I was please to speak with Lt. Gen. David Deptula (ret.) on the Acquisition Talk podcast. He is currently Dean at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and, as I learned in the episode, he was the only Air Force pilot to be mission ready to fly an F-15 all the way from Lieutenant to Lt. General. He also helped plan the air campaign in Desert Storm and was the first Deputy Chief of Staff for ISR including unmanned aircraft.
The episode starts with a discussion on his study of mosaic warfare, or the concept of disaggregating functions into simpler systems which are tied together in a broader operational network. These "tiles" will work alongside multi-mission platforms already fielded, complementing their capabilities with lower-cost solutions that are attritable. David dispels myths about mosaic warfare, such as resilience problems stemming from the need to be connected all the time in a single architecture. Mosaic is about building in adaptation and resiliency.
The conversation moves onto Dr. William Roper's vision for a digital century series aircraft program, reminiscent of the experimentation of several diverse fighter aircraft over the 1950s. David finds the allusion unfortunate, because he doesn't expect the Air Force to procure large batches of different aircraft. However, he agrees with the principles of incrementally prototyping several designs and continuously maturing them, even if they aren't procured. To this end, he agrees with Roper's decision to raise the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program into a Program Executive Office that can pursue multiple ends with gradual integration, and supports a mission-funded budget account.
The episode also features discussions on digital engineering, why the military is the as conservative as the catholic church, design as a process of discovery, how tactical decisions centralized between Desert Storm and Afghanistan, the questions of mobilization and resourcing the strategy, and how to move us from a mindset from cost-per-widget to cost-per-desired-effect.
I'd like to thank Lt. Gen David Deptula (ret.) for joining me. See more of his great work at the Mitchell Institute, including force sizing methods in The Force We Need and a great empirical paper on USAF inventory from 1950-2017, Arsenal of Airpower. He also writes relatively frequently at Breaking Defense, including an interesting piece that argues low bomber availability rates are a sign of high demand more than poor management. Here is David on the NGAD program. And here is David speaking with Vago Muridian about Nuclear C2 and F-15s. Be sure to listen to him on the Chrome 360 podcast discussing his experience in Desert Storm, highly recommended.
This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. Soundtrack by urmymuse: "reflections of u". You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com.
