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Happy Friday!
Our top story covers testimony from last week's HASC hearing, Outpacing China: Expediting the Field of Innovation. The three witnesses were Bill LaPlante, Heidi Shyu, and Doug Beck.
- Together, they painted a picture of the challenges DoD faces to field the right capabilities at scale and an affordable cost, lessons learned from Ukraine and Israel, and the many accomplishments achieved by DIU, A&S, and R&E over the past few years.
In Congress news, it's still depressingly stagnant on funding for Ukraine, Israel, the American border, and the FY2024 budget.
- The House Freedom Caucus is against the latest bill crafted by the Senate for familiar reasons, and has explicitly stated they're fine with a yearlong CR and/or a government shutdown.
- Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is facing the same predicament as his predecessor: if he drives a bipartisan deal, he'll likely face a call for his removal.
Mitch McConnell has published an op-ed lauding the merits of the Senate's national security bill, making the case that supporting Ukraine directly aligns with our country's national security priorities and noting that over 75% of these funds will be invested in America.
- He concludes that supporting Ukraine will "degrade Russia’s military capabilities," "deter our adversaries," and "sustain long-term competition with China. So this is not charity, but an investment in cold, hard U.S. interests."
Deputy Secretary of Defense Hicks announced that DoD has a minimum viable product for Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) that is "low latency and extremely reliable.”
- “CDAO and its partners have used a series of Global Information Dominance experiments to set a blisteringly fast pace for this work,” Hicks said. “Every 90 days we’re iterating on capability development and delivery, and we’ll be keeping it up in 2024.”
The New York Times brings news that American venture capital companies are disentangling their investments from the profitable Chinese market, following changes in policy and strategy to curtail the practice. It's a complex but positive development, with hints that those VC firms may now have funds to invest elsewhere--like right here in American startups.
Anastasia Obis of Federal News Network shares latest comments and updates on how DoD is implementing the National Defense Industrial Strategy, with particular focus on the new consortium meant to encourage small businesses and nontraditional defense contractors.
Last week's WEST conference generated several headlines about the technology on display and the latest leadership accomplishments and priorities. Several panels were focused explicitly on acquisition -- with topics including AI, software acquisition, requirements development, and INDOPACOM priorities.
- Most sessions are already available for viewing on YouTube.
In ARP news, check out a recent student capstone project that developed a wargaming approach to understand supply chain risks in fuel pipelines.
- Air Force Captain Chris Thier applied the Hacking for Defense approach to an Air Force problem and collaborated with industry partner Resilinc -- an excellent example not just of the quality solutions NPS students can generate but also of the transformative learning experience such opportunities create for these future leaders.
Finally, our "One More Thing" story brings a ray of hope to panda lovers on both coasts. China will be sending pandas back to the San Diego zoo and is in talks to return the animal ambassadors to the National Zoo in DC.
- Get psyched for the return of the panda cam!
21st Annual Acquisition Research Symposium
Program is posted online!
Register now to join us for this action-packed two-day event.
This Week's Top Story
Pentagon to Industry: Build Drones Cheaper, Faster; Cost Per Unit Matters
John Grady, USNI News
The Pentagon’s chief buyer said Thursday it makes little sense to fire a million-dollar round to shoot down a target costing a fifth of that amount, so contractors must get a better handle on their own costs before sending new systems over to the Defense Department.
Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante asked rhetorically which “cost curve would you rather be on,” a high-cost interceptor or low-cost attack drone. In answer to a question, he added that the Department of Defense has 40 programs ready to receive funding to intercept small drones, which have proven highly effective in the Russo-Ukraine war.
Although it seems obvious that costs should drop as more are built, the per-unit cost for many systems are not dropping enough to continue putting money toward their development, he said. Complicating matters, as again seen in Ukraine and now in the Israel-Hamas war and the Houthis in Yemen targeting Red Sea shipping, new unmanned aerial systems are being fielded rapidly, accompanied by different tactical uses.
“We need counter UAS at scale. We need lots of them, whatever they are – kinetic or nonkinetic” LaPlante said, adding, “cost per unit matters.” Heidi Shyu, under secretary for research and engineering, said all the services are making significant progress on laser defenses, including the navy’s surface fleet – which is considered vulnerable to Chinese long-range antiship missiles and unmanned aerial systems.
In addition, she and LaPlante said the U.S. has given Kyiv advanced precision-kill weapon systems that are significantly cheaper than laser-guided missiles for downing drones and striking lightly armored vehicles.
The key lies in software advances. The way to get software improvements into warfighters’ hands more quickly is through modular open architecture.
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