Maintaining the Edge: How to Keep the U.S. Military Procurement System Strong

Military;Procurement;not listed

Carroll, Charles

Johns Hopkins University

关键词: Military;    Procurement;    not listed;   

Others  :  https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/60161/Charlie%20Carroll%20Thesis%20FINAL%20.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: JOHNS HOPKINS DSpace Repository

【 摘 要 】

Abstract:The United States is facing a fiscal crisis at the same time it is facing a military crisis. The United States military needs to continue investing in future technologies and capabilities while also adapting to multiple new challenges and threats. The competing spending between federal programs makes all of this more complicated and the federal budget needs to be invested across a spectrum of critical areas. While an increase in military spending is needed, the question of how to effectively spend U.S. resources to remain on the most powerful military in the world needs to be re-examined. This thesis seeks to look back at historical examples to help chart a path ahead. The Department of Defense will need to show Congress it is making every effort to invest and modernize in a fiscally responsible manner, but this is not beyond the capabilities of the Department. The United States rose to military power in an era of similar constraints, but the adaptability and ingenuity of the American worker, soldier, sailor, airman, and marine allowed the U.S. to excel with new technology. Prior to World War Two, the United States faced massive deficits, economic downturn, unemployment, and a public skeptical about United States power projection. Policy makers and the military navigated through this to create the most powerful fighting forces in the world and the ingenious PAC-10 carrier strike group doctrine, which transformed the face of naval warfare.Fast-forward into the future and the Department of Defense and the military branches have struggled in some cases to contain costs and provide the capability upgrades they seek for the warfighter. The Department focused very heavily on the ;;systems of systems’ concept in pursuit of a revolution in military affairs. The Joint Tactical Radio System, which is covered in part two of this study, is a perfect example of these phenomena. In the end, the program did not create the results or war fighter capability that the program set out to create. On top of this, it cost a significant amount of time and money, just to require the Department to find an alternative solution in Iraq. The Department also looked to make large investments in the 90s and 2000s into capital weapon systems to respond to forecasted need. The F/A-22 and the DDG-1000 were two examples of revolutionary acquisition that went off budget and off schedule. At the same time, the U.S. military also pursued successfully evolutionary acquisition and spiral development programs within the DDG-51 and the F/A-18E/F. The study concludes with a look at the how the Department should go about with future projects. Using the above weapons systems as examples, the study seeks to prove that evolutionary acquisition and spiral development needs to be considered to provide combat power and systems in quantities to meet the threat, but also provide the technological improvements the United States needs to stay dominant.