Podcast: Getting weapons into production with USD A&S Bill LaPlante
The Undersecretary for Acquisition & Sustainment (USD A&S) Bill LaPlante joined us at the 2022 Conference hosted by George Mason University and Defense Acquisition University. […]
inflation
Founder vs. Inheritance and other deep problems of DoD innovation
Here are some slices from an epic podcast with Balaji Srinivasan and Lex Fridman: How to Fix Government, Twitter, Science, and the FDA. The US […]
Are multiyear contracts really a super-saver in acquisition?
Bill Greenwalt and Mackenzie Eaglen advocate for greater use of multiyear contracting to help solve supply chain troubles and pricing in an inflationary environment. Here’s […]
Will inflation cause a $110 billion loss in DoD buying power between FY21-FY23?
A new paper from recent AcqTalk guest John Whitley and two PPBE Reform commissioners David Norquist and Lisa Disbrow has been released: “How Inflation Hurts […]
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 […]
How will inflation impact military budgets, capabilities? It’s not straight-forward…
Personnel costs accounted for 38% of the Army’s fiscal year 2022 budget request, compared with 27% for the Navy and 21% for the Air Force, […]
Lessons in mobilization: The industrial base is too small and too slow
In the event of major war, the identified industrial base dedicated to the Army would be unable to produce sufficient materiel to support combat consumption […]
Podcast: Injecting tech in today’s weapons with Maj. Gen. John Ferrari (ret.)
I was pleased to have John Ferrari join me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss a wide range of issues facing DoD’s ability to […]
Measuring the impact of unexpected inflation on DoD budgets, and other economic issues
Talking with Eric Torenberg, Noah Smith says “The Fed will not stick to any rules that it officially adopts.” (minute 32) “The Fed will always exercise […]
Who spends more? The debate over military budgets in the US and China
In essence, the CIA was using what today we would call PPP to compare the budgets of the two superpowers, a concept that Bill Greenwalt […]
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 […]
New DoD cost estimating guide fails to address the problems facing the cost community
“No one can predict the future” is an often-used cliché, and yet this is what the DoD asks its cost estimating community to do every […]
Podcast: Navy shipyards and defense supply chains with Maiya Clark
Researcher Maiya Clark at the Heritage Foundation joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss her recent paper on the Navy’s public shipyards as […]
Some data on how fast costs are rising for the US Air Force
Last year I discussed whether defense acquisition was a cost disease sector, just like healthcare, education, and some areas of construction. I evaluated three methods […]
Skepticism about carrier costs — they’re growing faster than may be reported
The carrier Ford’s construction costs seem way out of line even allowing for traditional first-in-class elevated costs. In fact, carrier costs seem to have been increasing […]