“Our aim is not merely to maintain America's edge, but to sharpen it and lay the foundation for continued U.S. leadership in critical technologies and capabilities that will define the battlespace of the future,” Pentagon acquisition executive Bill LaPlante wrote in a foreword to the new National Defense Industrial Strategy Implementation Plan.
The new Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience will “work through common acquisition and sustainment issues, whether it’s co-development, co-production [or] co-sustainment,” said Pentagon acquisition czar Bill LaPlante.
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
Vipin Narang, who was tapped as acting assistant secretary following Plumb's departure, is due to exit back to MIT within a few months; Travis Langster, who has been shepherding the transition of DoD's commercial space monitoring mission to the Commerce Department, has joined DoD's acquisition office.
The Air Force revealed today that it has embarked on a restructuring of the troubled but critical long-range missile program, which is now expected to cost 81 percent more than initially estimated.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., says defense primes need more clarity about what happens to their programs if Boeing buys Spirit.
The "Milestone C" decision is a crucial moment signifying the department's confidence in the performance of the F-35 and maturity of Lockheed Martin's production system, though the plane has been in service for years.
Breaking Defense Europe will launch May 4 with Tim Martin and Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo as co-editors.
“This is just crazy,” agreed Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante.
The Air Force recently confirmed the secretive plane was continuing flight testing out of Edwards Air Force Base.
“Logistics really matters, sustaining really matters and we are doing that right now with Ukrainians and learning a lot because it’s interesting what you have to do when you can’t send your own US citizens into the country to keep the equipment going,” William LaPlante said.
Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer, noted that China doesn't have to deal with this kind of budget chaos. “We can teach them how to do that. That would be helpful,” he said.
Do more with less: streamline workflows, reduce duplication, invest upfront to save long-term.
“To stay ahead of our competitors, the Department of Defense needs access to the commercial supply chain of microelectronics," William LaPlante, USD A&S, said. "It is absolutely essential, but it comes with inherent risks. The independent panel review is helping us better understand the risk-based approach we need to take."
"Industry has told us that they they think they can go faster, and we're hopeful that we can accelerate the program," said Laura DeSimone, Missile Defense Agency executive director.
With the war in Ukraine raging, missile and other munition production seems like a sure bet. But the Pentagon knows industry is wary of getting burned should attitudes change and is trying to offer novel reassurances.
"We're not fighting [in] Ukraine with Silicon Valley right now, even though they're going to try to take credit for it,” said Pentagon acquisition czar Bill LaPlante.