US Air Force’s ‘divest to invest’ plan is too risky. (Defense News) “The Air Force plans to retire aging F-15Cs, F-16s, B-1s and B-2s [to invest in] F-35s, Next Generation Air Dominance fighters, B-21s and F-15EXs…Congress will readily approve current-year operations and maintenance reductions (not savings), but cannot promise future appropriations in the more competitive and more scrutinized research, development and acquisition accounts. The two are not fungible. Moreover, Congress does not issue IOUs to the Air Force.“
The US military is scrambling to build more ammo for itself and for Ukraine, but old Army paperwork could get in the way. (Yahoo!) “Production is centralized at five plants in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Missouri, and Virginia, which are owned by the government but operated by private contractors… The contracts require the operating contractors to pay for maintenance while the government funds any plant modernization. Not surprisingly, Army officials told GAO that “challenges in delineating what is considered maintenance and what is considered modernization can cause confusion about which party is responsible for the costs.”
- A recent US Army market survey to identify potential new ammunition manufacturers cited a production requirement of 12,000 155 mm artillery shells a month
DoD’s lack of agility is a national security risk. (AiDA) Pete Modigliani: “It appears at almost every turn DoD values complexity over simplicity. Whether its in the system designs we develop to the processes to acquire them. Even when Congress directs in statute new streamlined, simple processes, the bureaucracy finds a way to impose complexity. To complement the exquisite billion dollar systems, DoD needs to invest in simpler, single mission systems with low unit costs, short lifespans, and iteratively acquire high quantities via a competitive marketplace.”
Consolidating shipyards will impact how the US Navy buildings the fleet of the future. (Clearance Jobs) “That consolidation of smaller builders could prove critical to addressing the shortcoming in the defense industrial base. There are many good reasons why more facilities can’t build these vessels. “Warships hold a lot of secrets and they can’t readily outsource it,” Sanders continued. “It is a national security issue.””
DoD fails audit, sees Ukraine as ‘teachable moment’ in accountability. (Defense News) “The audit, which covered the department’s $3.5 trillion in assets and $3.7 trillion in liabilities, involved 1,600 auditors conducting 220 in-person site visits and 750 virtual site visits. The Pentagon inspector general and independent public accounting firms performed the audit, which was expected to cost $218 million this year.
- But he added that the DoD is still struggling with how it values its inventory and how to account for government property that’s in the possession of contractors ― particularly with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is mostly built using a government-owned plant run by Lockheed Martin.
LaPlante: Time to Prioritize Defense Production. (National Defense Magazine) ““We, as a country, did our best to not do production in defense,” he said during the Nov. 4 George Mason and Defense Acquisition University Acquisition Next conference in Washington, D.C. “Don’t go into production if you don’t have to. If you do, absolutely bring it down to the lowest number you can… You’re going to have a valley of death, by definition … because we don’t want to do production.””
- “They’re up front about it. They want control,” he said. “What we view as flexibility [in] their view is lack of oversight control. So, I mean, good luck to the PPBE Commission.”
Hermeus completes hypersonic milestone with engine test. (Hermeus) “Chimera is a turbine-based combined cycle engine (TBCC) – which basically means it’s a hybrid between a turbojet and a ramjet. The ability to switch between these two modes allows Hermeus’ first aircraft, Quarterhorse, to take off from a regular runway and then accelerate up to high-Mach speeds. The cost and speed at which the Hermeus team achieved this milestone is notable. Hermeus designed, built, and tested Chimera in 21 months for $18 million.“
-
Manufacturing in-house allows for a tight feedback loop between engineers and technicians which is key to the company’s ability to iterate quickly. Additionally, vertical integration eases reliance on outside vendors and allows for better control of the supply chain. Another important factor in building Chimera is additive manufacturing. About 15% of the engine is 3D printed which enabled rapid development.
US NASAMS have 100% success rate in stopping Russian missiles: Pentagon. (Newsweek) “Developed by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace in Norway and U.S. conglomerate Raytheon, NASAMS can use a wide range of missiles to defend against a number of threats. Used by 12 countries, NASAMS is described by Raytheon as a “state-of-the-art defense system” which can “identify, engage and destroy current and evolving enemy aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and emerging cruise missile threats.”
Air Force still struggling to launch working performance review system. (Defense News) ““I’ve spent … countless hours learning the system that has no manuals, vague guidance, never-ending errors, and little to no capacity to support our needs,” someone who claimed to work for the Air Force Personnel Center said Wednesday in an anonymous post on the popular “Air Force amn/nco/snco” Facebook page… “If we built planes the way [my Force Support Squadron], myEval, myDecs was built, our pilots would be dead,” the anonymous Facebook post said. “I am begging and pleading … please stop!””
Leave a Reply