There’s better AI/ML in John Deere tractors than in any U.S. military vehicle
Here’s Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey giving a compelling talk at the All In Summit in Miami: The US military is well behind the Chinese People’s […]
Industry
What are some of the fears contracting officers have that prevent speed?
As we wrap up out highlights from the Government Contracting Pricing Summit, here’s a couple good parts from an address made by David Cade, Vice […]
The challenges of getting SBIR funding, and are things better in Canada?
Here’s more from Laura Crabtree, who created a startup after 12 years at SpaceX, speaking on the Venture Stories podcast. She provides some anecdotal evidence that access to government […]
Anduril releases mission document: Rebooting the Arsenal of Democracy
Here is an interesting slice from Anduril’s mission document: Rebooting the Arsenal of Democracy. In the early 1960s, under the direction of then Secretary of […]
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 […]
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 […]
Defense primes have an advantage in OTAs due to a quirk in IRAD
I was tipped off recently that there’s a weird loophole in contractor independent research and development (IRAD) that gives them a significant advantage when it […]
The state of Army munitions and modernization priorities
Rep. Hartzler: The Army continues to insufficiently fund these [munitions] efforts in the base budget. Unfortunately, the president’s proposed budget for FY 2023 appears to […]
Are SBIR contracts being dominated by very few companies, leading to poorer products?
Here are excerpts from a nice article from Ben Van Roo, “Emerging tech is transforming war in real-time, yet the biggest DOD incubator is stuck […]
Visualizing the intellectual property strategy for a lifecycle sustainment plan
Here is the excellent Christopher Monsey in the Exceptional Release, Intellectual Property (IP) Strategies in Major System Acquisitions: What are We Missing? He asks the […]
Industrial mobilization for WWII: How 20,000 companies made production commitments prior to war
Here is a piece on how assistant secretary of war for industrial mobilization Louis Johnson approached readiness in 1938 — prior to the break out […]
Reducing uncertainty and discretion in development contracts
The market for defense R&D is imperfect and fails to provide a reliable mechanism by which the government can automatically secure performance at or near […]
What’s missing from analysis of competition in the defense industry?
Since the 1990s, the defense sector has consolidated substantially, transitioning from 51 to 5 aerospace and defense prime contractors. As a result, DoD is increasingly […]
Defense industry is afraid of testing hypersonics, lacks test infrastructure
Here’s an interesting bit from SecDef Llyod Austin’s meeting with more than a dozen hypersonic defense contractors: During the meeting, multiple CEOs described the need […]
What happened to the guts and vision of Americans to build great things?
Here is Steve Levine on the Realignment podcast discussing the US/China Great EV battery war: The 2020s are lost. Even if a decision is made […]