* Did the White House lobby military officials to downplay concerns that the broadband satellite firm Lightsquared, owned by a major campaign donor, would disrupt GPS signals within its coverage? See Daily Beast article, House Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing video embedded at the bottom of this entry.
* Michael Gilmore, Director of DoD’s Operation Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) published his latest presentation [PDF] on the key issues with program delays and reliability growth. His conclusions: testing by itself doesn’t cause program delays, has low relative costs (in most cases 1.5% or less of total costs), and though planning to increase reliability has improved in recent years, this has not translated yet into increased reliability.
* Latest DFARS change: case 2011-D010 asks contracting officers to give particular consideration to the use of fixed-price incentive (firm target) contracts (FPIF), especially for acquisitions moving from development to production. Particular attention should be paid to share lines and ceiling prices for fixed-price incentive (firm target) contracts, with a 120 percent ceiling and a 50/50 share ratio as the point of departure for establishing the incentive arrangement. This implements and clarifies language from a November 3rd, 2010 AT&L memo on affordability [PDF]. The Federal Register PDF shows that one respondent, in comments sent to DoD, was not convinced by what might be translated as a mandatory requirement, rather than a preference. That respondent cited the Institute for Defense Analyses which in 2009 stated [PDF] that “changes in fee for performance risk, contract risk, and cost efficiency do not directly influence firms’ management of performance, schedule, and cost.”
* Stealth jets aren’t simple. For the F-35, BAE has installed a StarragHeckert machine that can make 3m long titanium components with tolerances to “a third the thickness of a human hair.” Based on common use, that means about 30-35 microns of variance allowed – about the diameter of a mold spore.
* AmSafe MoU with Singapore Technologies Kinetics will market its Tarian fabric rocket-protection system on ST Kinetics’ vehicles, and in “areas where it has a strong presence.” Those vehicles include the British Army’s “Warthog” all-terrain APCs.
* The Financial Times says ManTech and CACI International are among the victims of cyber-espionage attempts by the Chinese.
* On September 15 Congressional Steel Caucus Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA), Vice Chairman Pete Visclosky (D-IN), and 31 cosigners sent a letter to urge SecDef Leon Panetta to stop using armor steel plates melted in other countries in military vehicles.
* Among the House Armed Services Committee hearings coming up this week: defense industry business challenges, future of special operations forces, DOD’s efforts to improve payment and funds control.
* BRAC complete at Aberdeen Proving Ground.