Long requirements lead-times aren’t a new problem
The Procurement Commission said the Air Force spent 8 years and $140 million just getting ready to start competition on the B-1. The Aegis case […]
History
DoD processes increase complexity, cost at the expense of reliability
The prospect of technological advances still persuades planners and decisionmakers to seek increased performance, greater precision, added function capability, and thus more complexity, all of […]
Space Force harkens back to an old way of organizing for acquisition
Through the end of the 1940s, the Air Materiel Command had assigned two “project officers”—one for development and one for production—to monitor each system’s acquisition. […]
Up to 50% of military R&D goes to paper, not product
Opinion on documentation requirements is divergent. Practically all non-Government respondents contrast the sparse documentation which accompanies private R. & D. programs with that provided by […]
How financial planning came to rule the Pentagon
Here is the estimable Frederick Mosher in his 1954 classic discussing the rise of the program budget. A programmed budget, of course, is when money […]
The story behind the first microprocessor and the F-14
Here’s part of a fascinating story from Ray Holt, who designed one of the first microprocessors in 1970 for the F-14 Tomcat. … my first […]
Two definitions of weapon systems “concurrency”
Because of the uncertainties and perceived criticality of ICBMs, the WDD and Ramo-Wooldridge believed it unwise to rely on only one approach. If it did […]
How Robert McNamara forced a policy of “program birth control” on the DoD
McNamara confirmed that each major weapon system development program and all basic and applied research programs would be examined at their inception as well as […]
DoD tech transition funding was *much* bigger in the 1950s
Prior to fiscal year 1951 there was no provision at the Secretary of Defense level for funding departmental emergency research and development needs. In other […]
Experts misguiding innovation in the age of ballistic missiles
Actually, the vital ingredients of a medium-range ballistic missile were mostly within reach by 1947, excepting a nuclear warhead and proven means of warhead reentry, […]
How DoD policy-making became over-simplified
So the program budget may become, not an information system, but an approved five-year plan that serves as an instrument of control. This arrangement can […]
How the military almost lost all funding for basic research
What the Bureau of the Budget actually proposed when it made these reductions was that the military services get out of basic research entirely. Indeed, […]
Origins of weapon systems stovepiping
Practitioners of systems analysis naturally did not aspire to such comprehensiveness, but, as will be demonstrated, the technique of systems analysis does imply it. Since […]
The days when 3-5 years for fighter aircraft development was too long
In the judgment of the committee, the services unnecessarily complicated those relationships with “meticulous supervision” exercised through restrictive procedures that badly needed simplifying. In addition […]
Air Force top priorities reflect a move away from stovepiped weapons
Back in June 2020, Air Force chief Charles Brown said his top priority was Joint All-Domain Command and Control. In November, Brown updated that slightly. […]