Industry Archives | Page 13 of 13

Strategies for R&D contracting

December 29, 2018 Eric Lofgren 0

Parenthetically we may note that CPFF contracts might be used more effectively than they have been in R&D work. Rather than concentrating on the final […]

Views on the defense industrial report

December 20, 2018 Eric Lofgren 0

First, were you aware that the Pentagon even had an Office of Defense Industrial Policy? It sounds suspiciously like the kind of government organization that engages in economic planning, a practice anathema not just to Republicans but to many Democrats as well.

Microsoft reaffirms support for DOD

December 19, 2018 Eric Lofgren 0

Other tech industry executives pushed back against the idea that Silicon Valley workers are less inclined to work with the Defense Department solely because of cultural differences or qualms about the moral implications. “It’s much more an economics issue,” said Rachel Olney, “Dealing with the U.S. government is extremely time consuming.”

Amazon’s HQ2 courting the Pentagon?

December 1, 2018 Eric Lofgren 0

This is the strange, slightly surreal world in which Amazon has decided to land. “They definitely moved to Crystal City to be closer to the Pentagon,” says William D. Hartung, security expert at the Center for International Policy and author of “Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.”

$22.7 billion F-35 production deal before Operational Testing

November 28, 2018 Eric Lofgren 0

One might think that for such a big order to be placed, the F-35 worked out all the development kinks. But it looks like a ploy to get a big contract, claim economy of scale savings, and fix the planes later. The contract was 40% of Lockheed’s total ordinary revenue, and the US’s end of the bill looks to be nearly one-third of the entire aircraft procurement budget for Navy and Air Force, which came in at about $36 billion in the FY 2019 request.

The astronomical cost of winning contracts

November 22, 2018 Eric Lofgren 0

It’s hard to believe that Boeing was a long-shot to win an aircraft program, but it appears that there were 6 other competitors at some level. What I find interesting is the coincidence of Boeing having both the lowest price and the only clean-sheet design. Optimism, perhaps?