Are munitions really “bill payers” for the rest of defense?
One of the lines often heard is that munitions accounts are “bill payers” for other lines, particularly weapons platforms like vehicles, aircraft, and ships. Former […]
air force
Impressive applications of additive manufacturing in defense
I’ve been pretty impressed with the number of application of additive manufacturing in defense. Here are 20 cool things going on from a mostly organic […]
How SOCOM makes price tradeoffs to accelerate contract delivery
Here is Paul Weisgarber and Noel Burke on the Air Force Contracting Experience podcast discussing their experience working with Special Operations Command (SOCOM) through the […]
Air Force supply chains are not ready to surge for war
Here’s a slice from an Aviation Week article, USAF Logistics Chief Raises Urgent Warning On Surge Capacity: A recent internal study shows more than nine out […]
Is the Air Force heading back to paralysis by analysis in weapons choice?
Here’s Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall quoted in a recent Space News article, speaking about problems in current acquisition: “Overall, we start more […]
Cutting contract documentation by 90+ percent
Here is Air Force general Chapman at a 1971 appropriations supplemental hearing with DepSecDef David Packard, asking for additional funds to do prototyping including funds […]
We’re never going to beat China with that kind of oversight!
Here is a Air Force head of contracting authority Maj. Gen. Cameron Holt discussing an interesting new proposal: [Line of Effort] 3 is called “owning […]
Podcast: Mach 5 aircraft and deep tech contracting with Hermeus CEO AJ Piplica
AJ Piplica joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss transportation at hypersonic speeds. He is the founder and CEO of Hermeus, which is […]
What’s holding back the BattleLab idea?
The Air Force Battle Lab wasn’t actually a lab, it was a group of seven mission-specific labs. The battle lab existed [from 1997-2007] to pair adapted […]
Will the F-35A make it to the $25K cost per flying hour target?
The well-known goal for the US Air Force’s F-35A variant is to become affordable by meeting the $25,000 cost per flying hour (CPFH) target. We […]
Army-Air Force spat over long range fires exposes policy failures
The U.S. Air Force general in charge of managing the service’s bomber inventory slammed the Army’s new plan to base long-range missiles in the Pacific, calling […]
Moving from opinion-based to evidence-based requirements
Business models for developing technologies for a profit are end-to-end solutions that cannot be adopted by the Army acquisition enterprise for several reasons, not the […]
Aircraft sustainment woes — And is the Air Force paying for Navy F-35 costs?
We found that of the 46 individual fixed- and rotary-wing types of aircraft we examined, only three met the service-established mission capable goal [80 percent] […]
How did the US Air Force become the smallest, oldest it’s ever been?
John Baum: Why do we now have the smallest, oldest Air Force in our nation’s history? What does this mean for the future? Mark […]
Don’t be fooled by the DoD’s readiness figures
When the DoD talks about the readiness of its aircraft it usually cites mission capable rates. But is that what DoD analysts actually use when […]