Acquisition
Space Development Agency successfully launches Tranche 0 satellites in early 2023. Photo via SDA.
Courtney Albon, Defense News
An Air Force Inspector General review reveals that while the Space Development Agency (SDA) has successfully pursued rapid satellite deployment, its "go-fast" strategy introduces risks related to internal processes, workforce challenges, and communication silos.
- Mixed Review: The AF IG review, while largely positive about SDA's culture and rapid growth, highlighted concerns regarding an "operational speed (at all costs) mentality" that risks "undetected or misunderstood risks".
- Process Gaps: Existing infrastructure (IT, admin) struggles to keep pace. The report emphasizes a critical need to transition from a "personality-driven" to a "process-driven leadership" approach for scalable and consistent risk management.
- Information Silos: Top-down decision-making and information "stove-piped" within tranches hinder collaboration and the codification of lessons learned across the expanding organization.
Mark Pomerleau, DefenseScoop
The Department of Defense (DOD) is establishing a new joint interagency task force, led by the Army, to confront the escalating threat posed by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
- Rapid Acquisition Mandate: The new organization requires a joint, interagency structure with strong authorities and flexible funding ("colorless pot of money") to rapidly move from requirements to acquisition and keep pace with the constantly evolving threat.
- Cost-Curve Battle: A key goal for acquisition is to drive down the cost-curve by focusing on a combination of technologies like lasers, high-powered microwaves, and interceptors, in order to avoid expending pricy U.S. missiles on large numbers of inexpensive UAVs.
- IED Parallel: Gen. James Mingus, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, equated the C-UAS challenge to the effort to counter improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during the Global War on Terror, which led to the rapid establishment of organizations and production of equipment like Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs).
Jason Miller, Federal News Network
The Services Acquisition Reform Act (SARA) of 2003. This legislation was pivotal in modernizing federal acquisition practices, particularly regarding services rather than products. It aimed to address inefficiencies and inconsistencies in government contracting by promoting commercial best practices and performance-based approaches.
- SARA Legacy: The law mandated the formation of an expert panel tasked with recommending improvements to federal services acquisition. This group's report influenced four subsequent administrations and drove modern acquisition practices such as category management, contract consolidation, and the use of data to guide procurement decisions. Thirty-seven of its recommendations were later codified through legislation or regulation.
Innovation
Primordial Labs senior product manager, Jordan Dross, instructing a team of drones through its mission via a simple headset and push-to-talk radio. (Primordial Labs)
Courtney Albon, Defense News
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has develop the Collaborative Low-Altitude Uncrewed Aircraft System Integration Effort (CLUE) to integrate drones into air traffic management at military installations worldwide.
- Enhanced Awareness: The system improves visibility by allowing security teams to see more than their Counter-UAS sensors, enabling air traffic controllers to visualize drones, and permitting UAS operators to see all other aircraft, which significantly eases integration.
- Strategic Importance: CLUE is crucial for managing the growing challenge of integrating manned and unmanned aircraft in the same airspace.
- Broader Context: Beyond CLUE, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and DOD are actively working to normalize integrated manned and unmanned airspace operations.
Defense & Strategy
A 2024 photo shows the launch of a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile. Darrell Ames, U.S. Army Program Executive Office Missiles and Space
Meghann Myers, Defense One
The U.S. Army is requesting a quadrupling of its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile procurement in the 2026 budget, aiming to significantly boost its air defense magazine depth.
- Urgent Necessity: This aggressive procurement is driven by heightened global tensions, including conflict with Iran, aid to Ukraine, and the repositioning of batteries to CENTCOM to supply demand during the Houthi strikes.
- Production Challenges: Beyond Patriots, the Army is working to boost production of 155mm artillery rounds for Ukraine, aiming for 100,000 per month by October 2024 from an early 2022 baseline of 14,500. Current production is around 40,000 per month, indicating progress remains slow.
Jon Harper, DefenseScoop
The U.S. military faces a critical and growing shortage of long-range strike munitions, particularly for a potential protracted conflict, stemming from anemic production rates and an insufficient industrial base. To address this "jarring" gap, the Pentagon must leverage both traditional and non-traditional suppliers, and crucially, adopt advanced software and AI to enhance supply chain visibility and accelerate output.
Industry
A B-21 Raider conducts flight testing, which includes ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. (Photo by Giancarlo Casem via DVIDS)
John A. Tirpak, Air and Space Forces
The U.S. defense industry can significantly increase weapons production, but this "surge capacity" is contingent on the Pentagon paying for the necessary investments, according to Tom Jones, the head of aeronautics at Northrop Grumman, which build the B-21 bomber.
Surge Compensation: Industry executives state that enabling surge capacity requires the Pentagon to make associated costs鈥攍ike for spare factory space, tooling, and supply chain readiness鈥�"allowable" in contracts. Without this compensation, companies cannot financially justify speculative investments in surge capabilities.
Adaptive Workforce: The B-21 program shows success in training unskilled workers (e.g., former service staff) for complex assembly tasks. This allows for rapid workforce scaling, provided government demand is clear and consistent.
Katherine Kuzminski and Laura Schmiegel, War on the Rocks
The U.S. shipbuilding workforce is facing a profound crisis, marked by an inability to retain a sufficient number of skilled workers, jeopardizing America's strategic requirements and its capacity to compete with China. Addressing this critical shortage requires a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach focused on modernizing hiring practices, leveraging diverse talent pools, and expanding shipbuilding opportunities beyond traditional hubs.
Lieutenant Commander Mark Jbeily, Proceedings
The U.S. military's "exquisite" precision strike approach is unsustainable in an era of heightened global conflict and competition with China, necessitating an urgent shift to "proliferated precision mass" and a revitalized industrial base to produce a high volume of both advanced and affordable, attritable systems. This transition requires overcoming critical production shortfalls and embracing innovative, non-traditional defense companies to rebuild America's "arsenal of democracy".
- Cost Challenge: Recent operations, such as naval forces confronting Houthis in the Red Sea, have demonstrated the rapid expenditure of expensive munitions like SM-2s and SM-6s, with at least 400 individual munitions used, highlighting the critical need for more economical alternatives to address the "cost curve."
- Navy's Lag: The Navy consistently invests less than the Air Force and Army in technology developed by smaller, non-traditional vendors, facing "pervasive structural challenges" that make it a "tough customer for startups". This risks the Navy being left behind in adopting crucial frontier technologies from the commercial sector, such as machine learning and low-cost manufacturing.
Research
Photo: AB30/Adobe Stock. Image was generated with AI.
Carol Kuntz, Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Department of Defense (DoD) faces an urgent imperative to develop analytical tools and operational concepts for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into warfare. While AI holds significant potential to enhance U.S. combat power and address existing deficiencies, the DoD currently lacks the ability to confidently predict the outcomes of AI algorithms in sensitive military applications, despite growing threats from peer competitors such as China.
Danielle Rose Naldoza, Alyssa Falge, and Paul Carney, 黑料吃瓜网
This study identifies interrelated challenges faced by Assistant Program Managers (APMs) in developing efficient and compliant acquisition strategies. Utilizing the Lean LaunchPad methodology 鈥� a framework emphasizing iterative testing and customer feedback 鈥� the researchers developed an AI-enhanced database called Ask Sage as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This innovative solution aims to improve efficiency, decision-making, and collaboration in the U.S. Navy's acquisition outcomes, ultimately contributing to operational readiness and superiority.
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One more thing...
The nearly 100-foot long section of the USS New Orleans was found Sunday, July 6, as a remotely operated camera explored the seafloor 2,214 feet deep near Guadalcanal. (Nautilus Live video screengrab via The Macon Telegraph)
Mark Price, Stars and Stripes
A mysterious object on the South Pacific seafloor has been definitively identified as the bow of the USS New Orleans, a cruiser torpedoed during WWII. The surviving crew jury-rigged a new bow from coconut logs and sailed backwards to the United States for repairs.
- Historic Discovery: The nearly 100-foot section of the USS New Orleans' bow was found July 6 near Guadalcanal at 2,214 feet deep by the Ocean Exploration Trust. The ship was located by an unscrewed vessel in Iron Bottom Sound, a area of the seafloor named for the immense number of ships and planes that sank there during World War II.
- Battle Damage: The bow was lost November 30, 1942, during the Battle of Tassafaronga, when a Japanese torpedo detonated forward magazines, killing 182 men.
- Protected Grave: Scientists observed the bow covered in sea life and modern trash. Its exact location, and those of other shipwrecks in Iron Bottom Sound, remain secret for protection, as many are considered graves for lost sailors. This area saw five major 1942 naval battles, claiming over 20,000 lives and numerous vessels.
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