Dan Ward

 

Stories by Dan Ward

Sci-Fi Acquisition: The Wrath Of Mid-Tier Krog

Sci-Fi Acquisition: The Wrath Of Mid-Tier Krog
Sci-Fi Acquisition: The Wrath Of Mid-Tier Krog

 Want to know the next great ideas in acquisition? Ya gotta read Breaking Defense, baby. Between Bill Greenwalt’s seminal op-eds that led to Sen. John McCain’s groundbreaking acquisition laws, we’ve also hosted this author, Dan Ward, before. Dan is one of the most rara avis: a really smart acquisition expert who can also write in plain…

What the F-35 v F-16 Dogfight Really Means: Think Pilots

What the F-35 v F-16 Dogfight Really Means: Think Pilots
What the F-35 v F-16 Dogfight Really Means: Think Pilots

When the story broke about the Joint Strike Fighter’s shortcomings as a dogfighter, the reaction among JSF advocates was swift and predictable. Most objected that the F-35’s poor performance is perfectly acceptable and even expected because that jet was never supposed to do air-to-air combat anyway. That claim does not hold up well to scrutiny and…

JSF & The Path of DOOM

JSF & The Path of DOOM
JSF & The Path of DOOM

As commanders and contractors gather for the Air Force Association’s massive annual conference, our favorite iconoclastic officer, the White House-endorsed Lt. Col. Dan Ward, offers this merciless dissection of the Pentagon’s biggest program and how to avoid its mistakes. — the Editors In February of 2014, Lt. Gen. Charles Davis, the Air Force’s top uniformed acquisition official,…

Doing The Math: Saving A-10s By Cutting F-35s

Doing The Math: Saving A-10s By Cutting F-35s
Doing The Math: Saving A-10s By Cutting F-35s

In this article, one of the Air Force’s own, longtime Breaking Defense contributor Lt. Col. Dan Ward, runs the numbers on his service’s plan to scrap the beloved A-10 Warthog and – now that Congress has thoroughly rejected the idea – suggests an alternative: a modest trim to the massive F-35 program might just save…

Faster Better Cheaper: Lessons Defense Could Learn From NASA

Faster Better Cheaper: Lessons Defense Could Learn From NASA
Faster Better Cheaper: Lessons Defense Could Learn From NASA

As the Department of Defense continues to wrestle with the high costs and often slow pace of military technology and acquisition programs, it would do well to take a closer look at that other bastion of high-tech government programs: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA’s low-cost missions from yesteryear just might hold the secret…

Pentagon Issues Buying Rules For Zombie Apocalypse (Hint: Parody)

Everyone knows the global zombie apocalypse is coming soon. I’m here to tell you the military acquisition community needs to take it as seriously as the CDC does. If we’re going to survive the Day / Night / Return / Dawn / Shaun of the Living / Evil / Walking Dead, we’re gonna need some…

The Magnificent Seven Weapons: ‘Awesome On A Shoestring’

Everyone knows military technology projects take forever and cost billions to produce, right? Just look at the Air Force’s latest fighter jet, the F-22 Raptor. The Raptor’s initial requirement was written in 1981, with the objective of developing an air superiority fighter to counter the Soviet air threat. It was declared operational in December of…