Pentagon Programs Plagued by ‘Over-Optimism’
The Pentagon must sometimes cancel defense programs because of cost
overruns and schedule slips. However, the real problem often is
not the performance of the program, but rather “over-optimistic”
expectations, said the Defense Department’s acquisition chief.
“We need to do something to address that problem,”
said Edward ‘Pete’ Aldridge, undersecretary of defense
for acquisition, technology and logistics.
During a news conference, Aldridge noted that the December cancellation
of the Navy’s area-wide missile defense program provided some
“lessons learned” on how to prevent future projects
from falling victim to “over-optimism.”
“I have personally taken on an objective for AT&L [acquisition,
technology and logistics] to do some things that take away some
of this over-optimism early in the program,” Aldridge said.
“I believe all of these programs, and there’s many of
them, are in trouble because of optimism about how fast, what the
scheduled cost performance was going to be.”
One way to address this problem is to introduce “spiral development
in the program,” he said. “Don’t go for the 100
percent solution—right out of the gate. ... Eighty percent
is good enough, and we’ll evolve it with time.” An evolutionary
acquisition approach helps to set realistic goals and not raise
expectations too high, he added. “It is less risk, in terms
of technical risks, cost risks, scheduled risks.”
It is also important to “properly price” defense projects,
Aldridge said.
“I think that’s a cost-savings measure, because we
are always under-running programs and ... we slip,” he noted.
“Every dollar we take out of a program early, we put back
$3 to $5 later. So if we can properly price it so we don’t
have to slip it, then I think we actually can save money.”
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Army, Air Force to Reorganize Headquarters
The Army acquisition process will undergo significant changes as
a result of the service’s restructuring plan. The Army Acquisition
Executive will have authority over all program managers and acquisition
functions currently under the Army Materiel Command. Changes also
are expected in the program executive office (PEO) structure. During
a December news conference, Army Secretary Thomas White said that
a new contracting agency would be created to coordinate Army contracts
and supervise regional contracting offices.
White’s plan also will overhaul the requirements process.
The deputy chief of staff for operations and plans, the G-3, will
assume responsibilities for requirements, a function currently performed
by the head of the Training and Doctrine Command.
White said that TRADOC typically sets requirement in a “fiscally
unconstrained” environment, which is not realistic. In the
future, he said, “We will have—from day one—consideration
of the financial impact of requirements right alongside with the
operational concerns that generate requirements.”
Additionally, White announced the creation of an executive office
of the Army headquarters, which will merge the Army secretariat
and the chief of staff. The headquarters will include the Army secretary,
undersecretary, chief of staff and vice chief of staff.
“We’ve got to have one Army headquarters,” White
said. “We’ve got to free up people from the headquarters
and push them—and associated money—out to the war fighters.”
The organization proposed by White should not require legislative
changes, he said. The plan “appropriately restricts the Army
secretariat to the business of policy.” The restructured headquarters
“is analogous in a corporation to the office of the chairman,”
he said. “We are establishing a very strong director of the
Army staff here who will coordinate all the activities in the department,
not only for the Army staff, but for the secretary as well,”
White said. “It unifies and streamlines decision making.”
The Air Force, meanwhile, also plans to realign staff and headquarters,
so more attention can be devoted to the business of space and the
need to integrate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
operations, said Air Force Secretary James Roche, who briefed reporters
along with White.
The Air Force will have a new deputy chief of staff for warfare
integration, which will focus on integrating ISR and command and
control (C2) capabilities. “We wanted to have one place to
try and integrate [ISR] so when we build new systems and design
new systems, they fit a common architecture,” said Roche.
“We’re trying to have a sense of what we want. ... We
don’t need every system to do everything.”
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Adm. Clark: More ‘Simulation Breakthroughs’ Needed
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vernon Clark said that improvements
are needed in digital simulations that can help aviators and ground
controllers train for close-air support missions.
“I believe that there are areas that we can do as well with
simulation,” Clark told the Defense Writers Group, in Washington,
D.C. “But I do believe that there are other areas that we
have yet to see simulation breakthroughs that take the place of
live fire.”
The current best example, he said, “is joint and combined
armed operations that involve close air support over troops that
are in the field with airplanes operating in direct support.”
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Rumsfeld: What Transformation Means
Asked how his transformation initiatives are playing out in the
war in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he thought
that was a “fascinating question.”
The issue of transformation, he said, is more than just about new
weapons or technologies. It’s about a new way of confronting
and defeating unconventional enemies, such as the Al Qaeda network.
“One of the things that I think is taking place is that we
are beginning to understand better that, if you’re not after
an army or a navy or an air force, [you have to bring] all elements
of national capability and world capability ... the economic and
the financial and the law enforcement and the intelligence gathering,
as well as overt activities, as well as covert activities.”
The combination of all those capabilities, he added, is what “makes
life difficult” for the enemy.
In terms of weapon systems that are emerging as “transformational,”
because of their role in the war, Rumsfeld cited unmanned aerial
vehicles and their ability to collect intelligence and transmit
targeting information to combat aircraft.
Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
said that UAVs have provided “persistence over the battlefield.”
It’s so unlike Vietnam, he said, “where you took snapshots
of the battlefield, and you may do it at 10 in the morning, then
you take another snapshot at 2 in the afternoon, and at 4.
“You need persistence with all of our intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance assets,” said Myers.
— • — • —
DD-21’s Demise Attributed to Program Risk
The Navy had to kill the DD-21 surface combatant program, because
it had too much risk, said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vernon
Clark. “The main issue with DD-21 was that there was so much
new in that program ... So there was inherent risk in that approach,”
he told reporters. The other problem with DD-21 was that “it
spoke to specifically one ship only.
“It became very clear to me that our needs were greater than
one ship and that we needed a way to deal with what was perceived
by some in the decision-making loop to be a very healthy amount
of risk.” A replacement program, called DD-X, will not only
seek a destroyer, but also an air-defense cruiser, and a littoral
combatant ship that can perform mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare
and other kinds of near-land threats, Clark said. The DD-X should
spawn a “family of ships for the next 30 or 40 years in the
United States Navy.”
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New Hampshire Senator Kills Gun “Demil” Provisions
Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., declared victory in his efforts to delete
the anti-gun “demilitarization” provisions from the
Senate version of this year’s Defense Department authorization
bill. The provisions, he said, would have allowed the government
to seize all military firearms in private hands.
The “demil” provision was originally contained in both
the House and Senate versions of the defense bill, but was taken
out of the House bill early in the legislative process, as a result
of intense opposition by lobbying groups.
— • — • —
USO Entertains Troops on U.S. Soil
For the first time in recent history, large numbers of U.S. active
and reserve troops have been deployed to carry out operations in
the Washington, D.C. area.
As a result, the United Service Organizations (USO) last November
kicked off its first-ever celebrity entertainment tour in the continental
United States, including the nation’s capital.
USO is a 501c(3) charity organization that is chartered by Congress.
According to Elaine Rogers, president of USO Metropolitan Washington,
this past year has been particularly active. “Within an hour
of the terrorist attack upon the Pentagon, USO-Metro was providing
support services to military members,” she said. “USO-Metro
also realized that there would be a tremendous need for emergency
housing for the extended families of those military members directly
impacted by the incident. We immediately began the process of expanding
our emergency housing program to support those families. USO-Metro
provided over 2,100 hotel rooms free of charge to those in need.”
In recent months, the pop band “Hootie and the Blowfish”
performed in the first of two planned tours put on by the Washington
and Philadelphia chapters of USO. The tour stopped at three locations:
McGuire Air Force Base, N.J.; Fort Myer, Va., and the Quantico Marine
Corps Base, also in Virginia.
“Hootie and the Blowfish” participated in the tour
with corporate sponsorship by Lockheed Martin Corp.