Acquisition
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Daniel Carvajal Jaimes with the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron collects available material in his environment in order to establish communications during the Expeditionary Communications Roundup Exercise 2023 “XCOMM Roundup 2023” which tested the failure of primary, alternate and contingency communications forcing expeditionary communication teams to establish emergency communication in a culminating event, May 3, 2023 at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. Photo by Nadine Wiley De Moura.
What We’ve Got Here Is Failure to Communicate: How Better Communication Can Improve DoD Acquisition Outcomes
Moshe Schwartz, Michelle V. J. Johnson, and Daniella Schwartz
Poor communication is a pervasive and acknowledged impediment across the Department of Defense's acquisition system, hindering outcomes with industry, Congress, and internally. Addressing this requires a fundamental shift towards more effective, relational, and transparent communication strategies to unlock America's industrial and innovative strengths.
- Communication Breakdown: Poor communication within DoD, between DoD and industry, and with Congress, is widely acknowledged as hampering acquisition outcomes, leading to subpar requirements, inefficient budgeting, and distrust.
- Industry Strain: Insufficient communication with industry results in unclear requirements, deters companies, increases bid protests, and strains relationships.
- Culture Shift: Despite mandates from OMB and FAR rules encouraging engagement, a culture of compliance, risk aversion, and existing incentives act as barriers within DOD, leading acquisition professionals to limit communications. DOD must view the entire acquisition lifecycle as opportunities for two-way, meaningful communication to build trust and fully leverage America’s industrial power.
Why the Army Needs Units Driving Drone Development and How to Do It
Col. Neil A. Hollenbeck, Military Review
The U.S. Army is significantly lagging behind nations like Ukraine and Russia in integrating small drones into ground combat operations due to its distant, bureaucratic acquisition processes that fail to empower operational units. To bridge this critical gap, the Army must radically shift its approach, making operational units the "customer" in a pilot effort driven by empowered acquisition managers and flexible funding to rapidly iterate with industry.
- Process Paralysis: The Army's current acquisition system, despite recent initiatives like "Transformation in Contact," keeps operational units too distant from decision-making, preventing the necessary speed and agility for rapidly evolving drone technology.
- Unit-Driven Solution: A proposed pilot effort would empower an acquisition manager to partner with a specific operational unit, like a division or an opposing forces unit, to become the "customer" for small drone development. This enables rapid iteration with industry based on broadly written, capability-based requirements.
- Wartime Preparedness: By fostering unit-driven innovation in peacetime, the Army can cultivate the innovation culture and processes it will need to adapt and win in future conflicts.
Hegseth asked to defend Pentagon’s ‘uniquely troubling’ deal with Musk-owned xAI
Brandi Vincent, DefenseScoop
The Department of Defense's recent $200 million contract with Elon Musk's xAI to integrate its "Grok" chatbot into military operations has drawn significant scrutiny and concerns about national security from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other lawmakers and experts. The deal, part of a larger initiative to adopt cutting-edge "frontier AI," faces criticism over the company's controversial product, a lack of transparency, and potential undue influence.
Innovation
A U.S. Soldier assigned to 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment reaches for a unmanned aerial system during Project Flytrap at Joint Multinational Readiness Center, Hohenfels Training Area, Hohenfels, Germany, June 19, 2025. Project Flytrap is a series of CUAS training scenarios that test the capabilities of new, lower-cost and portable technology. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Brent Lee)
Army launches VC-style model FUZE program to invest early in promising military tech
Carley Welch, Breaking Defense
The U.S. Army has launched Army FUZE, a pioneering venture-capital-like acquisition program designed to accelerate the private development and integration of emerging technologies for soldiers. This initiative represents a foundational shift from traditional, linear acquisition cycles towards a more dynamic, "spiralized approach" focused on rapid technological upgrades and refreshes throughout a system's lifecycle.
- VC-Style Model: Army FUZE is designed to shift the Army’s perspective to the private sector. It aims to identify where private companies are outpacing the Army and "coalesce Army dollars with private and venture capital" to rapidly move concepts to prototypes and field deployment.
- Key Tech Areas: The program will initially prioritize funding for companies developing unmanned aerial systems (UAS), counter-UAS (CUAS), electronic warfare, and energy resiliency, with funding decisions driven by demand signals from the private sector and soldier feedback.
Remote Maintenance System Kits On Track to Fleet Deployment
Teri Carnicelli, Navy News
The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) is rapidly deploying its Augmented Reality Maintenance System (ARMS) kits across the Navy fleet. These kits enable shipboard maintainers to connect in real-time with shore-based subject matter experts, providing crucial audio, video, and text support for repairs.
Proven Benefits: Metrics from nine ARMS-assisted shipboard maintenance events have demonstrated a 92% reduction in SME time and a 94% cost avoidance compared to traditional shipboard support methods.
Defense & Strategy
U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Brian Vile, an intelligence specialist with Marine Rotational Force – Darwin 24.3, operates a Skydio drone as part of a counter-unmanned aircraft systems field test at Mount Bundey Training Area, NT, Australia, July 11, 2024. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Migel A. Reynosa)
Report: US counter-drone defenses ‘insufficient’ as China scales up unmanned capabilities
Carley Welch, Breaking Defense
A new report from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) concludes that U.S. counter-drone defenses are "insufficient" given China's rapid scaling of unmanned capabilities, posing a significant risk of losing a future conflict. It recommends urgent adoption of purpose-built ammunition, directed energy weapons, and AI-powered detection to effectively counter massed drone attacks.
Full Report: Countering the Swarm: Protecting the Joint Force in the Drone Age
Industry
A drone photo shows sustainable energy being generated in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, July 17, 2025. Yin Tianjie/Xinhua via Getty Images
AI experts return from China stunned: The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over
Eva Roytburg, Fortune
China holds a significant and growing advantage in energy infrastructure, making energy a "solved problem" for powering AI data centers, while the U.S. faces a fragile grid and bottlenecks that severely choke its AI industry growth. This stark contrast positions China to dominate the AI race.
- Investment Bias: U.S. capital is "biased toward shorter-term returns," funneling billions into software while energy projects struggle for funding. China's state-directed money ensures capacity is in place for strategic sectors.
- Widening Disparity: Without a dramatic shift in how the U.S. builds and funds energy infrastructure, China's lead "will only widen," making the gap in capability "more obvious" in the coming years.
U.S. Naval Shipyards Accelerating Outsourcing for New Construction Programs
Mallory Shelbourne and Sam LaGrone, USNI News
U.S. Naval Shipyards are rapidly accelerating outsourcing for new ship construction programs, sending substantial components like ship blocks to other domestic yards to alleviate workforce burdens and boost overall production capacity.
- Capacity Expansion: Outsourcing less complex blocks and modules to other yards with existing skilled labor and facility capacity acts as a "workforce multiplier". This allows larger yards like HII’s Ingalls to focus on more intricate tasks while increasing overall throughput and reducing schedule risks.
- Navy Endorsement: Navy Secretary John Phelan is pressing shipyards to address program delays, while the Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base (MIB) office encourages and invests in yards to expand capacity for outsourced work, contributing over $200 million to various projects.
Congress & Government
The Graphite Creek camp, supported by Defense Production Act funding, is serving as headquarters for the geological, engineering and environmental field work at the western Alaska graphite project, June 26, 2024. Courtesy of Mining News North; Shane Lasley
Rebooting the Defense Production Act
Nadia Schadlow, Hudson Institute
The Defense Production Act (DPA), originally enacted during the Korean War to rapidly mobilize the U.S. industrial base for national security, up for reauthorization this month. This policy memo from the Hudson Institute examines the DPA's mixed record and emphasizes the need for significant reforms to enhance its effectiveness, transparency, and governance.
- Mixed Impact: The DPA has provided crucial support in emergencies, such as securing materials for MRAPs or funding COVID-19 vaccine production, but has rarely delivered durable, sector-level gains to the defense industrial base.
- Broadening Scope: The definition of "national defense" has expanded significantly since 1950, now encompassing emergency preparedness, critical infrastructure, homeland security, and even clean energy, though a recent Trump executive order aims to refocus it on core national security needs.
- Bureaucratic Hurdles: The DPA is plagued by slow, opaque contracting processes, understaffed offices lacking specialized expertise, and a general discomfort with its unique funding mechanisms, leading to delays and missed opportunities.
- Calls for Reform: Ahead of its September 30, 2025 termination, experts advocate for centering the DPA on core national defense, leveraging its full suite of financial tools, improving transparency, speeding up processes, and rationalizing governance to create a more disciplined instrument for industrial mobilization.
Examining House-Senate Differences in FY2026 Defense Appropriations
Madeline Field, War on the Rocks
The FY2026 defense appropriations debate is marked by historically large funding and strategic differences between the House and Senate, stemming from a delayed Pentagon budget and divergent philosophies on innovation, immediate readiness, and global threat prioritization. These disparities highlight distinct legislative approaches to national defense.
- House Innovates: The House positions itself as an innovator, heavily funding program innovation, research and development (R&D), and procurement programs for next-generation capabilities like hypersonics, unmanned systems, nuclear modernization, and shipbuilding.
- Senate Balances Readiness: The Senate prioritizes "readiness, resilience, and personnel" and seeks to bolster the industrial base for near-future needs. It shows skepticism toward some big-ticket, expensive procurement items and research from the Air Force and Space Force, expressing concern about major cuts to legacy programs for unproven technology.
- Procurement Criticism: Both chambers condemned the Pentagon's "low request for traditional procurement programs" and criticized its reliance on reconciliation funding.
- Acquisition Reform Skepticism: The Senate is wary broad, flexible budgetary authority and rejects DOD calls further statutory reform for acquisition innovation, arguing that DOD already possesses significant authority to amend and improve acquisition and procurement processes.
- Advance Procurement Divide: The Senate has increased its use of advance procurement to smooth inconsistent demand signals. The House, which typically takes a "guardrail approach" due to concerns about multiyear contracts, utilizes advance procurement only for Columbia and Virginia class submarines this year.
Related: Key defense appropriator warns longterm stopgap funding is ‘damaging’ to DoD operations
Related: Tariff Exemption for Defense Items Under the Pending Defense Authorization Act?
Research
The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Minnesota (SSN 783) arrives at HMAS Stirling, Western Australia, Australia. Port visits support the first pillar of the Australia, United Kingdom, and United States trilateral security agreement, known as AUKUS, that is delivering a sovereign conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarine capability to Australia. (U.S. Navy photo by Public Affairs Officer Lt. Corey Todd Jones)
AUKUS in Academics: Case Study on Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration in Submarine Engineering
Alexander Grey, Alexandra Hain, and Joshua Michael Dupont
This paper offers a case study on an educational approach designed to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration in submarine engineering, specifically in response to the AUKUS agreement. Traditionally, engineering and policy have operated in isolation, but the growing complexity of global security, particularly regarding nuclear-powered submarines in the Indo-Pacific, demands a more integrated model. This initiative aims to reshape STEM workforce development, equipping students to navigate the complex technical and political demands of the evolving national security landscape.
America’s Missing Productivity Strategy: An R&D Approach to Workforce Development
Rachel Lipson, Aspen Institute
This paper from the Harvard Kennedy School argues that the United States needs a proactive national talent investment strategy to enhance productivity, especially given the rise of AI and geopolitical competition. The author suggests a shift in focus for federally-funded workforce development, moving it beyond reactive anti-poverty measures to become a forward-looking economic strategy. The central proposal is to treat human capital like research and development (R&D), prioritizing training for well-paying, non-four-year degree jobs in critical sectors that are essential for deploying new technologies.
Bid Protests in the U.S. Procurement System: Assessing Proposed Reforms -- Part I Assessing Proposed Reforms -- Part I
Christopher R. Yukins, The Government Contractor
Congress is currently debating reforms to the U.S. bid protest system, but many proposed changes risk undermining its global model by raising barriers without making it a more effective tool for risk management and accountability. These reforms, particularly concerning "two-bite" protests, incumbent challenges, meritless filings, and bonding requirements, are scrutinized for their potential negative impacts on competition, transparency, and the identification of procurement failures.
GAO Reports
Close-up of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sign outside its main headquarters in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
DOD Financial Management: Actions Needed to Account for Army Ammunition at Contractor-Owned, Contractor-Operated Sites
Government Accountability Office
DOD Financial Management: Role of Service Organization Reports in Assessing the Effectiveness of Internal Controls
Government Accountability Office
DOD Financial Management: Insights into the Auditability of DOD’s Fiscal Year 2024 Balance Sheet
Government Accountability Office
U.S. Consolidated Financial Statements: Key Issues for the Department of Defense
Government Accountability Office
Defense Budget: DOD Should Address All Statutory Elements for Unfunded Priorities
Government Accountability Office
Military Moves: DOD Needs Better Information to Effectively Oversee Relocation Program Reforms
Government Accountability Office
Leading Practices: Agile Portfolio Management and Iterative Business Cases Drive Innovative Product Development
Government Accountability Office
Opportunities
CALL FOR PAPER AND PANEL PROPOSALS
Due 18 November 2025
Submissions are now open for papers and panels for the NPS 23rd Annual Acquisition Research Symposium & Innovation Summit, taking place May 6 & 7, 2026, in Monterey, California. Sponsored by Acquisition Research Program (ARP), Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Naval Postgraduate School Foundation (NPSF).
This year, the Research Symposium is combined with an Innovation Summit under the overarching theme of Accelerating Warfighting Capabilities.
In keeping with recent executive orders and DOD memoranda, the goal of this dual event is to explore and promote innovative ways to enhance readiness, deter adversaries, and increase warfighting capabilities by reviving our defense industrial base, reforming our acquisition process, and rapidly fielding emerging technologies.
Visit the symposium website for topic suggestions and submission guidelines.
DIU asks industry for ‘non-kinetic’ tech to help Coast Guard, Navy disable small boats
Justin Katz, Breaking Defense
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is seeking non-kinetic technologies to help federal authorities disable small, high-speed watercraft. Industry responses are due by September 30, and solutions must be mature enough for government testing within 60 days.
Solicitation: Show Stopper - Non-Kinetic Disablement of Non-Compliant, Small Watercraft
Events
Fleet Maintenance and Modernization Symposium (FMMS) 2025
American Society of Naval Engineers
23-25 September 2025
San Diego, CA
28th Annual Systems & Mission Engineering Conference
National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)
Tampa, FL
27-30 October 2025
USSOCOM Innovation Foundry
SOFWERX
28-30 October 2025
Chantilly, VA
CALL FOR PAPERS & PANELS: Accelerating Warfighting Capabilities
Naval Postgraduate School 23rd Annual Acquisition Research Symposium and Innovation Summit
DUE: 18 November 2025
I/ITSEC 2025: Optimizing Training: Ensuring Operational Dominance
National Training & Simulation Association (NTSA)
1-4 December 2025
Orlando, FL
CCM Institute Academic Symposium 2025
Commerce & Contract Management Institute
2-4 December 2025
Virtual
Creative Disruptors in the Desert
Creative Defense Foundation
20-21 February 2025
La Quinta, CA
One more thing...
President Harry Truman signs the National Security Act on July 26, 1947. National Archives
Why the US Department of War Has Changed Names Through History
Dave Roos, History.com
The United States' military administration underwent a profound transformation from its initial Department of War, established in 1789, to the unified Department of Defense created after World War II to address the complexities of modern warfare and inter-service coordination.
- Initial Creation: The Department of War was established on August 7, 1789, by President George Washington during the first session of Congress, primarily to manage the Army.
- Naval Independence: In 1798, the Navy gained its own Cabinet-level department (which also oversaw the Marines), thus operating separately from the Department of War.
- WWII Catalyst: World War II necessitated unprecedented levels of coordination across the different branches of the U.S. military, highlighting the need for a more integrated administrative structure to fight effectively on land, sea, and air.
- 1947 Restructuring: President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, a major administrative overhaul that replaced the Department of War with the Department of the Army and created the U.S. Air Force as a separate branch. All military branches were then merged under a new organization called the National Military Establishment (NME).
- DOD's Authority: Just two years later, in 1949, Truman signed amendments to the National Security Act that replaced the NME with the Department of Defense. These changes removed the secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force from the Cabinet and granted the Secretary of Defense "total direction, authority and control" over the new department.
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