500 Javelin-per-day requirement in Ukraine: Is it reasonable and what could it cost?
I want to come back to an article from the weekly headlines real quickly: The Ukrainians have submitted similar lists in recent weeks but a […]
Month: March 2022
In the economics of acquisition, who is in the best place to make choices?
Economist Arnold Kling recounts an argument from Milton Friedman about whether people make rational decisions on behalf of other people: If you buy a coat […]
Takeaways from Bill LaPlante’s confirmation hearing for USD A&S
Here are some notes on William LaPlante’s confirmation hearing to become USD Acquisition & Sustainment — courtesy of the excellent Pete Modigliani. Congress gave DoD […]
Acquisition headlines (3/21 – 3/27/2022)
Stinger and Javelin production can be boosted, says Army acquisitions chief. (Defense News) “Speeding or increasing production of the anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, though, involves […]
Visualizing the intellectual property strategy for a lifecycle sustainment plan
Here is the excellent Christopher Monsey in the Exceptional Release, Intellectual Property (IP) Strategies in Major System Acquisitions: What are We Missing? He asks the […]
Why can’t acquisition embrace military concepts of mission command?
Here’s an excerpt from Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication 6, Command and Control: As with decision making, we should decentralize execution planning to the lowest possible […]
Industrial mobilization for WWII: How 20,000 companies made production commitments prior to war
Here is a piece on how assistant secretary of war for industrial mobilization Louis Johnson approached readiness in 1938 — prior to the break out […]
Is the Air Force heading back to paralysis by analysis in weapons choice?
Here’s Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall quoted in a recent Space News article, speaking about problems in current acquisition: “Overall, we start more […]
Acquisition headlines (3/14 – 3/20/2022)
Cyber Command prepares to gain significant budget control. (Fed Scoop) “The fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act gave the commander of Cybercom responsibility for direct control […]
Reducing uncertainty and discretion in development contracts
The market for defense R&D is imperfect and fails to provide a reliable mechanism by which the government can automatically secure performance at or near […]
Should organization follow programs, or the other way around? Issues in PPBE reform
The main points which will be stressed in the succeeding paragraphs are: first, that PPBS has been and is being oversold and, in some ways, […]
DoD needs to rebuild competency in hypersonic flight test
We need to move rapidly toward weaponization of hypersonics. We have already demonstrated that we have the technical understanding to address both the challenges of […]
Other Transactions continued growing in FY21, but will it soon level off?
Contracts using other transaction authority saw another year of growth in the Department of Defense, but only when excluding awards for COVID-19. Obligations unrelated to […]
Acquisition headlines (3/7 – 3/13/2022)
Show, don’t tell: Navy changes strategy to sell unmanned systems to skeptical Congress. (Breaking Defense) “Public discussions between the Navy and Congress over unmanned technology […]
When acquisition theory runs into funding realities
In unmanned maritime systems, the Navy’s learning curve and operational experience is rapidly accelerating… For example, Task Force 59 is challenging the process in which […]