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Defense Industrialist

May 25, 2016

ACV 1.1

By James Hasik

Like Lockheed’s past efforts, SAIC’s foray into ground vehicles may herald wider competition for defense contracts.  Having just finished a 300-page dissertation on the MRAP program, I have had some time (years, really) to think about the armored vehicle industry across the world. Back in November, BAE Systems and SAIC were selected by the US Marine […]

Defense Industry Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

May 18, 2016

Don’t learn the wrong lessons about LCS

By James Hasik

Military modularity done right is too valuable to forgo. Last week was Nordic Week in Washington DC, with a combined state visit by leaders from Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark. This week was Sea-Air-Space, the annual confabulation of the Navy League at National Harbor, Maryland. So there’s no better time to discuss the Royal […]

Defense Industry NATO

Defense Industrialist

May 16, 2016

Can’t the Air Force be trusted to buy a few helicopters?

By James Hasik

Decisions about competition for the LRV and UH-1N show why McCain’s initiative against USD AT&L really matters. Senator John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants to blow up the Pentagon’s Under Secretariat for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD AT&L). More specifically, his committee’s writing of the National Defense Authorization Act of […]

Defense Industry Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

May 13, 2016

Gunships for all our Marines

By James Hasik

The plan to backfill the fighter jet shortfall may remake the Corps. Without rehashing the many-years delay in the Joint Strike Fighter project, we can at least acknowledge that the schedule has led to a force structure problem for the USAF. The RCAF may have a similar problem after 2025, as a succession of governments, both […]

Defense Industrialist

May 6, 2016

Australia’s big bet on submarines

By James Hasik

What might the RAN know that other navies don’t? The Australian submarine deal is old news at this point. As announced last week, DCNS of France will work with ASC (originally Australian Submarine Corporation) over the next three years to design a new class of submarines to replace the existing six Collins-class boats, built by […]

Australia Defense Industry

Defense Industrialist

Apr 29, 2016

Not the school solution. Not even close.

By James Hasik

Using the LPTA criterion for the ENCORE III award is very bad idea. Last Friday, the Professional Services Council (PSC) and the IT Alliance for the Public Sector (ITAPS) sent a letter to Defense Under Secretary Frank Kendall about a seemingly innocuous contracting matter. The two trade associations criticized the decision back in March by the […]

Defense Industry Defense Technologies

Defense Industrialist

Apr 25, 2016

Next time, R&D against O&M

By James Hasik

Buying new F-22s would be a very bad idea indeed. Almost every defense-industrial publication this month has covered the language in the House version of the 2017 National Defense Authorization bill which directs the Pentagon “to conduct a comprehensive assessment and study of the costs associated with resuming production of F-22 aircraft.” We could take […]

Captains of Industry Series

Apr 21, 2016

Should Silicon Valley take the Pentagon seriously?

By James Hasik

Culture still trumps law in the quest for military innovation. On Tuesday evening, as part of the Council’s Captains of Industry series, our Lund Fellow Steve Grundman hosted a panel discussion amongst the CEOs of three Californian startup firms. Mylea Charvat’s Savonix is building a “mobile, clinically valid, reliable, neuro-cognitive assessment and brain health platform.” John De Santis’s […]

Defense Industry Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Apr 13, 2016

Like Predator, like Sea Hunter

By James Hasik

DARPA’s new robotic frigate might seriously change naval warfare. The prototype boat in DARPA’s ASW Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program, the Sea Hunter, is beginning sea trials. Sailing last week from Portland to San Diego, she’ll undergo two years of testing to determine whether an unmanned ship under “sparse human control” can trail Iranian, […]

Defense Industry Drones

Defense Industrialist

Apr 8, 2016

The Long Bottom of US Defense Spending

By Steven Grundman

Why Defense Bulls May Be Disappointed Signs of spring abound. The forsythia is in bloom. The crack of opening day resounds. And the DoD Comptroller’s “Green Book” issues forth. The National Defense Budget Estimates for FY 2017, or Green Book, so-called by its seasonally-toned cover, is a 300-page volume of dense tables expressing to the […]

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