Podcast: Industrial policy to counter China with Emily de la Bruyere
I was pleased to have Emily de la Bruyere join me on the Acquisition Talk podcast. She’s a co-founder of Horizon Advisory, a geopolitical consultancy, […]
F-35
DoD’s end-to-end budget cycle must be compressed to one year, max
Here’s a lengthy slice from the recently exited DIU director Michael Brown on the Venture Stories podcast discussing a major barrier to military innovation. I’ll […]
F-35 Program Manager says DoD must avoid past mistakes, own the technical baseline
This is perhaps the most interesting part from the April 2022 HASC hearing on F-35 sustainment. Representative Waltz asked Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, PEO for […]
Podcast: Air Force fighters now and into the future with Mike Benitez
Mike Benitez joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to talk about the current state and future of the Air Force fighter inventory. He discusses the […]
The debate over defining “legacy” weapon systems
How DoD defines “legacy systems” will drive tens of billions of dollars of investment, sustainment activities, and force structure. Everyone criticizes legacy systems, and in […]
Podcast: Mission resilience with Trey Herr and Simon Handler
Trey Herr and Simon Handler from the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss how the Department of […]
DoD’s attempt at rational calculus may be the height of folly
It is, therefore, an obvious and “rational calculus” to employ a pragmatic and experimental procedure – that is, a policy of redundancy which permits several, […]
China iterates twice as fast through military development and fielding cycles
In 2018, Mike Griffin, the first Under Secretary for Research and Engineering, disclosed an innovation time comparison that it takes the US on average sixteen […]
Cost-per-desired-effect and the F-35 vs F-15EX debate
Let me give you one specific example. The leverage provided by stealth aircraft in the First Gulf War is fully illustrated by this particular attack. […]
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 […]
How will Air Force and Space Force labs and test centers be organized?
David Deptula: Which parts of the Air Force acquisition organization do you see migrating to the Space Force? And are there any organizations that will […]
Podcast: Revamping the way we think about defense with Steve Blank
Steve Blank joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss the urgency of defense innovation in a world of authoritarian peer competitors. Steve is […]
F-35’s ALIS software updates, indecision, culture clash
To be cleared for flight, F-35 policy states that an aircraft must be electronically “complete” in ALIS [autonomic logistics information system], meaning that all of […]
Air Force reorganizes acquisition for Fighters and Bombers
The Air Force Materiel Command’s Air Force Life Cycle Management Center will split Fighters and Bombers Directorate into a Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate and […]