Acquisition Talk

RAND researchers Cynthia Cook and William Shelton joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss their new paper which takes a fresh look at the space acquisition enterprise. Not only is the US Space Force much smaller than its sister services (just 16,000 compared more than 10x that number in the Marines), it is also much more reliant on technology. They argue that the nation's newest military service has a huge opportunity to shape a more agile process and flatter organization. This includes: - Creating a culture of "warrior engineers" - Embracing funding flexibility and portfolio management - Empowering a single space acquisition decisionmaker - Coordinating enterprise architectures and capability roadmaps - Increasing cross-pollination between government and industry In the episode, Cynthia and Bill emphasize the need for the Space Force to think differently about program management. Often, managers are incentivized to deliver on their baseline program instead of taking responsibility for broader integration issues. For example, the GPS capability set was broken out into separate programs for space vehicle, ground, user equipment, and launch, causing synchronization issues. Bill explained how "As a program manager, I had the iron triangle. Don't mess with my cost-schedule-performance. Anybody comes with a new idea, if it's going to make me slip or cost money, thanks for your interest in national defense but I'm going to do what I got to do to meet my APB." Changing this system of incentives requires a different personnel structure, system of promotion, dedicated contracting officers, and methods of accountability. This is particularly true as space systems rely more on commercial, proliferation, and "good enough" solutions rather than exquisite systems that take more than a decade to field. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at https://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. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at https://AcquisitionTalk.com.

AJ Piplica joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss transportation at hypersonic speeds. He is the founder and CEO of Hermeus, which is developing the Quarterhorse aircraft intended to fly at five times the speed of sound. It uses a turbine-based combined cycle engine which uses the off-the-shelf J-85 jet engine from GE. When the J-85 accelerates to supersonic speeds, a proprietary ram-jet kicks in that uses the aircraft's forward motion to compress air, combust it with fuel, and accelerate to even higher speeds. Hermeus has already shown that a lesser gas turbine engine designed to fly at Mach 0.8 at 26,000 feet can be outfitted to fly Mach 3.2 at 60,000 feet in a test facility. That's closing in on the top speed of the famed SR-71! The first Quarterhorse prototype using the J-85 is expected to fly a couple hundred nautical miles, but the eventual transport aircraft will fly at Mach 5 for 4,000 nautical miles at an altitude of 90,000-100,000 feet. One of the interesting technical breakthroughs at Hermeus is the pre-cooler. There's a "valley of death" of sorts between Mach 2 and Mach 3 which is beyond the limits of the turbine engine but before the ramjet fully kicks in. The air entering the gas turbine engine at Mach 3 is over 800 degrees which is too hot for the materials to handle. Hermeus' pre-cooler cools down that air by 675 degrees in one-tenth of a second so that the turbine engine can continue to provide thrust. Once the Quarterhorse accelerates past that regime the turbine engine will be bypassed and the ramjet does the rest up to Mach 5. "It's not a very efficient system," AJ noted, "so it's important that we accelerate through that regime relatively quickly and then transition to the ramjet." This capability isn't just about accelerating civilian transportation by reducing frictions to travel and trade. It has clear military applications. AJ points to survivable airborne ISR for the first use-case as the military environment shifts from permissive to denied. Even Iran knocked out an MQ-4C Triton back in 2019. A hypersonic reusable aircraft would be hard to see coming, and even harder to knock out. All of North Korea could be imaged in 30 minutes, for example. Since the 1970s, however, the US Air Force has focused almost entirely on stealth (low radar cross section) as the primary means of survivability. Speed, altitude, and maneuverability are other knobs that can be turned in that equation. These knobs become more important as radar catches up to stealth. The Air Force is hedging their bets. Hermeus was awarded the largest STRATFI award yet, with $30 million coming from the Air Force including $15 million from PEO executive airlift, and a matched $30 million from private sources. In the episode, AJ talks about what his company had to do to win the contract and provides advice for other companies trying to transition into defense programs. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at https://AcquisitionTalk.com

Eric Lofgren and Mike Benitez from The Merge newsletter chat about the week's newsworthy headlines the world of military acquisition. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com. Sign up for the Merge newsletter at https://themerge.co

Eric Lofgren and Matt MacGregor chat about the week's newsworthy headlines the world of military acquisition. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com.

I was pleased to have Phil Jasper, Mission Systems President at Collins Aerospace, join me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss commercial item acquisition. In the early 1990s, there was a recognition that DoD needed to streamline its business processes in order to attract commercial companies. The Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 led to FAR Part 12 procedures, which exempted items determined to be commercial from various regulations such as certified cost or pricing data, cost accounting standards, and business system administration. The past several NDAAs strengthened the preference and opportunities for commercial, including the creation of the DCMA commercial items group (FY13 Sec. 831), treatment of nontraditional contractors as commercial (FY16 Sec. 857), and reduced contract clauses and flowdowns (FY17 Sec. 874). Jasper argues that commercial procedures have important benefits to DoD. First, it allows companies to bring their internal R&D for commercial customers to bear, including open systems architectures. A common avionics system, for example, was tailored for UH-60 and CH-47 helicopters saving the government over $160 million. Moreover it was delivered in just 13 months compared to a normal defense cycle time of three years or more. Similar examples in the aircraft world are found in fuel systems, heads up displays, fire protection systems, and landing gears. These commercial items have lasting benefits in terms of continued private investment throughout the lifecycle that generate capability enhancements. This helps offload obsolescence management from the government and allows it to be handled by industry. Jasper argues that commercial procedures have important benefits to DoD. First, it allows companies to bring their internal R&D for commercial customers to bear, including open systems architectures. A common avionics system, for example, was tailored for UH-60 and CH-47 helicopters saving the government over $160 million. Moreover it was delivered in just 13 months compared to a normal defense cycle time of three years or more. Similar examples in the aircraft world are found in fuel systems, heads up displays, fire protection systems, and landing gears. These commercial items have lasting benefits in terms of continued private investment that generate capability enhancements throughout the lifecycle. This helps offload obsolescence management from the government and allows military systems to be upgraded on much faster cycle times. Despite these challenges, Jasper is hopeful about continued progress in commercial item adoption. "Frankly, at the end of the day, that's what this is all about -- industry and government are aligned in common purpose and that is to get the best technology to the warfighters as fast as possible at the most affordable price and best value for the taxpayer." Amen to that. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. 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. 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. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com.

With inflation on the rise and many predicting future Pentagon budgets will be flat, it becomes even more important to get the most out of every single taxpayer dollar. Today, there are legal, cultural, and procedural barriers that frustrate those efforts resulting in waste and poor decision-making. One such obstacle is the phenomena of “use it or lose it,” where every year the Pentagon loses buying power due to expiring funds. Join the discussion with our expert panelists who will provide perspectives on both the “use it or lose it” phenomenon and the broader efforts taking place with defense budget reform efforts. This podcast was reproduced from a Heritage Foundation event by Eric Lofgren. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com.

Eric Lofgren, Matt MacGregor, and Mike Benitez from The Merge newsletter chat about the week's newsworthy headlines the world of military acquisition. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com.