Issue 214. Newsletter 09.20.2024 - Acquisition Research Program

2024 Archive

Asset Publisher

null Issue 214. Newsletter 09.20.2024

Flo Zeuthen

NEED TO KNOW

Acquisition Research Program Newsletter

September 20, 2024 — Issue 214

Happy Friday!

In the news this week:

In Government shutdown news...

House Bill Failed: Speaker Mike Johnson's six-month funding measure, tied to voter registration reform, failed to pass in the House.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced plans to advance a bipartisan government funding bill to prevent a government shutdown.

Inspired by Ukraine, US Army picks two commercially available drones.

The first tranche of the purchase will be worth $14.5 million under a ten-year contract. The Army, which set out its requirements in June 2023, said it sought drones that could be quickly reconfigured, field a variety of payloads, and cost so little that losing them would not constitute a major burden.

Anduril flew a half-dozen reporters to their Texas Test Site to witness demos of swarming aerial drones, the capability behind the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

What Axios reporter Colin Demarest saw: “Anduril showed how a single person familiar with Siri and armed with a laptop could govern a clutch of jet-powered drones.”

Hacking 4 Defense founder Steve Blank compiled a list of all the Program Executive Offices in DoD as a resource for small businesses looking to work with DoD.

It's also a great tool for researchers!

DAU has a great article showing how DOD labs are transferring technology to industry.

We'll be talking about tech Transitioning Technology at May's symposium. Have you submitted your proposal yet?

Call for Proposals: 22nd Annual Acquisition Research Symposium and Innovation Summit

Join us in Monterey next May 7-8 for the 22nd Annual Acquisition Research Symposium & Innovation Summit. This year, the symposium is combined with an Innovation Summit under the overarching theme of "Transitioning Technology."

The goal of this dual event is to explore and promote innovative ways to transition technology from research and development to programs of record to support the warfighter.

Proposals are due November 18. Learn more.

This Week's Top Story

Inspired by Ukraine, US Army picks two commercially available drones
Sam Skove, Defense One

The U.S. Army has chosen Anduril’s Ghost X and Performance Drone Works’ C-100 to provide reconnaissance and other capabilities to company-level units, the service announced Wednesday.

The effort to field small drones to companies is a “priority,” Army Futures Command chief Gen. James Rainey said in a press release, adding that the push was “based on observations from the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.”

Ukraine and Russia heavily use drones to coordinate artillery fire, scout enemy positions, and drop munitions.

The first tranche of the purchase will be worth $14.5 million under a ten-year contract. The Army, which set out its requirements in June 2023, said it sought drones that could be quickly reconfigured, field a variety of payloads, and cost so little that losing them would not constitute a major burden.

Read more.

ARP and NPS News

Non-state campaigning: Islamic State’s guerrilla warfare doctrine
Craig Whiteside, Icon, Jeff Hyink & Harrison Schramm

Research from NPS faculty member Harrison Schramm

We trace the influences and evolution of Islamic State’s guerrilla warfare doctrine, how it fits into a larger insurgency strategy, and how its military leaders sequenced the employment of military forces in time and space to achieve operational and strategic effects in its patient and successful campaign to establish its so-called caliphate in 2014. Applying Mao’s three phases of guerrilla warfare, we used a database of Islamic State movement attack claims from 2008 to 2014 to determine the character and patterns of guerrilla tactics during each of these three phases. We found that the group maintained a disciplined and patient approach to achieving political consolidation, eschewing any reliance on popular uprising or conducting large-scale military operations. This knowledge better helps us understand both non-state campaigning and the identification of early warning indicators of insurgent success. Read more.

Acquisition and Innovation

In remote Texas, Anduril probes future of drone warfare
Colin Demarest, Axios

The Technology Transfer Pathway from DoD Labs to Industry
Col. Brett Cusker, USAF (Ret.), Austin Leach, and Will Swearingen, Defense Acquisition Magazine September - October 2024

How to Find Your Customer in the Dept. of Defense -- The Directory of DoD Program Executive Offices
Steve Blank, LinkedIn

Decoding Agile Acquisition Frameworks w/Jonathan Mostowski
Defense Mavericks

Research

Critical Materials: Action Needed to Implement Requirements That Reduce Supply Chain Risks
GAO-24-107176
U.S. Government Accountability Office

Events

Naval AI Summit
24-26 September 2024
At the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, with support from Naval Postgraduate School | in-person and remote

Who: Defense AI leadership (DoD, DoN, USN, USMC, other Services, Joint Force), Navy AI Task Force leads, other AI practitioners across the Naval Establishment, industry partners, and Allies and partners.

What: Information sharing and collaboration event

In conjunction with the Summit, a day-long "AI for Knuckleddraggers" course will be held Monday, 23 September.

AI for Knuckledraggers
23 September 2024
United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD | in-person only

AIA/NDIA Technical Data Rights Forum
September 25-26, 2024
Arlington, VA

Fleet Week San Francisco
7-14 October 2024
San Francisco, CA

Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting & Exposition
14-16 October
Washington, DC

UTAC 2024 (Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control)
October 21-25, 2024
Fort Benning, GA

Pacific Defense Contracting Summit
October 27-29, 2024
Defense Leadership Forum
Honolulu, Hawaii

Defense Manufacturing Conference (DMC) 2024
December 2-5, 2024
Austin, TX