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SECDEF
Pentagon
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Defense
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 3
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Why is it billionaires develop technology to take people into space but we can’t create hypersonic missiles? Perhaps NASA can help.
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Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth
Well. it is more than that...these billionaires are spending their own money for space trips etc. When you spend Government money it has to be captured in the POM...once that is done RFI's and RFQ's have to be let, then a contractor has to be selected through competition and because of government regulations that have been in place for decades the contract must be *A set aside, small business, or minority owned business first then major businesses can compete. Then they have to hire certain people and meet certain legislative quotas and then when developed it has to meet mil specs and that is another cost and timeline through Research and development...The govt has too much damn red tape when it comes to Acquisitions...I should know, I was a Acquisitions officer that beat his head about the walls numerous times over the years. I have only seen a couple of streamlined acquisitions in my time and all of them were derived from existing sources.
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"Amid several high-profile test failures that have slowed hypersonic weapon development, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has summoned the CEOs of nearly a dozen of America’s largest defense companies for a high-profile meeting next week, Defense One has learned.
The purpose of the Feb. 3 meeting is to stress the urgency in fielding the fast-flying weapons as the U.S. plays catch-up to recent Chinese and Russian advances, according to five people with knowledge of the meeting. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Pentagon has not publicly announced it.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks will chair the virtual meeting; Heidi Shyu, a defense undersecretary who oversees all hypersonic weapons development, is also expected to attend.
“This meeting is part of [Hicks’] regular, drumbeat engagements with industry in key areas of innovation and modernization to strengthen relationships and discuss ways to accelerate the development of cutting-edge capabilities and new operational concepts,” Eric Pahon, a Defense Department spokesman, said in an emailed statement. “The topics will range from systems engineering concepts to the manufacturing workforce.”
Three people familiar with the meeting described it as a chance for Austin to stress the need for companies to step up their work and move faster. Pahon said Austin is scheduled to deliver “brief framing remarks.”
Defense secretaries rarely meet with groups of CEOs, especially about niche topics.
Fielding hypersonic weapons—difficult-to-intercept missiles that can maneuver at ICBM-like speeds—has been a top priority for Pentagon officials in recent years. China and Russia “have a number of hypersonic weapons programs and have likely fielded operational hypersonic glide vehicles—potentially armed with nuclear warheads,” Congressional Research Service analyst Kelley Sayler wrote in an October report.
“Most U.S. hypersonic weapons, in contrast to those in Russia and China, are not being designed for use with a nuclear warhead,” Sayler wrote. “As a result, U.S. hypersonic weapons will likely require greater accuracy and will be more technically challenging to develop than nuclear-armed Chinese and Russian systems.”
North Korea earlier this month tested what it claimed were hypersonic missiles."...
The purpose of the Feb. 3 meeting is to stress the urgency in fielding the fast-flying weapons as the U.S. plays catch-up to recent Chinese and Russian advances, according to five people with knowledge of the meeting. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Pentagon has not publicly announced it.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks will chair the virtual meeting; Heidi Shyu, a defense undersecretary who oversees all hypersonic weapons development, is also expected to attend.
“This meeting is part of [Hicks’] regular, drumbeat engagements with industry in key areas of innovation and modernization to strengthen relationships and discuss ways to accelerate the development of cutting-edge capabilities and new operational concepts,” Eric Pahon, a Defense Department spokesman, said in an emailed statement. “The topics will range from systems engineering concepts to the manufacturing workforce.”
Three people familiar with the meeting described it as a chance for Austin to stress the need for companies to step up their work and move faster. Pahon said Austin is scheduled to deliver “brief framing remarks.”
Defense secretaries rarely meet with groups of CEOs, especially about niche topics.
Fielding hypersonic weapons—difficult-to-intercept missiles that can maneuver at ICBM-like speeds—has been a top priority for Pentagon officials in recent years. China and Russia “have a number of hypersonic weapons programs and have likely fielded operational hypersonic glide vehicles—potentially armed with nuclear warheads,” Congressional Research Service analyst Kelley Sayler wrote in an October report.
“Most U.S. hypersonic weapons, in contrast to those in Russia and China, are not being designed for use with a nuclear warhead,” Sayler wrote. “As a result, U.S. hypersonic weapons will likely require greater accuracy and will be more technically challenging to develop than nuclear-armed Chinese and Russian systems.”
North Korea earlier this month tested what it claimed were hypersonic missiles."...
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