Business

Biden Nominees Want to Shake Up Pentagon Weapons Buying Process

Shyu, Blume tell Congress they plan to bridge the “valley of death” between the development phase and becoming a program of record.

Ideas

The F-35’s Painful Lessons Must Inform Future Programs

Congress and the Pentagon must question dubious technical requirements, rosy buy-in costs, and optimistic schedule promises.

Science & Tech

CIA’s Last Classified Fax Machines Are About to Retire

A secure email system dubbed Gray Magic will replace the legendary analog technology.

Ideas

Shake Off the Pentagon's Industrial-Age Bureaucracy

Five disciplines and five initiatives can help the U.S. military better adapt to 21st-century threats.

Policy

Biden Taps Frank Kendall To Be Air Force Secretary

Former Pentagon acquisition chief has relevant experience defining threats and modernization needs, colleagues say.

Threats

DoD to Spend a Quarter-Billion Dollars Reorganizing Its Data for AI

JAIC leaders have called the lack of "data readiness" the biggest impediment to fielding artificial-intelligence tools.

Ideas

What Is DevSecOps, Anyway?

How one company used it to accelerate improvements to an Air Force cyber defense program.

Policy

Should the Pentagon Reform Its Bid-Protest Rules?

Microsoft's president told senators yes, but bid protests hit a 10-year low last year.

Ideas

Want to Shed Older Weapons? You Need a Solid Plan

To overcome Congressional resistance, the Pentagon needs to work with combatant commanders and industry to ensure that new systems will be ready to take the place of existing ones.

Ideas

The Pentagon Needs Budget Agility to Compete with China

It can take two or more years to shift funding from a failing program. That’s more than a money problem.

Ideas

How to Reconnect the Pentagon’s Strategy to its Budget

Biden will have little time and likely less money to enact his policies. He needs to tie strategy more closely to funding.

Business

Air Force Hunts for Ways to Use Not-Quite-Ready Tankers

We’re “making lemonade out of lemons,” Air Mobility Command says.

Policy

Roper Makes His Pitch To Biden Team: ‘I Want to Be Part of the China fight’

The Air Force acquisition chief says he keeps politics out of his work at the Pentagon — and that the U.S. will lose against China without agility.

Breaking News Business

Lockheed Martin Executive in Charge of F-35, F-22, Skunk Works Dies

Michele Evans, who was executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, had taken two medical leaves since 2019.

Science & Tech

Combat Simulators Should Also Improve Acquisition, DOD Leader Says

The modeling and simulation tools that train troops and forces should also “revolutionize” design, acquisition, sustainment and test.