Acquisition
Secretary of the Army, Honorable Daniel P. Driscoll, receives a hands-on walkthrough of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense launcher from Soldiers assigned to Alpha Battery, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment at Fort Bliss, Texas, March 26, 2025. The briefing included launcher components, critical safety features, and maintenance responsibilities required to sustain air and missile defense readiness. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. JaDarius Duncan)
Making the wrong things go faster
Steve Blank, DefenseScoop
The Pentagon's recent shift toward a private equity-style acquisition model seeks to eliminate bureaucratic redundancy and accelerate delivery, but the system risks prioritizing speed over substance by merely rushing the development of flawed or unnecessary technology.
- "Bad Ideas" Risk: While the new Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs) should allow the department to pick winners, kill redundant programs, and eliminate bureaucratic processes that hinder speed. However accelerating a top-down requirements process risk prioritizing features or "shiny" technology instead of solving specific, validated warfighter problems.
- Rigorous Problem Funnel: A front-end problem identification phase would enable the validation and consolidation of core problems while flagging issue that may be a symptom of a larger problem.
Next Up in Pentagon’s Push for Defense Industry Reforms: Space
Chris Gordon, Air & Space Forces
At a recent visit to a Blue Origin rocket factory, Pete Hegseth advocated for increased competition within the American space industry, emphasizing that the Pentagon seeks "space dominance" through diverse, cost-effective commercial partnerships rather than relying on a single source.
- Ending Monopolies: Amid concerns regarding the market dominance of SpaceX, the Pentagon is now seeking additional providers for national security launches.
- Reform Agenda: Hegseth touted acquisition reforms intended to prioritize "the best" and "the fastest" solutions at the lowest cost to taxpayers, regardless of a company's lobbying influence or previous pedigree.
- Space Superiority: The administration views space superiority as a vital counter to growing threats from Chinese and Russian adversaries who are increasingly challenging American on-orbit capabilities.
- Lunar Ambitions: The broader national strategy includes a return to the Moon and establishing a future lunar outpost, as directed by a December executive order on "Ensuring American Space Superiority".
Defense & Strategy
Ships assigned to the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group sail in formation with Indian navy ships during a cooperative deployment in the Indian Ocean, July 20, 2020. US Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald R. White, Jr.
A sweeping vision for the Navy is colliding with harsh shipbuilding realities
Terry Gerton, Federal News Network
The U.S. Navy's ambitious "Golden Fleet" vision faces significant obstacles due to a historically small shipbuilding base that struggles with slipping timelines, shifting requirements, and systemic capacity constraints. Bridging the gap between political rhetoric and operational reality requires a shift toward schedule-driven delivery, sustained long-term investment, and innovative international partnerships.
TIDALWAVE: Strategic Exploitation and Sustainment in a U.S.–China Conflict
Robert Greenway & Anna Gustafson, Heritage Foundation
Project TIDALWAVE is a comprehensive strategic assessment designed to evaluate the logistical endurance of the United States and China during a potential high-intensity conflict in the Indo-Pacific. Utilizing an AI-enabled hybrid architecture and human expertise, the report identifies critical shortfalls in the production and distribution of fuel and ammunition.
- Reserve Expansion: Recommendations include creating a strategic ammunition reserve and increasing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 1.5 billion barrels distributed for Indo-Pacific power projection.
- Logistical Reinforcement: The report calls for accelerating the procurement of oilers and transport ships to shorten the reload cycle and support decisive maneuver in contested environments.
- Strategic Intelligence Shift: Analysts advocate for prioritizing the "center of gravity" of an adversary’s sustainment systems over traditional tactical-level military assessments.
Industry
The F-35 production line seen from crane monorail at Lockheed Martin Plant 4, 1 Lockheed Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas. Chris Hanoch/Lockheed Martin
Defense Primes ‘Committed to the Dividend’ but Pledge More Production
Courtney Albon, Air & Space Forces
Major defense contractors are currently attempting to reconcile investor expectations for dividends with aggressive federal pressure to prioritize industrial capacity and innovation over shareholder returns. While several firms remain committed to maintaining dividends, they are reconsidering stock buybacks and increasing internal research investments in response to a new executive order and heightened performance oversight.
Pentagon taps 25 firms for small, cheap attack drone competition
Stephen Losey, Defense News
The Pentagon has selected 25 small technology firms to compete in the "Gauntlet," the first phase of the Drone Dominance Program aimed at rapidly fielding hundreds of thousands of low-cost, one-way attack drones by 2027.
- The "Gauntlet": Beginning February 18, 2026, at Fort Benning, military operators will evaluate systems from vendors during a rigorous testing phase.
- Massive Production: The department intends to spend $1.1 billion over four phases, initially placing $150 million in prototype orders followed by a goal for 12 vendors to produce 30,000 drones at $5,000 per unit.
- Targeted Savings: As the vendor pool narrows to five companies, the Pentagon intends to drive the unit price down to $2,300 while increasing total orders to 150,000 drones.
We Cannot Wait: Three Imperatives for Industry Partners as the Army Transforms
MAJ Ryan Crayne, USA and MAJ Blake Estlund, USA, Association of the US Army
As U.S. Army dismantles its legacy bureaucratic structures to maintain a strategic advantage against accelerating adversaries, industry partners must also embrace radical shifts in collaboration, sustainment, and speed.
- Early Co-Development: Industry partners must engage in early dialogue and iterative development to capture frontline feedback before designs are finalized.
- Sustainment Sovereignty: To eliminate "vendor-locked" dependency, industry must provide technical data packages and adopt modular architectures, empowering Soldiers to independently repair, modify, and even 3D-print components at the point of need in contested environments.
- Strategic Tempo Acceleration: Speed has become a strategic requirement, necessitating the use of rapid contracting tools like Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) and Middle-Tier Acquisition (MTA) pathways to deliver functional prototypes at the pace of commercial technology.
Government Reports
Photo via US Space Force
Review of the SBIR and STTR Programs at the Department of Defense (2026)
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
Missile Warning Satellites: Space Development Agency Should Be More Realistic and Transparent About Risks to Capability Delivery
Government Accountability Office
DOD Financial Management: Air Force Needs to Properly Account for All General Equipment That Contractors Hold
Government Accountability Office
Navy Large Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs): Background and Issues for Congress
Congressional Research Service
Research
Andres Diaz, a contractor, grinds a deck edge on the mast aboard USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in port Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, Washington, Nov. 3, 2025.(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Dylan O’Neal)
Establishing Standardized Metrics for the Acquisition of Services Pathway
Daniel Cary, Michael Alexander, & Ashley Presley, Naval Postgraduate School
The Department of Defense (DoD) relies heavily on contracted services but lacks a standardized, outcome-based framework to assess program health. Current practices emphasize process compliance and obligation rates rather than mission impact, limiting oversight and strategic visibility. This research develops a standardized performance measurement framework for the Acquisition of Services Pathway to improve accountability and decision-making and introduces The Enterprise Performance Visibility (EPV) model and a Flexible Balanced Scorecard (FBS) to operationalize this framework.
Improving Interoperability with Allies and Partners
Patrick Mills, John G. Drew, et al, RAND
This research brief outlines a strategic framework for the U.S. Air Force to enhance its interoperability with international allies, focusing specifically on aircraft maintenance and base operating support. The text argues that shifting away from centralized hubs toward a distributed network of partner-owned locations is essential for increasing operational flexibility and survivability in modern conflict.
A Year-Over-Year Forecasting Methodology for the Prediction of Program Unit Cost for Major Defense Acquisition Programs
John E. DuFour, George Washington University
DOD has long struggled to mitigate high cost growth and overruns in major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs). DOD currently manages weapons systems acquisition programs without reliable cost estimates, contributing to 2022-2023 cost increases of $37 billion and the cancellation of 11% of programs. Employing a data-inclusive methodology and utilizing knowledge-based metrics as predictors, this thesis develops a year-over-year cost growth forecasting which can support annual data-driven decision making.
Events
WEST 2026: Sustaining Maritime Dominance
AFCEA & USNI
10-12 February 2026
San Diego, CA
36th Annual NDIA Special Operations Symposium
NDIA
17-18 February 2026
Washington, DC
40th Annual National Logistics Forum
NDIA
17-19 February 2026
Tampa, FL
Creative Disruptors in the Desert
Creative Defense Foundation
20-21 February 2025
La Quinta, CA
Generative And Agentic Artificial Intelligence Workshop
US Marine Corps
9-12 March 2026
Quantico, VA
2026 Artificial Intelligence Summit
Potomac Officers Club
19 March 2026
Reston, VA
Accelerating Warfighting Capabilities
NPS 23rd Annual Acquisition Research Symposium & Innovation Summit
6-7 May 2026
Virtual Event
One more thing...
The submerged wreckage of the Douglas TBD-1 Devastator, Bureau Number 1515. (Air and Sea Heritage Foundation)
Efforts underway to preserve first WWII Devastator torpedo bomber
Claire Barrett, Navy Times
A consortium of maritime and naval organizations is collaborating to recover and preserve Bureau Number 1515, the last viable US Navy Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bomber, from the waters of the Marshall Islands.
- Unique Survivor: Of the 129 Devastators originally built, none currently exist in museums or private collections; every known example of the aircraft remains on the ocean floor.
- Technological Leap: The Devastator introduced the monoplane era to U.S. carrier aviation. It boasted hydraulic folding wings and semi-retractable landing gear, features that earned it the nickname "suicide coffin."
- Intact Wreckage: Discovered by a scuba diver in 1997, the aircraft remains remarkably well-preserved, with its glass canopy still intact and the separated engine cowling resting just 15 feet away.
- National Tribute: Once restored, the Jaluit Devastator will serve as the first and potentially only preserved combat TBD-1, honoring the service and sacrifice of WWII naval aviators for future generations.
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