Roper Targets Commercial AI, Data Analytics For Next ABMS Deals

Roper Targets Commercial AI, Data Analytics For Next ABMS Deals
Roper Targets Commercial AI, Data Analytics For Next ABMS Deals

“If the Joint Force can just get a taste of what this will be like on the battlefield, it will be the most addictive drug that has ever been made for warfare,” Will Roper said of the Advanced Battle Management System.

50 Vendors Vie For Air Force Flying Car

50 Vendors Vie For Air Force Flying Car
50 Vendors Vie For Air Force Flying Car

The “Agility Prime” event next week will kick off with speeches by Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, and Air Force acquisition head Will Roper.  

‘Sizable Dollars’ For ABMS Likely in 2021 Request: Roper

‘Sizable Dollars’ For ABMS Likely in 2021 Request: Roper
‘Sizable Dollars’ For ABMS Likely in 2021 Request: Roper

Roper says he hopes Congress “will smile on the Air Force for breaking out of ‘Platform Land’ and actually putting money towards digital transformation.”

Air Force Boosts Funding Cap for Promising Startups

Air Force Boosts Funding Cap for Promising Startups
Air Force Boosts Funding Cap for Promising Startups

The goal of the matching fund is to support tech startup firms to bridge the ‘valley of death’ and rapidly scale up capability.

Congress Gives Trump Rump Space Force

Congress Gives Trump Rump Space Force
Congress Gives Trump Rump Space Force

“Given the DoD’s poor job of presenting how we would move people and what criteria would be used, the congressional pushback is expected,” says one Space Force proponent.

SDA’s Kennedy: Cislunar Space The Next Military Frontier

SDA’s Kennedy: Cislunar Space The Next Military Frontier
SDA’s Kennedy: Cislunar Space The Next Military Frontier

As commercial activities such as mining expand from Earth to the Moon, there will be “a need for the equivalent to a Navy or Air Force” to protect that region of space, says SDA chief Fred Kennedy.

Pentagon Commercial Space Choices Widen As Space Unicorns Blossom

Pentagon Commercial Space Choices Widen As Space Unicorns Blossom
Pentagon Commercial Space Choices Widen As Space Unicorns Blossom

Venture capital funds are pouring money into space start-ups — including a number of firms being eyed by DoD –with investment in 2018 hitting a record high of $3.2 billion.

Big Hypersonic News Coming; Faster Progress Likely: Roper

Big Hypersonic News Coming; Faster Progress Likely: Roper
Big Hypersonic News Coming; Faster Progress Likely: Roper

We can expect an important announcement in a few weeks that “a significant acceleration is doable” of the Air Force’s hypersonic efforts. Roper said he’d completed a review of all the service’s work on hypersonic, one of the Pentagon’s top priorities.

Light Attack Competition: Air Force, McCain Tout Acquisition Experiment

Light Attack Competition: Air Force, McCain Tout Acquisition Experiment
Light Attack Competition: Air Force, McCain Tout Acquisition Experiment

CORRECTED: TACO GILBERT’S AFFILIATION HOLLOMAN AFB: It may be hard to believe but the future of the Air Force may depend on three turboprop planes and a $20 million spec-built attack jet. They are the entries in what the service calls the Light Attack Experiment, a back-to-the-future attempt to rekindle the sort of innovation and…

OCX Gets Good News, Right After Nunn-McCurdy

OCX Gets Good News, Right After Nunn-McCurdy
OCX Gets Good News, Right After Nunn-McCurdy

LONDON: The most troubled program in the Air Force, the highly-secure set of GPS satellite ground stations known as OCX, underwent yet another quarterly review last Thursday and was found to have “made progress.” The Air Force statement says that Acquisition Undersecretary Frank Kendall and Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, “with support of Lt. Gen.…

RAND Finds Little Hope Fixed Price Deals Control Costs

RAND Finds Little Hope Fixed Price Deals Control Costs
RAND Finds Little Hope Fixed Price Deals Control Costs

The Program Executive Officer for the KC-46, Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson, made a rare public appearance today at the Air Force Association to discuss his program, which has been hammered by schedule programs and cost growth. Fortunately, none of this costs the taxpayer a dime because it’s a fixed price contract. But the problems have cost Boeing at…

Air Force Targets Schedule Growth: SecAF

Air Force Targets Schedule Growth: SecAF
Air Force Targets Schedule Growth: SecAF

AFA CONFERENCE: After three years of bringing acquisition costs down but seeing schedule breaches grow and grow without any end in sight, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced today in her keynote speech at the premier US aerospace conference that schedule is now in the service’s sights. “Unfortunately, today it takes too long today…

Pawlikowski On Air Force Offset Strategy: F-35s Flying Drone Fleets

Pawlikowski On Air Force Offset Strategy: F-35s Flying Drone Fleets
Pawlikowski On Air Force Offset Strategy: F-35s Flying Drone Fleets

PENTAGON: Ellen Pawlikowski helps decide what weapons the Air Force buys and manages the buying process, so when the lieutenant general says she likes autonomy and 3-D printing as the most promising capabilities for her service to develop as part of the new offset strategy, it’s worth listening. “This is Ellen Pawlikowski speaking,” she says in…