Acquisition
3d Littoral Anti-Air Battalion, 3d Marine Littoral Regiment, 3d MarDiv, fire a Stinger missile from a Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) at Yuma Proving Ground, AZ. The MADIS Mk1, pictured, and Mk2 form a complementary pair and will be a force multiplier for the low altitude air defense battalions’ ground-based air defense capability. (Photo by Jim Van Meer.)
First to the Fight in Acquisition Reform
SES Stephen J. Bowdren, Marine Corps Association
The Marine Corps' Program Executive Office, Land Systems (PEO-LS) is reforming its acquisition practices to more rapidly equip Marines with superior capabilities for 21st-century warfare.
- PEO-LS Strategy: PEO-LS employs a dual approach, implementing strategic revolutionary changes while evolving the existing framework. This involves reorganizing program offices for enhanced alignment (e.g., integrated C2, intelligence/cyber) and streamlining processes to reduce administrative burdens and procurement lead times.
How to organize for effectiveness and not just efficiency
Terry Gerton, Federal News Network
Pete Newell, former head of the Rapid Equipping Force (REF) argues the U.S. military needs a sustained, doctrinal capacity for "mission acceleration," prioritizing rapid adaptation and effectiveness over mere efficiency.
- Capacity Building: Mission acceleration is a sustained capacity, taking years to build, not an immediate response.
- Relearning Cycle: The military consistently relearns rapid equipping lessons in each conflict, only to dismantle the capacity afterward under institutional pressure, leading to costly delays.
- Social Challenge: Mission acceleration is fundamentally a social problem, built on relationships and continuous practice. Government personnel turnover hinders maintaining this crucial social structure.
Innovation
Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) F-35 maintenance test pilot Ross Fearon conducts a functional check flight on an F-35B Lightning II. (Photo by Samantha Morse, Fleet Readiness Center East)
FRCE Innovation Lab manufactures quick win for F-35 fleet
Heather Wilburn, US Navy News
The Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) Innovation Lab rapidly produced 2,000 critical O-ring installation tools for F-35 fighter jets using 3D printing, drastically reducing delivery time from six months to under two weeks and enhancing fleet readiness.
- Technology Advantage: The lab utilized digital light processing, a 3D printing method that cures an entire layer of resin at once. This allowed the team to produce 60 tools in just an hour and 15 minutes, demonstrating its efficiency for large-scale orders.
- Future Vision: The Innovation Lab, established in 2020, aims to make additive manufacturing as commonplace and routine as traditional manufacturing within military maintenance, repair, and overhaul operations.
DARPA aims to make defense firms ‘much, much harder’ to hack with ‘formal methods’ push
Carley Welch, Breaking Defense
DARPA is spearheading an initiative to fortify the defense industrial base (DIB) against cyberattacks by promoting "formal methods," mathematically rigorous techniques that virtually eliminate software vulnerabilities. This push aims to make DIB systems significantly harder to hack, preventing future national security compromises.
- Accelerator Program: The "Resilient Software Systems Accelerator" initiative will provide seed funding to companies that develop and implement formal method tools for defense contractors. This program aims to raise awareness and foster a user base for these proven technologies.
- Capstone Integration: An ongoing "mini" cybersecurity capstone program will integrate formal methods directly into operational military platforms
Special Notice of Intent: Resilient Software Systems Accelerator
Defense & Strategy
Marines with Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command pose for photos in cyber operations room at Lasswell Hall aboard Fort Meade, Maryland, Feb. 5, 2020. (Photo illustration source: DVIDS)
The Pentagon knows its cyber force model is broken. Here’s how to fix it
Erica Lonergan and Jiwon Ma, DefenseScoop
The authors propose a dedicated U.S. Cyber Force to unify talent management, foster a cyber-native culture, and ensure warfighting readiness in this critical domain.
- Broken Model: The current U.S. military cyber force model -- U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) -- is inefficient and ineffective, struggling with readiness gaps, inconsistent quality, and losing top talent to the private sector.
- Core Problems: CYBERCOM relies on personnel drawn from five different services, lacking common standards for recruiting, initial training, or career progression, and none of the services treat cyberspace as a core mission.
- The Solution: A dedicated U.S. Cyber Force would unifying responsibility for recruiting, training, and promoting cyber talent under one roof.
- Mission Focus: The proposed U.S. Cyber Force would generate capabilities for three core missions: national-level defensive cyber, offensive cyber, and cyber-related military intelligence.
China's burgeoning drone arsenal shows power of civil-military fusion
John S. Van Oudenaren and Peter W. Singer, Defense One
China has cultivated a formidable and dominant drone arsenal for military applications by effectively leveraging its national "military-civil fusion" strategy, which integrates state, academic, and private sector efforts. This strategic approach challenges the U.S. and indicates China's potential to deploy UAVs on an unprecedented scale in future conflicts, such as a Taiwan Strait scenario.
Related Research from NPS: Comparison of Defense Acquisition Efficiency in the United States and China
Industry
Army photo
Special Operations Command Needs Industry Help Upgrading Uncrewed Systems
Allyson Park, National Defense
Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is looking to industry to help modernize its uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) to effectively counter evolving threats in increasingly congested environments.
- Mindset Shift: The command requires a "significant" mindset shift from operators, viewing ground control stations as weapons and drones as the "rounds or bullets" themselves. The command is moving away from the slow, expensive Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) requirements process.
- Industry's Production Role: SOCOM needs industry's help to produce drone platforms at scale and to provide the capabilities for the command to produce them independently on the front line, prioritizing lower-cost solutions.
- Continuous Collaboration: SOCOM maintains a "constantly moving" collaboration process with industry, conducting test events twice a year and industry days quarterly, encouraging partners to bring forward innovative technologies for review, testing, and potential integration.
Pentagon AI office, Army award Ask Sage $10M for GenAI expansion
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Breaking Defense
The Pentagon is rapidly expanding the Army's "Enterprise Large Language Model Workspace," a generative AI toolkit developed by Ask Sage, globally to combatant commands and key offices. This initiative aims to modernize back-office functions across the defense enterprise by leveraging secure, commercially-available AI solutions and ensuring rapid adoption.
- Multi-Model Approach: Ask Sage uses a "multi-LLM" strategy, employing multiple Large Language Models from various AI companies to cross-verify answers. This method, combined with non-AI algorithms, significantly reduces errors and "hallucinations," avoiding single-source reliance.
Research
Photo by Timelab on Unsplash
U.S.-China Economic Competition: Gains and Risks in a Complex Economic and Geopolitical Relationship
Nadia Almasalkhi, Aaron B. Frank, et al, RAND
U.S.-China economic competition has become a defining element of U.S. foreign policy since 2017. This report, the first in a four-part series sponsored by DARPA, provides an economic and institutional analysis of this complex relationship, addressing the challenge of ensuring U.S. economic health amidst strategic competition.
Defense Production Act: Information Sharing Needed to Improve Use of Authorities
Government Accountability Office
The report details the application of the Defense Production Act's three titles -- Title I for priority ratings on contracts, Title III for financial incentives to suppliers, and Title VII for industrial base assessments -— since the act's reauthorization in 2018. GAO finds that federal agencies have extensively used DPA authorities to secure vital resources for national security, but have also encountered persistent operational challenges in doing so.
Events
NCMA World Congress 2025
13-16 July 2025
Grapevine, TX
From Lab to Launch: NPS Reverse Pitch Event
23 July 2025
Monterrey, CA
Navy and Marine Corps Procurement Conference
29-30 July 2025
Norfolk, VA
2025 Air and Space Summit
31 July 2025
McLean, VA
MODSIM World 2025
18-20 August 2025
Norfolk, VA
2025 Navy Summit
26 August 2025
McLean, VA
2025 Emerging Technologies for Defense
27-29 August 2025
Washington, DC
I/ITSEC 2025: Optimizing Training: Ensuring Operational Dominance
1-4 December 2025
Orlando, FL
One more thing...
FedEx founder Frederick Smith (right) in Vietnam. Capt. Smith was discharged in 1969 after earning a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. (Courtesy of Frederick Smith)
Fred Smith, FedEx founder and Marine Corps veteran, dies at 80
Navy Times
Fred Smith, the visionary founder of FedEx and a decorated Marine Corps veteran, passed away at the age of 80, leaving behind a remarkable legacy of transforming the express delivery industry and demonstrating profound commitment to public service and military-related philanthropy. His formative experiences in the Marines were central to his leadership philosophy at FedEx and his lifelong dedication to giving back.
- Decorated Veteran: A 1966 Yale graduate, Smith joined the Marines, earning the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts before his 1969 discharge as a captain. Smith viewed his Marine Corps time as "defining," humorously calling it an "extra degree" that shaped his entire life.
- FedEx Visionary: Smith founded FedEx in 1973 and grew it into one of the world's largest transportation firms. He explicitly stated that everything he did at FedEx originated with his Marine Corps experience, rather than his Yale education.
- Major Donor: In 2022, Smith donated a substantial $65 million to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, endowing a new scholarship fund for children of Navy service members pursuing STEM studies. He deeply valued this mission, calling it an "exclamation point" on his appreciation for the Marine Corps' teachings.
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