Acquisition Talk

Eric Lofgren and Matt MacGregor chat about the week's newsworthy headlines the world of military acquisition. 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.

Eric Lofgren and Matt MacGregor chat about the week's newsworthy headlines the world of military acquisition. 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.

I was pleased to have Steve Blank and Pete Newell return on the Acquisition Talk podcast to talk about the five-year anniversary of the Hacking 4 Defense program, or H4D. In the program, university students partner with defense organizations to solve problems. But they aren't simply handed a requirement and asked to figure out a technology solution. The students immerse themselves in user stories by interviewing dozens of operators and even walking a mile in their shoes. They then create minimally viable products and iterate to an innovative solution. This combination of problem curation and lean methodology provides students with invaluable experience at the same time it delivers value to our government. Over the five years, H4D grew into Hacking 4 Everything, or H4X. It includes courses on homeland security, diplomacy, energy, oceans, sustainability, and national health service. The program is taught at roughly 50 universities, more than 2,000 students have gone through the course, 450 national security and intelligence problems addressed, and 14 startups were formed. One tremendous statistic is that at Stanford, close to 40 percent of H4D students chose to continue solving problems for national security, which as Steve notes is "pretty amazing when their career paths include working for Facebook or Google or whatever the hottest startup is." Without H4D, these students would likely have graduated without ever considering the option of solving the government's hardest problems. No wonder the program got official support and is now funded by Defense Innovation Unit. 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.

Eric Lofgren and Matt MacGregor chat about the week's newsworthy headlines the world of military acquisition. 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.

In this second discussion on the future of the Planning-Programming-Budgeting-Execution (PPBE) process, Center for Government Contracting executive director Jerry McGinn hosts a distinguished panel including: - Jamie Morin -- VP at the Aerospace Corp and former Director of CAPE - Dov Zakheim -- Senior Fellow at CNA and former USD Comptroller - John Young -- Principal at JY Strategies LLC and former USD AT&L Watch the video here, and listen to it on the Acquisition Talk podcast here. It is difficult to boil the conversation down because each of the three panelists had unique views. However, one theme that all seemed to agree on was the importance of flexibility to make program tradeoffs, and that such a construct requires trust between DoD and Congressional personnel. 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.

Eric Lofgren and Matt MacGregor chat about the week's newsworthy headlines the world of military acquisition. 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.

For the first time in more than 50 years, a serious discussion is emerging on the foundations of defense budgeting and oversight.  The "valley of death" issue has drawn people's attention to the budget at the highest level, but the problems run much deeper. No longer will business as usual -- comprised of industrial era methods and multi-year timelines -- suffice in an era of great power competition. I was excited to host a panel, hosted by George Mason University's Center for Government Contracting, representing three key perspectives on the future of defense resourcing, called the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, Execution (PPBE) process. They are Courtney Barno (NSCAI), Matt MacGregor (MITRE), and Dan Patt (Hudson). Each has contributed to a recent report addressing PPBE, and all three circle around the old concept of portfolio management. A short video describing the reports is here. The full video of our discussion is on YouTube here, and has been reproduced on the Acquisition Talk podcast. - Bill Greenwalt and Dan Patt: Competing in Time: Ensuring Capability Advantage and Mission Success through Adaptable Resource Allocation - Pete Modigliani, Matt MacGregor, and Dan Ward: Five by Five: Five Disciplines and Five Strategic Initiatives for the Pentagon in the Digital Age - National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence: Final Report 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.

Eric Lofgren and Matt MacGregor chat about the week's newsworthy headlines the world of military acquisition. 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.

Michele Flournoy joined Jordan Schneider and I on a crossover episode of the China Talk and Acquisition Talk podcasts. She is a former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, co-founder of CNAS, and and currently the founder and managing partner of WestExec Advisors. We hit on a number of important issues, including: - China's approach to systems destruction warfare - How to make a compelling case for technologists to join DoD - Nuclear policy and affecting the strategic calculus - Whether "legacy" weapons need divestment - A "Manhattan Project" for AI/ML In the episode, Michele drives home the importance of the acquisition workforce to military outcomes. "We don't invest enough in the tech or business acumen of our professionals," she said. Being a smarter customer in terms of negotiating contracts and having technical chops has a tremendous impact on the weapons and CONOPS. As Michele points out, Great Power Competition is no longer about nuclear deterrence alone, but maneuvering in cyber, in space, and in other domains that requires a range of options for affecting the strategic calculus. 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 https://AcquisitionTalk.com.

Colonel Nathan Diller joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss the Agility Prime line of effort that seeks an innovative acquisition approach to advancing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) systems. Colonel Diller is the Director of AFWERX and before that was a prolific pilot with over 2,700 hours in 60 aircraft. Agility Prime doesn't look to establish requirements and line up a large amount of RDT&E funding to develop military-ready eVTOL systems. Instead, it uses the Air Force's assets to help accelerate commercialization of eVTOL. For example, the Air Force has test ranges and experienced personnel that can help commercial firms make it through an airworthiness process that drives down regulatory risk. Of course, there will be some funding to defray costs to the firms, but Agility Prime will help five aircraft prototypes get ready to fly on a scant budget. Moreover, the process helps the Air Force get smart on use cases and market research to help build the requirements for a program of record down the line. The "Prime" methodology is ripe for several other areas of dual-use technologies. Colonel Diller identified some other potential Prime concepts: - Space Prime for two areas: (1) space mobility, transport, and logistics; and (2) data access - Energy Prime for batteries and perhaps other energy storage devices - Vector Prime for supersonic transportation - Autonomy Prime for... autonomous systems - Microelectronics Prime to help solve security and availability - Digital Game Prime to support digital engineering and even designing military campaigns 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.