The average defense program takes 10+ years to enter operations
Technology and threats are both evolving very rapidly. Our own acquisition system too often undermines our ability to get the warfighter what he or she […]
Blog Posts
The SDA’s positioning for a new space architecture
The 2018 National Defense Strategy gives out a set of goals and they all say “we want you to modernize in an agile manner with […]
The Army’s intellectual property strategy is counterproductive
The Army recognizes the need for intellectual property [IP]… I’m going to highlight four principles for you that underpin it. The first principle is […]
Acquisition headlines
Air Force Reveals Tests of supposed record-setting scramjet engine from Northrop Grumman. Ran for 30 minutes at speeds above Mach 4. When things are going […]
130 companies competing in small-launch
Here’s part of an interesting interview with Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck on ArsTechnica. What do you think about the competition? SpaceX is entering the smallsat […]
Putin takes pride in Russia’s defense acquisition
What is curious and what we should certainly pay attention to and take pride in is that despite the modest military spending we not only […]
High sustainment costs are not a technological fact of life
Bryan Clark: One big challenge they [the DOD] have is sustainment costs. Sustainment costs of our force — partly because it’s aging, partly because it’s […]
Podcast: Todd Harrison on the military space reorg. and everything else
Todd Harrison joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss a wide range of issues, including how the reorganization of defense space forces is […]
CRS report on artificial intelligence, China, and acquisition
The following is from an excellent CRS report, “National Security and Artificial Intelligence.” I’ll forego the indentation. Note that more recent Bloomberg estimates put the […]
We should never have a spec detailed enough to take 5 years to execute
Milo Medin [VP Wireless Services, Google]: Impact is the big thing everyone wants from their life. And that’s true for software professionals as well. If […]
Acquisition headlines
Lack of USAF tanker, airlift capacity causes concern over potential conflict in Pacific. A slice: “The USAF has had a shortage of cargo aircraft and […]
Cost per flying hour for Air Force aircraft
Here are the numbers as reported by Business Insider back in 2016: E-4 Nightwatch — $159,529 B-2 Spirit — $130,159 C-5 Galaxy — $100,941 OC-135 […]
Military staff planning in WWII and after
The key to OPD’s [Operations Division’s] success was its streamlined staff procedure, which emphasized delegating authority to make recommendations or take action to the lowest […]
Military services are about creating cultures
Military services are about creating cultures. They’re about creating the people who are dedicated to supporting specific warfighting domains, and those cultures permeate everything in […]
JIDO: a successful application of agile in defense acquisition
… this kind of goes to those mid-level warfighter programs that guys really need, programs like Joint Improvised Explosive Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), Task Force (Odin) […]