DoD procurement of space tech is evolving, but pace of change is slow. (Space News) “There is a major push at high levels of the Pentagon to change the procurement culture, including efforts by the Space Force to use commercial services instead of building satellites in-house… But DoD is a major bureaucracy so the signals from the top don’t necessarily translate into funding commercial initiatives. The budgeting process alone means it could take three to four years for a proposed idea to become an actual funded program.
Availability and Use of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Fighter Aircraft. (CBO)
- Availability Rates by Fiscal Year Are Lower and Declined Faster for Both Types of Hornets
Than for the Rest of the Department of the Navy’s Fleet. Availability rates of Super Hornets
declined markedly between the mid-2000s and the mid-2010s; the older F/A-18C/D Hornets
experienced a longer and steeper drop. - Super Hornets Have Aged More Adversely Than Their Predecessors. When compared with
F/A-18C/Ds of the same age, the Super Hornet fleet has had lower availability rates. For example,
Super Hornet availability at age 10 was about 18 percentage points lower than F/A-18C/D
availability at age 10 and is comparable to F/A-18C/D availability at age 20. - Flying Hours Cannot Explain Differing Availability.
Defense industrial base losses thousands more firms, mainly because DoD is a tough customer. (Federal News Network) “The latest figures NDIA compiled show the Defense market suffered a net loss of 3,300 companies in fiscal year 2021, the latest statistics available. Although more than 8,300 firms sold goods and services to DoD customers for the first time in 2021, even more left the Defense space.”
- According NDIA’s survey of its members, 42% now say they’re the government’s only supplier for at least some of the products they sell.
- And of the companies who are selling to DoD, 66% said dealing with the department is “very difficult” or “somewhat difficult.” For comparison’s sake, only 9% of the same companies characterized their private sector customers that way.
- The biggest challenge is the bureaucracy of the DoD acquisition process, according to 30% of the respondents… another 22% of companies said the lack of stability in the federal budget is their biggest challenge.
Interview with RADM Pyle on DDG(X), LUSV, DDG- 51 Flight III, Frigate. (Naval News)
- DDG(X) needs more space, weight, power cooling. Needs larger missile launcher for long-range hypersonic vehicles, increased directed energy weapons, and sensors like SPY-6.
- Reiterates 150 unmanned ship requirement. LUSV with adjunct magazine, MUSV for C5IRST.
- DDG-51 Flt III on track, includes Aegis baseline 10 and SPY-6.
- FFG-62 started construction in August 2022, 32 VLS launchers, 16 NSMs, and Aegis baseline 10, SPY.
No convergence in 2023: Army deliberating the path ahead for signature JADC2 exercise. (Breaking Defense) “We can’t wait 12 to 18 months to do a big, expensive exercise; We need to do that at the right point in time,” Army Futures Command (AFC) head Gen. James Rainey said.
Innofense: Defense Ministry breaks new ground with startup push. (The Jerusalem Post) “The Innofense chief described how certain elements of dealing with start-ups are different from the ministry’s standard procedure with defense companies like Rafael or Elbit. For example, the companies will want to keep the intellectual property relating to the start-ups to themselves. Also, the ministry must pay the start-ups part of the funds before they start, said D.”
- “They want to succeed and make a profit. We want someone who is hungry, with lightning in their eyes.”
DoD builds AI tool to speed up antiquated process for contract writing. (Federal News Network) “DoD’s Chief Digital and AI Office is prototyping an AI-powered contract-writing capability, called “Acqbot,” as part of its Tradewind initiative.… AcqBot generates text much like ChatGPT.
- Evangelista said the contracting process within DoD is rife with manual processes and “antiquated process mediums to do business,” such as filling out PDFs and paper forms.
- I’m more interested in, can I speed up the entire process so that we can point, click and buy? Is that even possible? Can vendors write proposals on their phones? Those are big bold statements.
Memo details effort to boost production of weapons sent to Ukraine. (Defense One) “Pentagon officials have created a “targeted list for multi-year procurement [that] includes munitions that support Ukraine, our own needs, and other conflict scenarios,” Bill LaPlante, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, wrote in a January memo to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.”
- “We don’t invest in having the industrial capacity that we might need,” Fanning said. “That’s not necessarily a criticism, because that’s a very expensive thing to do. To say, ‘I want four of those a month, but I want to be able to go to 12 overnight in case I need it,’ that’s a different plant, and a different workforce, and a different supply chain, and a different cost.”
Congress facing tough decisions on defense programs and spending. (National Defense Magazine) Sen. Jack Reed: “It is a constant tradeoff by both the military and by Congress, frankly,” he said. “We have legacy systems that are critical; they have to be maintained. And then we want new systems to come in.”
- “I think what we have to do is step back and look at our whole Navy repair base — the shipyards to dry docks, etc. I don’t think we have sufficient capacity,” he said.
US Navy needs more ships, encourages industry to ‘pick up the pace.‘ (Marine Link) “”We’re paying a lot of money, but we’re not necessarily getting what we’re paying for with respect to two or three ships per year,” [CNO Gilday] said, referring to the three-per-year desired production rate for Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, as well as the two-per-year desired production rate for Virginia-class submarines.”
- Vice Adm. Ray Kitchener announced his new “North Star” to always have 75 mission-ready surface warships available for tasking.
Attracting quality workforce biggest issue facing shipyards, experts tell congress. (USNI News) “The federal government is making greater investments in education programs in the trades, which help yards attract a quality work force, said council president Matthew Paxton… Achieving the fleet size the Navy wants “begins with a stable budget,” Paxton said.”
- 1.1 million Americans are employed in [the defense] sector of the economy. But 3 million people were working in the defense industry in 1985.
Newport News has fully staffed attack sub line, after years of delays. (Defense News) “General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic said she has seen stabilization in the workforce at Electric Boat, after a significant number of highly experienced shipbuilders retired early in the pandemic.”
- [HII CEO] Kastner said that “after hiring over 4,900 craft personnel in 2022, we expect a similar hiring rate in 2023.
- On inflation, he said the yard is happy to see it abating.
- Newport News Shipbuilding and General Dynamics Electric Boat, which co-build all the submarines, did not deliver a single sub to the Navy from April 2020 to February 2022.”
How the US Navy is creating the nirvana of one combat system. (Defense News) “At the heart of this is the Integrated Combat System, a single hardware-agnostic software suite that all ships can pull from to conduct missions alone or in a group… When it comes to decoupling hardware from software, Lockheed is now delivering containerized and virtualized software that can run from a computer server much smaller than what currently resides on Navy ships.”
- Lockheed in 2022 completed an effort to transition both Aegis and the Ship Self-Defense System into a continuous integration/continuous delivery pipeline
- Project Overmatch has shifted its focus from communications to command and control.
New Futures Command chief shifts main effort to designing Army of 2040. (Defense News) “The command is already working on a concept for 2040, Rainey said, which is taking place at its Futures and Concepts Center. But, he added, “I think we have a little bit of time to slow down … and make sure that we’ve got the assumptions right.””
World’s largest submarine drone being built in Germany. (Naval News) “Assembly of the prototype MUM (Modifiable Underwater Mothership) is expected to start in the summer. Overall length of the prototype will be around 25 Meters (82 feet)…. At face value this length is arounds the same as the U.S. Navy’s Orca XLUUV [but] the MUM is twice as wide. TKMS term this a ‘flat fish’ type design.”
First 3D printed superyacht camouflages with the waves to become invisible both visually and environmentally. (Yanko Design) “… the world’s first 3D-printed superyacht… the process would involve robotic 3D printing to devise a strong but lightweight mesh-like superstructure and hull…. With a layout that renders it completely invisible floating on water, it operates completely emissions-free.
China gears up to shoot down US drones. (Defense One) “A highlight of November’s Zhuhai Airshow was the LW-30 laser defense system, a vehicle-mounted “drone killer” developed by China Space Sanjiang Group… state media claim that the LW-30 can down small drones several kilometers away, taking just a few seconds to swivel, fire, and move on to the next target. Using electricity to down a drone is far cheaper than physical munitions; China Sanjiang estimates it costs about a dozen Chinese yuan (roughly $1.75) per kill.
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