Bill Sweetman
An upcoming battle over defence acquisition will have repercussions for U.S. military posture, particularly in the Pacific.
The weapons that get bought in larger or smaller quantities, or are launched or cancelled, will indicate whether U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will strengthen long-range deterrent forces, order a retreat under his Golden Dome missile-defence system, or spend four years trying to blend incompatible visions of industrial and technological strategy.
It’s a battle between, on one hand, tech-industry advocates of radical, cheaper approaches to defence acquisition and, on the other, traditional political and industry forces that want more of the same—but with an important new emphasis on long range for facing China.
Executive orders (EOs) have become so frequent that they barely register in the news cycle before the next wave hits. An April 9 order on ‘modernizing defense acquisition’ deserves more attention than it has got.
It was warmly welcomed by Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar, leading prophet of the tech sector push. ‘This is a Defense Reformation two-fer, right off the bat,’ Sankar wrote in an email. The order directs the Pentagon to buy commercial solutions, if available, and defines them as products developed with private investment.
No comments:
Post a Comment