What is holding modular open systems back in defense?
When used in conjunction with such concepts as modularity and functional partitioning—the use of self-contained functional components to build systems—the open systems approach was also […]
Blog Posts
Here are the pilot programs for the new Software Budget Appropriation
The separation of software development [funding] into research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E), procurement, and operations & maintenance (O&M) appropriations — and the use of […]
Are 80 percent of lifecycle costs predestined by PDR?
One of the potential pitfalls of the rapid prototyping path could be the neglect of production and sustainment costs in the effort to ensure that […]
Acquisition headlines
More delays ahead? Amazon ‘Quite Likely’ to Prove Pentagon Made an Evaluation Error in JEDI Cloud Contract, Judge Says. So much for the economies of […]
The last frontier of acquisition reform
I think the Pentagon is going to look in the long term to the last frontier of acquisition reform, which is the budget process. One […]
Defense is too big, complex, dispersed to be managed from a single point
It has been suggested in some quarters that I am unwilling to decentralize decision-making authority. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I strongly believe […]
Podcast: China’s approach to military tech with Tate Nurkin
Tate Nurkin joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss China’s weapons technologies. He is the founder of the OTH Intelligence Group, and a […]
Tech transition still hard for defense establishment to imagine
It’s never been easier to get a small contract. There’s pitch days, their DIU, there AFWERX. That’s not the challenge. The challenge is, how do […]
GAO agrees with Air Force in light attack aircraft protest decision
The protester argues that the Air Force’s decision to acquire aircraft from Textron pursuant to the agency’s authority under 10 U.S.C. § 2373 does not […]
The best IP protection is to innovate fast enough
The real way I think you achieve intellectual property protection is by innovating fast enough. If your rate of innovation is high, then you don’t […]
Acquisition headlines
“The Pentagon is seeking $696 million in fiscal year 2021 for a series of [eight] pilot programs designed to fund software through a single budget […]
Air Force partners with commercial industry to accelerate “flying cars”
Another example of smarter acquisition is Agility Prime, a non-traditional program seeking to operationalize commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles (i.e., “flying cars”) […]
The extreme wisdom of duplication in military acquisition
We enter a scene at a Congressional hearing in April 1944 — just months ahead of the D-Day landings — where top defense officials were […]
Economics doesn’t describe the reality of production
The revenue or cost of each additional unit is called the margin. Economists assume that corporations seek to maximize profit, which occurs at the unit […]
Modular design requires rethinking the program concept
It will be essential to focus the marketplace on commercial technology areas that have clear applications across a broad range of national security capabilities, and […]