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Acquisition Research Program Newsletter
May 29, 2026 — Issue 284
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Happy Friday!
Please enjoy a few headlines and a collection of research reports, think pieces, and other interesting articles that we couldn't quite fit into previous issues.
A few highlights...
Drew Wandzilak explains why the knowledge lost when skilled workers retire constitutes an existential threat for industry...
Cheryl Yu details China's "United Front" influence operation, which is quietly extracting sensitive tech from the US...
And Col. Richard Anderson and Malcolm Warbrick make the case that US research universities are an underutilized national security asset.
Plus, check out the keynote address delivered by Jason L, Potter, PTDO Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN(RDA)) earlier this month at "Accelerating Warfighting Capabilities," the Naval Postgraduate School's 23rd Annual Acquisition Research Symposium & Innovation Summit.
Enjoy!
New Top Navy Acquisition Official Named
Sam Lagrone, USNI News
William F. Mahan has been appointed to perform the duties of the Navy’s top acquisition official (ASN RDA), succeeding Jason Potter, who returns to his deputy role. The move comes amid major shipbuilding investments and ongoing efforts to reform Navy acquisition toward faster, warfighter-focused outcomes.
- Mahan brings a mix of military (submariner) and industry leadership experience to the role.
- The Navy is pursuing acquisition reform to increase speed and agility, reducing bureaucracy.
- Change aligns with a planned $65.8B shipbuilding push and expansion of the fleet.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) fires a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile during operations in support of Operation Epic Fury, Feb. 28, 2026. (U.S. Navy Photo)
Navy Establishes Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Munitions: Postured to harness innovation, scale production, and deliver capability and capacity sooner.
Jamie Cosgrove, US Navy
The Navy established a new Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) for Munitions to centralize oversight and accelerate the delivery of critical weapons systems to the fleet. The effort is aimed at strengthening the industrial base, increasing production capacity, and improving enterprise-wide coordination to meet urgent operational demands.
- Unified structure: Consolidates key Navy and Marine Corps weapons programs into a single enterprise approach across air, surface, and advanced munitions.
- Speed and scale focus: Prioritizes rapid production of high-volume, affordable munitions while reducing inefficiencies in acquisition and supply chains.
- Strategic impact: Supports broader DoD efforts to treat acquisition as a warfighting capability, enabling faster adaptation and sustained combat readiness.
HASC $1.15T defense policy bill takes aim at industrial base challenges
Valerie Insinna, Breaking Defense
The House Armed Services Committee’s $1.15T FY27 defense policy bill prioritizes expanding the defense industrial base and scaling production of critical weapons systems, rather than significantly increasing overall program funding. It emphasizes multiyear procurement authorities and structural reforms to address capacity shortfalls, supply chain fragility, and long-term readiness challenges.
- Industrial base expansion focus: Targets long-term manufacturing capacity gaps, including munitions production, solid rocket motor supply chains, workforce development, and protections against adversary investment.
- Multiyear procurement & key platforms: Authorizes multiyear buys for critical munitions (e.g., Patriot, THAAD, Tomahawk), aircraft (F-35, F-15EX), and ships (Arleigh Burke destroyers) to stabilize demand and accelerate production.
- Oversight, reforms, and strategic concerns: Includes new reporting requirements (e.g., Golden Dome missile defense needs, Europe force posture), acquisition reforms, and scrutiny of major investments and programs to ensure scalability and affordability.
The Pentagon’s $54 billion bet on autonomous warfare
Anna Miskelley, Defense One
The Pentagon is making a historic shift toward autonomous warfare by proposing a $54.6 billion investment through the new Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), replacing the stalled Replicator Initiative and signaling that autonomy is now a core, long-term military priority. The effort aims to fix acquisition failures by focusing on scalable software, flexible funding, and institutional permanence—but faces major risks in execution, oversight, and doctrine.
- From failure to scale: The earlier Replicator program faltered due to cost, integration issues, lack of software for drone coordination, and no stable funding structure, prompting its replacement by DAWG.
- New approach: DAWG emphasizes software-driven autonomy (e.g., swarm orchestration tools), flexible multi-year funding, and deeper integration with commands and industry to scale large numbers of low-cost systems.
- Key challenges: Congress and experts warn about insufficient policy for AI weapons, limited capacity to manage such massive funding, and unresolved operational questions about controlling large autonomous swarms in combat.
Featured Stories
Image via Critical Path
The Ghost in the Machine
Drew Wandzilak, Critical Path
The U.S. defense industrial base faces an existential crisis as skilled workers retire, taking with them decades of unwritten, experiential "tribal knowledge" that current automation cannot replicate. To survive, the industry must adopt a "full-stack" automation model that capture human judgment and contextual knowledge on the factory floor before this institutional memory is lost forever.
- Fragile Transmission: History is filled with "lost knowledge" — from Roman concrete to Stradivarius violins — that vanished because experts assumed that well-known techniques would be passed down indefinitely.
- Automation Gaps: Standard robots and software can't replace experience workers because they lack the specific, high-variance data from the factory floor needed to replicate a master craftsman's intuition.
- Production Mastery: Future leaders in manufacturing must own the floor, using sensors and computer vision to instrument the work of experts and translate their physical decisions into a machine-readable "ground truth."
- Durable Moats: This model creates a "data flywheel" where increased production generates better models and higher yields, building a structural advantage that competitors cannot simply buy or license.
- Critical Focus: Investment must prioritize areas where quality is "invisible until failure," such as complex wire harnesses or structural bonding, where the human element is most critical and least documented.
- Permanent Architecture: The goal is a permanent human-robot partnership that externalizes decades years of "floor intuition," making essential craft knowledge permanent and independent of individual careers.
Beijing’s United Front and the Quiet Transfer of Western Technology
Cheryl Yu, War on the Rocks
While the U.S. focuses on visible military hardware, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is effectively using its "United Front" system to co-opt Western institutions and facilitate the illicit transfer of sensitive technologies. This political warfare strategy utilizes a vast network of global organizations to shape the strategic environment and neutralize opposition before physical conflict begins.
- Institutionalized Influence: Through the United Front Work Department, Beijing manages a network of over 2,000 organizations—including chambers of commerce and student groups—across major democracies like the U.S. and U.K..
- Quiet Tech Transfer: The system serves as a conduit for military-civil fusion, using benign-looking professional associations to identify and recruit experts from the "treasure trove" of overseas talent.
- Shaping the Terrain: United front actors actively influence policy debates, such as opposing arms sales to Taiwan, while local officials often mistake these state-controlled entities for ordinary civic actors.
- Academic Blind Spots: Universities risk transferring dual-use technology, such as autonomous systems, by viewing collaborations with military-linked Chinese institutions as purely academic and apolitical.
- Enforcement Deficit: Current transparency laws like the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) are poorly enforced; research identifies over 900 linked organizations in the U.S. that remain unregistered.
- Strategic Resilience: Washington must recognize that hardware alone does not win wars; success depends on protecting the political and social institutions that underpin national security.
Full Report: Harnessing the People: Mapping Overseas United Front Work in Democratic States
U.S. Research Universities Underutilized National Security Assets
Col. Richard Anderson and Malcolm Warbrick, National Defense
The United States must fully integrate research universities into its defense ecosystem to regain its technological edge and accelerate the transition from concept to military capability. By leveraging long-horizon academic research and cross-disciplinary expertise, the nation can reduce technical risk and outpace strategic competitors who have already adopted tightly coordinated integration models.
- Reversed Technological Lead: The U.S. has seen its leadership in critical technologies plummet from 94 percent to just 11 percent over two decades, while China has ascended to lead in roughly 89 percent of tracked areas.
- Unique Academic Value: Unlike traditional contractors, universities provide multi-generational technical expertise, foster cross-disciplinary inquiry, and conduct the long-term research necessary for future breakthroughs.
- Pipeline Health: Constant funding and administrative stability are essential to maintaining the national pipeline of scientists and engineers required for long-term competitive capacity.
- Renewing the Model: To address modern threats like AI, the U.S. must revitalize the collaborative framework between government, industry, and academia that originally produced radar, the internet, and GPS
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ARP and NPS News
Image via Naval Postgraduate School Foundation
NPS Foundation Recognizes Dell Technologies and RTX as Foundational Partners of the Naval Innovation Center at NPS
Naval Postgraduate School Foundation
The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Foundation has recognized Dell Technologies and RTX as foundational partners for the forthcoming Naval Innovation Center (NIC) at NPS, a facility designed to unify military practitioners and industry leaders.
- Collaborative Model: The NIC functions as a new framework for capability development, bringing together military students, faculty researchers, and industry partners to build, test, and iterate solutions concurrently.
- Operational Expertise: The initiative draws on the real-world experience of 2,500 joint and allied service students to ensure emerging technologies are practical and directly aligned with modern warfighting requirements.
- Unified Workflow: The center will feature both classified and unclassified spaces, allowing complex projects to move from basic concepts to secure validation within a single, streamlined workflow.
- Specialized Infrastructure: Located in Monterey, California, the NIC will offer purpose-built facilities for modeling, simulation, and prototyping to create a persistent environment for technological iteration.
- Institutional Backing: Authorized by Congress and moving forward through the Department of the Navy, the project relies on the NPS Foundation for initial outfitting and ongoing sustainment via private donations.
VIDEO: Jason Potter Keynote Address
“We’re listening. We are all ears to the work coming out of the Naval Postgraduate School and the symposium.”
With these words affirming the value of acquisition research, Jason L, Potter, PTDO Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, closed out his keynote address on May 6, 2026, Accelerating Warfighting Capabilities, the Naval Postgraduate School's 23rd Annual Acquisition Research Symposium and Innovation Summit.
In his remarks and the subsequent Q&A, Mr. Potter discussed the Navy's current initiatives to revitalize the shipbuilding industrial base, rebuild munition stockpiles, balance the push for commercial buying while retaining government expertise, and transition to Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs) mandated by the 2026 NDAA.
Watch the full keynote and discussion here.
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Acquisition
Bryan Zeger, Letterkenny Army Depot Directorate of Missile and Aerospace Readiness electronics technician, starts the process to test a Joint Air-to-Ground missile on Sept. 3 at the DMAR facility in Chambersburg, Pa. (U.S. Army photo/Joshua Shinn)
Multi-sourcing, MOSA, and producibility form next-level defense acquisition reform
Jerry McGinn, Breaking Defense
The Pentagon's new Acquisition Transformation Strategy emphasizes multi-sourcing, modular open systems approaches (MOSA), and producibility to create more resilient defense supply chains, though implementation will require overcoming significant bureaucratic and industry resistance.
- Proprietary Pitfalls: Current defense acquisition produces effective but proprietary systems like the F-35, where limited technical data access restricts government modifications and repairs while creating brittle supply chains with poor visibility into sub-tier suppliers.
- Two-Source Standard: The new strategy mandates at least two qualified sources for critical program components, reviving 1970s-80s "second sourcing" practices that historically reduced lifecycle costs by 20% and doubled reliability, as seen in the Air Force-Navy "engine wars" between Pratt & Whitney and General Electric.
- MOSA Implementation: Module-level competition through MOSA will enable plug-and-play capability upgrades, exemplified by the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program using government reference architectures and APIs to allow multiple vendors to compete across increments—though enforcing true open architectures remains challenging.
- Producibility Focus: Programs like the Air Force's Family of Affordable Mass Munitions (FAMM) aim to create simpler, highly manufacturable systems that can be rapidly scaled, addressing the critical shortage revealed by conflicts in Ukraine and Taiwan Strait wargames where US forces quickly exhaust munitions stockpiles.
- International Cooperation: Expanding coproduction efforts with allies like Japan and Poland will build global manufacturing capacity, supported by Congress's creation of an Assistant Secretary position dedicated to international armaments cooperation.
- Implementation Challenge: Despite clear benefits, success requires strong leadership and industry partnership over the next three years to overcome the complexity, inertia, and competing priorities that have historically undermined defense acquisition reforms.
Rev. 3 is coming – Start preparing for the next CMMC requirement
Ned Butler, Federal News Network
Defense contractors must prepare for an upcoming shift in cybersecurity requirements as the DoD transitions the CMMC program from NIST SP 800-171 Revision 2 to the more rigorous Revision 3. This evolution emphasizes a "continual journey" of security, introducing new families of controls and stricter parameters to protect controlled unclassified information against sophisticated modern threats.
- Re-certification Risk: A significant hurdle for contractors is migrating to the new standard without triggering a "major change" to their IT environment, an undefined threshold that could necessitate a costly and time-consuming CMMC re-assessment.
Innovation
DOW photo
Innovation in Action: Airman-Built 3D Model Strengthens Air Traffic Controller Training
Air Force Senior Airman Imani West, 19th Airlift Wing
Airmen at Little Rock Air Force Base have developed a custom 3D-printed model to revolutionize air traffic control training by providing a tactile and scale-accurate representation of local airspace. This innovative tool replaces traditional instruction methods with an immersive platform that clarifies complex flight patterns and potential conflict points for trainees.
- Ground-Up Creation: Airman Jay Perry, an air traffic control apprentice, designed and produced the 150-piece model using 3D modeling software and printing technology available at the base innovation lab.
- Magnetic Precision: Utilizing magnets to position miniature aircraft, instructors can accurately simulate real-world scenarios, demonstrating where aircraft break in patterns, extend downwind, or encounter potential conflict points based on their flight paths.
- Strengthening Readiness: By transforming abstract concepts into a physical reality, the tool helps units practice the communication, coordination, and rapid response skills necessary for managing the base's skies effectively.
- Empowering Airmen: This initiative exemplifies a broader base-wide culture of innovation that encourages airmen at every level to identify operational challenges and engineer creative solutions to enhance mission effectiveness.
Forging The Fast Lane: The Army Establishes The Pathway For Innovation And Technology
Cheryl Marino, US Army Acquisition Support Center (USAASC)
The U.S. Army established the Pathway for Innovation and Technology (PIT) Office to accelerate the transition of advanced capabilities from conceptual stages to the hands of active-duty units. By adopting a venture capital–inspired mindset, the PIT prioritizes speed over perfection and utilizes a disciplined cycle of Soldier-driven feedback to ensure emerging technologies are practical for the future fight.
- Rapid Deployment: By breaking down bureaucratic silos, the Army can now identify and move new capabilities into the hands of Soldiers in as little as 60 to 75 days.
- Direct Feedback: Companies often leave equipment with units for 45-day assessments following demonstrations, providing critical data for four-star commanders to make informed scaling decisions.
Research
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Nicholas Davis and Staff Sgt. Terrence Giles, with the Field Artillery Squadron, 2d Cavalry Regiment, assemble a one-way attack Hornet drone during training in preparation for flight operations at Bemowo Piskie Training Area, Poland, May 3, 2026. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Capt. Katherine Bustos)
Scaling Drone Manufacturing Through The Gigafactory Model
Zechariah M. Lund & Peter Obeng, Naval Postgraduate School
Modern warfare has demonstrated an increasing demand for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that provide critical battlefield advantages. However, many UAS components rely on foreign supply chains, and the domestic manufacturing infrastructure remains fragmented. To address these issues, companies such as Anduril have pioneered the Gigafactory model — centralized, high-volume production facilities that integrate supply chains to achieve economies of scale and enhance supply chain security. This thesis explores the viability of Gigafactories as a model for increasing the domestic production of UAS to meet DoD requirements.
Why Workforce Governance Is the Limiting Factor in National Security Innovation
Desiree Lorell, Technology & National Security Review
AI adoption often prioritizes tools and technical capability over workforce and governance systems responsible for interpreting and validating and acting on AI-enabled outputs.This study advances a workforce-centered governance model for AI integration in national security. It emphasizes tiered AI exposure based on readiness, doctrinal separation between automation, decision support, and authority, and institutionalized “check-the-checker” norms that preserve human judgment and command accountability.
View of Regulating LLMs in Warfare: A U.S. Strategy for Military AI Accountability
Naomi Solomon, Stanford University
Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly entering military workflows, yet U.S. governance has not kept pace with their distinct risk profile. This memo argues that existing frameworks remain ill-suited to LLM-enabled decision-support. The paper identifies four core risks arising from LLM deployment in high-consequence contexts and proposes a U.S. regulatory framework organized around four pillars. The memo concludes that LLM-specific guardrails complement, rather than displace, existing weapons autonomy policy and would strengthen U.S. credibility in shaping international norms for responsible military AI.
Featured Reports
Image via the Atlantic Council
The US needs a comprehensive batteries strategy to ensure its battlefield edge
Joseph Webster and Kyle Chan, Atlantic Council
Realizing the Promise of the Drone Revolution: Crosscutting Insights from RAND Research for the U.S. Department of War's Drone Dominance Efforts and Beyond
Jan Osburg, Emily Lathrop, et al, RAND
Assessing the contribution of defence industrial base collaborations for Britain’s deterrence posture
Dr Euan Graham and Patrick Triglavcanin, Council on Geostrategy
Independent Assessment of the Defense Business Enterprise Architecture
Ryan Consaul, Sarah Zabel, et al, RAND
The Alarming Performance of US Advanced Technology Product Trade
Trelysa Long, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)
Mapping the military AI industry
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Unleashing Defense Innovation: Building a future-capable force
Center for European Policy Analysis
Events
MILSATCOM USA
SAE Media
8-10 June 2026
Arlington, VA
Future Force Capabilities
NDIA
8-10 June 2026
Las Vegas, NV
Eurosatory
15-19 June 2026
Paris, France
Congressional M&S Leadership Summit 2026
National Training and Simulation Association
16 June 2026
Orlando, FL
2026 Army Summit
Potomac Officers Club
18 June 2026
Reston, VA
10th Annual Federal Acquisition Conference
Professional Services Council
25 June 2026
Arlington, VA or Virtual
Converge @ NPS
Naval Postgraduate School Foundation
22-24 July 2026
Monterey, CA
2026 Air and Space Summit
Potomac Officers Club
30 July 2026
McLean, VA
One more thing...
Great White Fleet World Cruise, 1907-1909 Battleships of the Second Squadron, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, saluting during their visit to Amoy, China, circa 30 October - 5 November 1908. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
The World Cruise of the Great White Fleet
Edited by Michael J. Crawford
President Theodore Roosevelt dispatched the "Great White Fleet" on a 14-month global circumnavigation in 1907 to project American power and test the endurance of the nation’s modern battleships. This 43,000-mile journey proved to be a pivotal diplomatic success that transitioned the U.S. Navy into a professional, world-class force.
- Strategic Origins: The cruise was motivated by rising tensions with Japan and a desire to ensure the Atlantic Fleet could reach the Pacific in fit condition to engage an enemy.
- Diplomatic Success: Visits to twenty ports across six continents improved international relations, notably culminating in the Root-Takahira Agreement between the United States and Japan.
- Global Reach: The armada consisted of sixteen battleships and several auxiliaries manned by 14,000 personnel, marking the first time a steam-powered battle fleet circumnavigated the globe.
- Operational Readiness: The voyage provided essential practical experience in ship handling and coaling, leading to a 25 percent increase in fuel efficiency and doubling the accuracy of the fleet's gunners.
- Technical Deficiencies: Peacetime steaming exposed significant design flaws, including armor belts positioned too low in the water and rapid-fire guns that were distracted by spray, which prompted a rethinking of future battleship construction.
- Logistical Vulnerabilities: The fleet’s heavy dependence on foreign-flag colliers underscored a critical need for the U.S. government to develop its own auxiliary supply vessels to maintain a global presence.
- National Pride: Roosevelt utilized the fleet's popularity to garner widespread domestic support and successfully pressure Congress for increased naval appropriations.
- Modernization Catalyst: Lessons learned from the cruise prompted the Navy to adopt permanent "battleship gray" paint and replace old-style masts with fire-control cage masts.
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Maureen Lauder, PhD, Communications Manager
Karey Shaffer, MBA, Program Manager
Acquisition Research Program
Naval Postgraduate School
e: ARPEditor@nps.edu
Note: Article summaries were generated with the help of AI tools.
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