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Defense Industrialist

Mar 3, 2014

Replacing the M113 Shouldn’t be Hard, but Competitive Contracting is.

As GD and BAE square off for the AMPV, the US Army shouldn’t pick a winner before the envelopes are opened. With the cancellation of the Ground Combat Vehicle, the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) program is now the US Army’s top platform modernization priority. But money is still tight. In 2012 and 2013, I endorsed the idea that the […]

Defense Industrialist

Feb 27, 2014

Best-Value is a No-Brainer, Dual-Sourcing Not So Much.

By James Hasik

Jacques Gansler’s editorial in the NYT skirts the challenges of competing every contract Jacques Gansler’s editorial in yesterday’s New York Times appropriately laments the Pentagon’s drift away from real competition in contracting, and prescribes two sequential solutions: initial competition on price and quality, but subsequent re-competition on price. In supply chain management, the former is called best-value contracting, the latter dual-sourcing. Both […]

Defense Industrialist

Feb 26, 2014

Does the Defense Budget Ignore the Defense Industrial Base?

By James Hasik

Not hardly. Jet engines are just its most promising story Monday’s announcement of the 2015 US Defense Budget request made exactly one explicit mention of the defense industrial base. One billion dollars is to be invested, Secretary Hagel said, towards developing A promising next-generation jet engine technology, which we expect to produce sizable cost-savings through reduced fuel […]

Defense Industrialist

Feb 20, 2014

How the Saudi Sale will Sustain GDLS in North America

By James Hasik

$10 billion of Canadian armored vehicles should alleviate American concerns about the industrial base The huge news in the industry last week was huge contract that General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) Canada won in Saudi Arabia. Only governmental announcements and filings in Canada and the US have revealed the identity of that buyer, as the terms of […]

Defense Industrialist

Feb 13, 2014

Better Buying Power at Work: Technical Data for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle

By James Hasik

The economics of intellectual property rights reveals the managerial challenge of military procurement. In promulgating his ‘Better Buying Power’ (BBP) initiative back in September 2010, Ashton Carter directed the Pentagon’s program managers to routinely consider purchasing technical data packages (TDPs) and associated design licenses to new weapon systems. With TDPs in their possession, program managers hold the option for […]

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Defense Industrialist

Feb 7, 2014

RDT&E Must Remain Resilient to Austerity

By Kristin Oakley

No peace dividend for you: US military spending plans are sharply reducing RDT&E spending relative to procurement Austerity in defense spending may very well decrease military spending on research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E). As robust RDT&E spending has long been important to US military capabilities, we should think seriously before cutting these accounts.

Defense Industrialist

Feb 4, 2014

The Bilateral Logic of the Anglo-French Summit

By James Hasik

Why Brize Norton was more useful than any EU security meeting. At the end of the EU Security Summit in Brussels on 19 December, the European Council announced that it “welcomes the development of remotely piloted aircraft systems in the 2020–2025 timeframe”. If that seems not-too-ambitious, the Council also called for a number of studies, “capability development plans,” and […]

Defense Industrialist

Jan 29, 2014

Is Fixed-Price Foolish? Interpreting the A-12 Debacle

By James Hasik

Budget discipline can be imposed on contractors, but only intelligently.  Last Thursday, as has been widely reported, the US Court of Federal Claims finally dismissed the lawsuit filed 23 years ago this month over the A-12 debacle. For those who have forgotten, ‘joint prime contractors’ McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics were selected in January 1988 […]

Defense Industrialist

Jan 29, 2014

More Bases, Higher Pay, Old Airplanes—How Mandates Are Remaking Strategy

By James Hasik

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Todd Harrison and Mark Gunzinger of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments write of how the US military needs to close domestic bases, reform military compensation, and retire legacy weapons. They lament that the Congress will not permit a BRAC, will not stop increasing troops’ and retirees’ compensation, and will not […]

Defense Industrialist

Jan 27, 2014

Has Moore’s Law Run its Course? Implications for Military Technology

By James Hasik

Is Moore’s Law about to run its course? Whether or not the anticipated doubling of computing power every eighteen months finally comes to an end, the long-term consequences for military technology will be profound. And in the prediction business in the past two months, we have seen diametrically opposed views.

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