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Happy Friday!
Yesterday Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro released his updated strategic guidance that focuses on three priorities: strengthening maritime dominance, building a culture of warfighting excellence, and enhancing strategic partnerships.
- Of note to this audience, the first priority mentions efforts to shore up the industrial base, specifically shipbuilding and maintenance, submarines, and munitions.
- The document states that the Navy is building up capacity in these areas by using block buys and multi-year procurements.
- To maintain warfighting excellence, the document also notes the critical role of Naval education, including at NPS, and the "imperative that our Sailors and Marines contribute to our Department's culture of continuous learning...".
The submarine industrial base is a hot topic this week, with a Congressional hearing held on Wednesday and the meeting between President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Albanese, which included discussion of the AUKUS submarine cooperation.
And last Friday's request for supplemental funding would include $3.4 billion in funding for the submarine industrial base as well as funds to replenish defense stockpiles, provide support for Ukraine and Israel, and more.
In other Congress news, the new speaker of the House Mike Johnson is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. The article charting his voting record on defense priorities shows he has always voted for the NDAA, and always against omnibus appropriations bills.
The 63 tech companies that form the Silicon Valley Defense Group sent a letter to Congress urging passage of the currently pending provision in the House NDAA to establish a $1 billion hedge portfolio to fund rapid development, acquisition, and fielding of new technology. This fund would be managed by DIU.
Our top story brings the latest update from Bill LaPlante and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which is suggesting that the next wave of support will enable Ukraine's own industrial base to support the logistics and maintenance required by the ongoing war.
That article also previews the upcoming release of the first ever defense industrial base strategy, expected in December. It will cover four areas: resilient supply chains, workforce readiness, flexible acquisitions and a focus on economic deterrence and economic security.
Last week we shared an essay articulating the role of sustained federal investment in new technologies and national infrastructure. This week brings an example of that philosophy at work: after more than ten years of funding from DARPA, IBM has reportedly developed a new kind of microchip that contains on-chip memory, an energy-efficient design that may enable more advanced AI capabilities.
Finally, in our "One more thing" section, do you know what year the first plane took off from a Navy ship? No spoilers here... read the article for the story of an innovative pilot and how he provided a key proof of concept that ushered in the era of naval aviation.
Symposium Call for Proposals Is Now Live!
We are accepting proposals for the 21st Annual Acquisition Research Symposium, to be held May 8-9, 2024.
This year our symposium takes up the theme of “Resourcing Innovation.” We are especially interested in papers that consider challenges and successes in providing the right resources – to include not just funding, but also people, training, acquisition authorities, time, supply chains, etc. – that can generate, transition, and deliver new warfighting capabilities and strategies.
As always, we welcome a wide range of papers sharing research of interest to the larger acquisition community.
Proposals are due by November 29, 2023.
This Week's Top Story
Pentagon ‘beginning to pivot’ to rebuilding Ukraine’s industrial base: LaPlante
Jaspreet Gill, Breaking Defense
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown the US the importance of being able to surge production rapidly, and the Pentagon is now helping Ukraine rebuild its industrial base, according to the department’s top weapons buyer.
“We’re beginning to pivot to rebuilding, or building, an industrial base inside Ukraine,” William LaPlante, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said today at ComDef 2023. “So this is something that is a lot of our work. I spent almost two weeks in Brussels… working on this and you’re gonna see more there.”
LaPlante returned last week from Brussels where he had participated in a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contract Group. There, he “updated ministers and senior defense officials on global efforts aimed at collaboratively solving industrial base and sustainment challenges in support of Ukraine,” according to the Defense Department.
As to what those challenges are, LaPlante said today, “Logistics really matters, sustaining really matters and we are doing that right now with Ukranians and learning a lot because it’s interesting what you have to do when you can’t send your own US citizens into the country to keep the equipment going. We have to do it by telemaintenance. We have to do it in other ways. And of course Ukrainians are going wild on advancing manufacturing, whether it’s additive or subtractive manufacturing.”
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