewable energy generation and storage, advanced computing and software and human-machine interfaces. The third subject area is characterized as “defense-specific areas” such as directed energy, hypersonic weapons and integrated sensing and cyber.” … Shyu also alludes to acquisition reforms, stating her office will support changes to the Pentagon’s “resource allocation processes and will pursue novel mechanisms and alternative pathways to rapidly field technologies.””
US Army vows to tackle infantry squad vehicle problems ahead of production decision. (Defense News) “The key performance parameters required that the vehicle’s weight not exceed 5,000 pounds, that it accommodate nine soldiers and that it fit inside a CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter… GM’s design is based on the company’s 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck and uses 90% commercial parts… According to the [OT&E] report, the ISV “is not operationally effective for employment in combat and engagement, security cooperation and deterrence missions against a near-peer threat.” The report also found that the ISV is “not operationally suitable because of poor developmental test reliability and deficiencies in training, maintenance, safety, and human system integration.” GM delivered the first ISV 120 days following the contract award.”
Raytheon’s phaser microwave bean weapon is certifiably insane. Can BBQ hypersonic missiles. (AutoEvolution) “Capable of being deployed from Jeeps, HUMVEES, trucks, and potentially even aircraft, Raytheon’s Phaser system has the potential to adapt microwave beam weapons to roles like long-range ballistic missile defense, attack drone swarm defense, and even airborne close-air-support aboard AH-64 Apache Helicopters.”
Kendall: Air Force still digging itself out of ‘readiness hole.’ (Air Force Magazine) “We dug a readiness hole during that period just because we didn’t have resources for it,” Kendall said. “And to be honest, we’re still digging our way out of it. Sequestration has been gone just a short period of time now, and I think we’re getting better…. We need to basically design our systems for sustainment, for maintenance. We need to put the systems … in place that will support them efficiently.”
Pentagon report: Air Force should work with Army, Navy on hypersonic best practices. (Air Force Magazine) “Those events delayed the first flight of ARRW… was caused by “dumb mistakes;” one reported that a technician failed to follow a checklist and another reported an improperly fastened control surface… the missile “by design, did not separate from the B-52 because the system determined there was a fin actuator problem.” [The OT&E report didn’t cite cause of ARRW’s 2nd and 3rd test failures.]
The F-35C’s radar-absorbent skin is looking pretty rough after months at sea. (The Drive) ” While it is known that significant leaps in the maintainability of radar-absorbent materials (RAM) were integrated into the F-35 design, recent images from the F-35C’s inaugural cruise raise potential questions about the ease of maintaining the jet’s coatings in the demanding maritime environment… In fact, the aircraft almost look as if they have a case of rust.”
High stakes races to recover crashed US Navy jet. (ABS News) Video: “the U.S. military’s urgent search for a F-35C fighter jet, which crashed into the South China Sea earlier this week.”
Budget uncertainty ‘throttles’ MDA’s development of a hypersonic missile interceptor. (Defense News) “MDA in November selected three companies to design a Glide Phase Interceptor that would hit enemy hypersonic missiles during the glide phase, or the flat path they take while en route to their targets… “We live in a world right now where we don’t have current year appropriations, and we also don’t have insight into the following year’s topline. So unfortunately, that throttles this program… “It’s not a technology issue. It is purely a financial problem.” [said MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill]”
Data and rockets: US military eyes new tech to supply far-flung forces. (Defense News) “Our ships are 46 years old in the reserve fleet,” Van Ovost said. “We have steam ships — you can’t even find engineers that work on steam ships, we have to keep 60, 70-year-old engineers around to keep running them. We must recapitalize that.”
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