[NDIA Logistics Forum] Program Commonalities Good; Long Term Contracts Hard to Pull Off Domestically

Not the British soccer player

Ed. note: This entry is part of DID’s coverage of the NDIA’s National Logistics Forum 2013.

In his keynote, Dale Bennett, EVP of Mission Systems and Training at Lockheed Martin, listed a few things DoD and industry can do to get better results despite increased funding constraints.

First, Bennett thinks that sharing technologies across programs can not only improve interoperability, but also reduce sustainment costs, presumably thanks to shared spare parts and better familiarity (because of repeat exposure) from the people doing the maintenance. AEGIS and its various spin-offs (e.g. AEGIS Ashore) is the program that he used to illustrate this trend.

[NDIA] US Defense Logistics Undersecretary Can’t Fake Enthusiasm

bienvenido en Miami, VA

Ed. note: This entry is part of DID’s coverage of the NDIA’s National Logistics Forum 2013.

Lou Kratz, Chairman of NDIA Logistics Management Division and a Vice President of Logistics and Sustainment at Lockheed Martin, introduced the event with an assertive view of American overwhelming force and power projection, facing an immediate insidious threat (i.e. terrorists and insurgents) with a peer competitor (the official euphemism for China) rising over the long run. The rest of the morning unfolded with more reserved speakers who tried, but not always succeeded, in convincing industry attendants that there’s light at the end of the tunnel in a context of not just declining, but more importantly messed up budgets.

Rapid Fire, June 13, 2013: Transitions

• The Pentagon sends out a memo [PDF] reminding DoD employees and DoD contractors that they’re not to look at any still-classified documents, even if they’re posted in the public domain, broadcast widely by media sources, and made available to the rest of the world. Wouldn’t want anyone knowing what all our friends and enemies already know, so we could plan appropriately. Of course, if you looked at home, or ordered the wrong books online, we can always have the NSA dredge up your private information and tell us, if we ever decide later that we want to punish you for something else. Uvidimsia!