The cost, business model, and infrastructure of hypersonic vehicles
Here is Mark Lewis giving an NDIA talk on Hypersonics 101, mentioning his expectations on unit cost. Watch the whole thing because it is interesting […]
Blog Posts
Probability of a ballistic missile salvo hitting US Navy surface ships
On a recent Midrats podcast episode, Gerry Doyle and Blake Herzinger discuss the likelihood of a Chinese ballistic missile like the DF-21 successfully hitting a […]
F-35 Program Manager says DoD must avoid past mistakes, own the technical baseline
This is perhaps the most interesting part from the April 2022 HASC hearing on F-35 sustainment. Representative Waltz asked Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, PEO for […]
Acquisition headlines (5/30 – 6/5/2022)
US plans to sell Ukraine armed MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones. (The Warzone) “Introducing the MQ-1C Gray Eagle, however, would give Ukraine a high-endurance unmanned system […]
Negative engineering and how DoD avoids risk by putting its head in the sand
Here’s an interesting article from Jeremiah Lowin, What is Negative Engineering? He gives an example where a company has a catastrophic failure, a flood of […]
The raging debate over Marine Corps Force Design 2030
John Schmitt starts his article: “The defining feature of the development US military policy is the tension that exists between the lessons of history and […]
DoD won’t be able to out-compete China in central planning
That’s one of the things that our new CEO, former deputy secretary David Norquist talks about. We’re competing against a country that’s really good at […]
Podcast: New approaches to intellectual property with Babak Siavoshy
Babak Siavoshy joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss opportunities for improving intellectual property and software data rights practices in defense contracts. He […]
Acquisition headlines (5/23 – 5/29/2022)
Stryker combat vehicle mounted laser weapon fends off mortar rounds. (New Atlas) “Using a 50-kW high-energy laser weapon, a US Army Stryker combat vehicle acquired, tracked, […]
Vertical integration to prevent exploitation by suppliers
Here is the conclusion from Kirk Monteverde and David J. Teece’s 1982 paper, Supplier Switching Costs and Vertical Integration in the Automobile Industry: Transactions cost […]
Regulated industries and the divide between Silicon Valley and DC
New bank charters actually were running pretty high up until 2008, and then they dropped to zero. Whatever happened in banking reform and regulation, and […]
Do competitive procurements actually save DoD money?
The total cost to the government is often overlooked when making the decision to compete for FSD [full-scale development]. This probably occurs because one of […]
Does the United States military look like Russia’s?
Here’s the excellent Steve Blank on the War on the Rocks podcast: We’re recording this in the middle of the battle for Ukraine, and I […]
Acquisition headlines (5/16 – 5/22/2022)
GSA, DIU partner to make prototyped solutions more accessible. (Potomac Officers Club) “Under the agreement, GSA will use its FASt Lane process while DIU will use […]
More reasons defense acquisition needs to consider randomness
Discussing Tim Harford’s book Messy, he tells a story of a Jazz musician Keith Jarrett who, upon a major performance was given a poor piano, […]