Rapid experimental prototyping of the sort that resulted in the SR-71 Blackbird and F-117 stealth fighter is the key to keeping major weapon system development programs on track, according to two prospective Pentagon weapon buyers.
Tapped to become the first undersecretary of defense for Research and Engineering (USD R&E), former NASA administrator Michael Griffin on Jan. 18 told the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) that prototyping should precede every major defense acquisition program.
Too many programs fall victim to the “unseemly role” of mandated process, procedure and bureaucracy within the Defense Department, he added.
“I think the remedy starts with renewing our national commitment to developing systems through experiments, prototypes … before we commit to major system acquisitions,” Griffin said during his confirmation hearing.
Griffin called the SR-71 the “most magnificent airplane ever built to date,” and reminded lawmakers it was preceded by the YF-12A prototype designed to iron out issues of Mach 3 flight. Likewise, building and testing six prototype F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters resulted in an operational aircraft in 32 months, Griffin said.
“Restoring that style of program development, I think, is the key,” he said.
William B. Roper, nominated to become assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, agreed that rapid prototyping and experimentation within major acquisition programs could reduce the risk of cost overruns and delays associated with marquee platforms like the B-21 bomber and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
“I’m a big proponent of not letting risk accumulate in programs if we can spend money to do experimentation or prototyping earlier,” Roper said.
Griffin and Roper shared their generally benign confirmation hearing with two other nominees: John W. Henderson to become assistant secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Energy and Phyllis L. Bayer, tapped to become assistant secretary of the Navy for Installations, Energy and the Environment.
Roper and Griffin were the targets of most questioning from senators eager to hear how they will tackle hugely expensive defense procurement programs in a continuously uncertain fiscal environment and the escalating need to keep pace with global threats.
Congress included provisions in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act that allow rapid prototyping within existing development programs, especially where commercially available components or technologies can be applied to achieve efficiencies. Roper thanked lawmakers for those provisions and said he plans to use that authority on both the F-35 and the B-21 bomber if confirmed.
Those programs and others like the Army’s infamous Future Combat Systems (FCS) set too-rigid requirements and made unrealistic engineering demands that caused cost overruns, delays and in the case of FCS, cancellation after billions of dollars of investment. Roper, who spent the past five and a half years as director of the shadowy Strategic Capabilities Office, said he would empower program managers to experiment, prototype and make decisions to keep programs on track.
“The rigidity and the complexity of the requirements process stacks the deck against us up front,” Roper said. “When a system is specified that rigidly up front, there is not a lot of tradespace for program managers to explore and prototype concepts.”
If confirmed, Griffin will become USD R&E opposite Ellen Lord, who will serve as USD for acquisition and sustainment. The split of what used to be the USD for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics takes effect Feb. 1.
Griffin endorsed the split in response to concerns that transitioning to the new acquisition structure could create a discontinuity in ongoing development programs. He also gave “unequivocal and strong support” for existing research and engineering organizations – specifically the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental – that will fall under his auspice as a result of the split.
“To get our technical, innovative capability that we have in this country into our operational systems is the crucial priority and to do it more rapidly than we have been doing it is critical,” he said. “I strongly endorse the … split that was made because I think it elevates the role of development.”
To modernize and restore the U.S. military’s technological edge, Griffin said he would pursue autonomous systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning, space protection and defense, electronic warfare, hypersonics, advanced computing, strategic weapons, and nuclear command and control.
“The establishment of the new USD(R&E) position offers the opportunity to marshal our resources for critical modernization efforts and restoration of our technological edge,” he said. “I intend to ensure that we are fully leveraging the intellectual, economic and innovative capabilities of our people and the nation to deliver the world’s most advanced systems to support our warfighters, and to do it with the speed and responsiveness that once astonished the world. If confirmed, I will work with the members of this committee to sustain and expand U.S. technological superiority in defense of our nation.”