Air Force Playing Hardball With Space Industry

National Defense Magazine ^ | 2/29/2012 | National Defense Magazine

[U-238]

Over the past decade, the Air Force has poured more than $80 billion into space technologies, including new satellites, launch services and information systems.

The plan for the coming years is to spend considerably less as pressure grows to reduce the U.S. defense budget. The Air Force still intends to modernize key satellite constellations and provide space-based communications and surveillance services for the military and intelligence community. But program costs are going to be scrutinized at an unprecedented level of detail, Air Force officials said.

Every major space program is now the subject of “should-cost” reviews, which is the Pentagon’s new catchphrase for how it will fight contractors over every expense that is being charged to the government.

Ongoing reviews of space systems include the Air Force’s top space contractors Lockheed Martin Corp., The Boeing Co., and the United Launch Alliance — a joint venture that is owned by both firms. The largest programs that are targeted for cost reductions are the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles, the Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications spacecraft and the Space Based Infrared surveillance satellites.

In the EELV program, for which the Air Force has requested $1.6 billion in 2013, the goal is not to buy any new hardware but to secure launch services. The AEFH and SBIRS constellations have been in development for more than a decade, and have been periodically on the verge of being terminated because of cost overruns. But they have survived and are now entering production. Air Force procurement managers are digging deep into the programs' vaults in search of bloated expenses that could be eliminated.

[JRandomFreeper]

Ask R. E. Lee or Xerxes what happens when you lose the high ground.

I'm a former zoomie, but the AF really, really needs to not screw this pooch.

I'm all for acquisition reform. But don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

/johnny

[U-238]

I agree.

[JRandomFreeper]

Fly then fix worked well enough in WWII. The concept of fix then fly costs a heck of a lot more.

Good thing for the status quo that I was just a TSgt, and not a Chief of Staff. ;)

/johnny

[U-238]

Technical Sergeants is the most difficult promotion most career Air Force members achieve.It takes something from 10-12 years to reach

[G Larry]

The DOD Acquisition community is entirely incapable of preparing a “should cost” estimate, because none in there ranks can write down what they “should want”.
They write “requirements” that range from too general to over prescriptive.
Then they want state of the art, development technology, at a “fixed price”.

There is a better way to go about this, but the acquisition rules don’t allow for best value to prevail.
Did I mention that within DOD, the acquisition arena is the Purgatory of one’s career. You get through it, you don’t specialize in it! Certainly not in the technical skill sets.

[JRandomFreeper]

Compare and contrast to WWII. The Mustang sucked until the Brits put a Merlin in it. And then later the cockpit was changed.

Fly, then fix. Much cheaper.

/johnny

[RitchieAprile]

p51 is a bus compared to an f22.

its not banging aluminium togther anymore. it took years to learn how to work with the various engineered materials
and how to assure quality in those huge center fuselage
structures which if not cured along a specific temp/pressure
curve will fail QC. the planes fly at the edge of stability
with huge loadings. also all that software needs constant ginning up to meet new threat profiles. they are hugely labor and capital intensive for a reason.

[JRandomFreeper]

Neither was the A-12 banging aluminum together. A-12 (SR-71) still holds records. And it was fly then fix.

Find another Kelly Johnson and get out of the way.

There are better models for buying stuff to kill people.

/johnny

[G Larry]

“Fly, then fix. Much cheaper.”

uh...not if you’re a spacecraft....

[JRandomFreeper]

not if you’re a spacecraft....

It seems to be working for SpaceX and the Dragon Spacecraft.

/johnny

[octex]

The DOD Acquisition community is entirely incapable of preparing a “should cost” estimate, because none in there ranks can write down what they “should want”.
They write “requirements” that range from too general to over prescriptive.
******************
Right. I was a professional in the Quality discipline and worked for a DoD prime contractor. The Army agreed to pay the company for a should-cost team to analyze the bid by one of our major subcontractors.

The team began with about 30 people but was whittled down to only about a dozen of us after the first month. We traveled from TX to CA every Sunday afternoon and flew back to TX every Friday night, from May until early October, with only about three weeks when we did not travel.

There were a couple of Army officers that we frequently briefed at the facility in CA, but they did basically nothing except apply pressure when the subcontractor was refusing to provide information to our requests.

I was able to disallow about 30% of the bid for Quality efforts and other team members also were able to disallow portions of the bid that fell within their disciplines.

The effort saved my company money and saved the Army money, in spite of what it must have cost for support for the team for five months.

[driftdiver]

Air Force acquisitions is royally screwed up. They could save a lot by firing the lot and starting over.

[G Larry]

Its a pickup truck, not an intel asset.

And I’m not sure it quite fits your model.

[CodeToad]

Considering that the AF has spent billions upon billions on space programs and not gotten what they paid for, the AF leaders should all be canned, maybe even prosecuted.