Military Spending, DOD Contracts, National Defense $$$$

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Contracts For April 28, 2023​


www.defense.gov

Contracts for April 28, 2023

Today's Defense Department contracts valued at $7.5 million or more are now live on Defense.gov.
www.defense.gov
 
Does anybody know how much "carbon credits" they have purchased to offset the carbon footprint of their product? Asking for a chatGPT friend.
 
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The money that we spend on defense is astronomical.

Contracts For May 23, 2023​

www.defense.gov

Contracts for May 23, 2023

Today's Defense Department contracts valued at $7.5 million or more are now live on Defense.gov.
www.defense.gov
 

Military contract price gouging: Defense contractors overcharge Pentagon | 60 Minutes​

May 22, 2023

13:24

A six-month 60 Minutes investigation found the nation’s defense budget is plagued by a military supply chain rife with price gouging.
 
searcher said:
The money that we spend on defense is astronomical.

Contracts For May 23, 2023​

www.defense.gov

Contracts for May 23, 2023

Today's Defense Department contracts valued at $7.5 million or more are now live on Defense.gov.
www.defense.gov
Click to expand...


And thank God for it. Without defense spending, I might have had to go find a real job.
 
news.usni.org

GAO Report on DoD Bulk Fuel - USNI News

The following is the June 22, 2023, Government Accountability Office Report, DoD Bulk Fuel: Improved Management over Transactions Could Lead to More Reliable Financial Reporting. From the report What GAO Found The Department of Defense (DOD) is the U.S. government’s largest purchaser and...
news.usni.org news.usni.org
 
news.usni.org

Report to Congress on Coast Guard Cutter Procurement - USNI News

The following is the July 10, 2023, Congressional Research Service report, Coast Guard Cutter Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress. From the report The Coast Guard’s program of record (POR), which dates to 2004, calls for procuring 8 National Security Cutters (NSCs), 25 Offshore...
news.usni.org news.usni.org
 
WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday announced additional security assistance of about $1.3 billion for Ukraine in its war with Russia, the package including air defense capabilities, drones and munitions.

"This announcement represents the beginning of a contracting process to provide additional priority capabilities to Ukraine," the Pentagon said in a statement.

www.reuters.com

US announces additional $1.3 billion in military aid for Ukraine

The United States on Wednesday announced additional security assistance of about $1.3 billion for Ukraine in its war with Russia, the package including air defense capabilities, drones and munitions.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
news.usni.org

New Report Calls for Rethink of How DoD Presents Budget to Congress - USNI News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A mid-year budget review between the Defense Department and congressional committees could be the first step to improve relations between the Pentagon and Capitol Hill over spending, the chair of the commission charged with recommending ways to streamline the process told...
news.usni.org news.usni.org

news.usni.org

U.S. Flight III Destroyer Multiyear Deal Grows to 10 Ships, 3 Hulls Awarded in FY 2023 - USNI News

The Navy is set to buy 10 Flight III Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyers over the next five years after the service elected to award an extra Fiscal Year 2023 option ship to Ingalls Shipbuilding, USNI News has learned. This month Naval Sea Systems Command awarded three detailed design and...
news.usni.org news.usni.org
 
From Business Insider

The $362 million warship the US Navy just decommissioned wasn't even in service 5 years​

  • The US Navy officially decommissioned USS Sioux City this week.
  • The $362 million Littoral Combat Ship has been in service roughly four years and nine months.
  • The LCS program has long faced problems, and the Navy has sought to redirect its focus elsewhere.
The US Navy officially decommissioned a warship with a reported cost of $362 million this week after less than five years of service. It was meant to serve for 25 years.

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Navy Reveals Contract Costs of Latest 10-Hull Destroyer Deal​

A month after the Navy inked a deal for 10 Flight III guided-missile destroyers, the service has disclosed how much it’s paying the shipbuilders in total.

According to a Wednesday addendum to a Pentagon contract announcement, the Naval Sea Systems Command is paying a combined total of $14.5 billion to HII Ingalls Shipbuilding and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works. The announcement didn’t break costs between the two shipyards.

 
www.propublica.org

Eight Things You Need to Know About the Navy’s Failed Multibillion-Dollar Littoral Combat Ship Program

The key takeaways from ProPublica’s investigation into the decades long project that could end up costing American taxpayers more than $100 billion.
www.propublica.org www.propublica.org

www.propublica.org

The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”

Littoral combat ships were supposed to launch the Navy into the future. Instead they broke down across the globe and many of their weapons never worked. Now the Navy is getting rid of them. One is less than five years old.
www.propublica.org www.propublica.org
 

DoD Acquisition Chief Seeking Regulatory ‘Nirvana’ in Crafting AUKUS Deal​

September 26, 2023 9:27 PM

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The 1960s Polaris Sales Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom that paved the way for commonality between the two countries’ ballistic missile submarines could serve as a successful model for the AUKUS pact, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief said today.

Bill LaPlante described the Polaris Sales Agreement model as “nirvana” for the deal between the U.K., the U.S., and Australia to share nuclear propulsion technology.

“Since then, the missile compartments of the SSBNs – the U.K. and the U.S. – are identical. They are identical. When you walk into one on a Vanguard-class submarine, you’re walking into a trident missile compartment. The data – with the exception of perhaps very sensitive part of the physics package – everything else is shared,” LaPlante said Tuesday at a Maritime Security Dialogue, co-hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Naval Institute.

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Report to Congress on Columbia-class Ballistic Missile Submarine Program​


The Navy’s Columbia (SSBN-826) class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) program is a program to design and build a class of 12 new SSBNs to replace the Navy’s current force of 14 aging Ohio-class SSBNs. Since 2013, the Navy has consistently identified the Columbia-class program as the Navy’s top priority program. The Navy procured the first Columbia-class boat in FY2021. The Navy’s proposed FY2024 budget requests the procurement of the second boat in the class.

The Navy’s FY2024 budget submission estimates the procurement costs of the first and second boats at $15,179.1 million and $9,285.3 million (i.e., about $15.2 billion and $9.3 billion), respectively. The first boat’s procurement cost is much higher than that of subsequent boats in the class because the first boat includes most of the detail design/nonrecurring engineering (DD/NRE) costs for the class. (It is a long-standing Navy budgetary practice to incorporate the DD/NRE costs for a new class of ship into the total procurement cost of the first ship in the class.) The first boat’s estimated procurement cost includes $6,557.6 million for plans, meaning, meaning (essentially) the DD/NRE costs for the class. Excluding costs for plans, the estimated hands-on construction cost of the first ship is $8,621.5 million.

 

Japan Accelerating $1.4B Tomahawk Strike Missile Buy After Pentagon Meeting​

Japan plans to acquire Tomahawk cruise missiles a year earlier, announced Japan Defense Minister Minoru Kihara on Wednesday during a press conference in Washington.

The press conference followed his meeting at the Pentagon with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Kihara stated that because of the increasingly severe security environment around Japan, he had instructed his staff to move forward with earlier implementation of stand-off defense capabilities. As a result, early acquisition of indigenously produced stand-off missiles was now under consideration, along with bringing forward acquisition of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

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Report to Congress on Virginia Submarines, AUKUS Proposal​

The following is the Oct. 12, 2023 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Virginia-Class Submarine Program and AUKUS Submarine Proposal: Background and Issues for Congress.


Congressional Commission Calls for Third Nuclear Shipyard to Bolster U.S. Strategic Forces​

Submarine construction continues apace in the latest US Navy budget request, which asks for two more Virginia-class submarines and another installment for the missile sub Columbia.

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Report on Virginia-class Attack Submarine Program, AUKUS Proposal​

From the report​

Issues for Congress regarding the Navy’s Virginia (SSN-774) class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) program include the FY2024 procurement funding request for the program and the proposal for selling three to five Virginia-class boats to Australia and transferring U.S. submarine and naval nuclear propulsion technology to Australia under a U.S.-UK-Australia security agreement called AUKUS.

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Read the report:

 

Defense manufacturers fear fallout from ‘Buy American’ politics​

President Joe Biden and an influential bloc of lawmakers from both parties want more U.S. military hardware to be made in America.

But the defense industry — the beneficiary of the movement — says now is the wrong time. Supply chain problems, towering global demands for weapons and the need to work with allies to get it all done means that the America First movement should wait.

The “Buy American” campaign, fueled by the promise of a domestic manufacturing boom and well-paying jobs right here at home, is gaining steam in Congress. Both versions of the can’t-fail National Defense Authorization Act contain provisions that require a certain percentage of American weapons be made domestically.

More:

www.politico.com

Defense manufacturers fear fallout from 'Buy American' politics

Manufacturing groups, and even some allies, say now’s not the right time to be protectionist.
www.politico.com www.politico.com
 

Report to Congress on SSN(X) Next-Generation Attack Submarine​

The Navy wants to begin procuring a new class of nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN), called the Next-Generation Attack Submarine or SSN(X), in FY2035. The SSN(X) would be the successor to the Virginia-class SSN design, which the Navy has been procuring since FY1998. The Navy’s proposed FY2024 budget requests $544.7 million in research and development funding for the SSN(X) program.

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Report to Congress on Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding​

The current and planned size and composition of the Navy, the annual rate of Navy ship procurement, the prospective affordability of the Navy’s shipbuilding plans, the capacity of the U.S. shipbuilding industry to execute the Navy’s shipbuilding plans, and Navy proposals for retiring existing ships have been oversight matters for the congressional defense committees for many years.

In December 2016, the Navy released a force-structure goal that calls for achieving and maintaining a fleet of 355 ships of certain types and numbers. The 355-ship goal was made U.S. policy by Section 1025 of the FY2018 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2810/P.L. 115-91 of December 12, 2017). The 355-ship goal predates the Trump and Biden Administrations’ national defense strategies and does not reflect the new, more distributed fleet architecture (i.e., new mix of ships) that the Navy wants to shift toward in coming years. The Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) have been working since 2019 to develop a successor for the 355-ship force-level goal that would reflect current national defense strategy and the new fleet architecture, but have not been able to come to closure on a successor goal. A July 18, 2023, press report stated that the Navy on June 20, 2023, had submitted to the congressional defense committees a congressionally mandated Battle Force Ship Assessment and Requirement (BFSAR) report that calls for a future fleet with 381 manned ships. It is not clear whether the Administration endorses the 381-ship fleet as the new force-level goal for the Navy.

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WASHINGTON — For the sixth year in a row, the Pentagon failed its annual audit.

The result is not a surprise. The Department of Defense’s assets are vast and decentralized, amounting to $3.8 trillion alongside $4 trillion in liabilities. These are located in all 50 states and more than 4,500 sites around the world.

news.yahoo.com

Pentagon fails sixth audit, with number of passing grades stagnant

The Defense Department's chief financial officer told reporters half of the Pentagon's assets meet auditing standards
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com
 

ONE SIZE FITS NONE: THE UNITED STATES NEEDS A GRAND DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY​

The war in Ukraine has been simultaneously described as the first networked war and a “return of industrial warfare.” Lockheed Martin repurposed a diaper factory to make HIMARS launchers, the Ukrainian prime minister claims his country buys 60 percent of DJI’s Mavic drone production, and the conflict has introduced the term “FrankenSAM” for the cobbled together systems — like a Soviet-era Buk launcher firing Sea Sparrow missiles donated by NATO navies — defending Ukrainian air space.

While relying extensively on heavy artillery, tanks, advanced missiles, and millions of rounds of ammunition, Ukraine has also leveraged both cheap and advanced commercial technology to hold its own against its bigger and better equipped adversary. The scale and complexity of resourcing Ukraine’s requirements has challenged Western backers, and that was before the war in Gaza created further demand on U.S. munitions stocks. Future wars are likely to create still greater burdens.

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warontherocks.com

One Size Fits None: The United States Needs a Grand Defense Industrial Strategy - War on the Rocks

The war in Ukraine has been simultaneously described as the first networked war and a “return of industrial warfare.” Lockheed Martin repurposed a diaper
warontherocks.com
 

From Trump to Congress, Republican defense orthodoxy crumbles​

WASHINGTON ― An exasperated Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, laid into Vivek Ramaswamy — a former biotech CEO with no experience as an elected official — over his lack of foreign policy credentials during the first Republican presidential primary debate in August.

Haley accused Ramaswamy of seeking to appease U.S. adversaries while abandoning Washington’s security partners.

“He wants to hand Ukraine to Russia,” she said. “He wants to let China eat Taiwan. He wants to go and stop funding Israel.”

Ramaswamy’s retort was brief and personal. “I wish you well in your future career on the boards of Lockheed and Raytheon,” he said.

More:

www.defensenews.com

From Trump to Congress, Republican defense orthodoxy crumbles

President Trump's America First shadow threatens to overtake the GOP's Reaganite defense orthodoxy with more scrutiny on military budgets and allies.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com
 

Can Palmer Luckey Reinvent the U.S. Defense Industry? | WSJ​

Dec 4, 2023

7:43

Military tech startup Anduril Industries is shaking up the U.S. defense industry as it is one of the few privately held technology companies finding success as a Defense Department contractor. But what makes the company’s software so unique that it is being used across multiple branches of the U.S. military and in both the Russia-Ukraine War and Israel-Hamas War?
 

Defense Bill Approves $1B for New Amphibious Warship, Blesses Attack Sub Sale to Australia​

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congress is backing a Marine proposal to continue the San Antonio-class amphibious warship line with $1 billion in incremental funding for a proposed LPD-33, according to the Fiscal Year 2024 conference authorization bill.

For two years in a row, the Marine Corps has placed a request for $1.7 billion in funds for a Flight II San Antonio-class warship on the top of its unfunded wish list.

The request from the Marines comes while the Navy has placed a so-called “strategic pause” on new amphibious ship construction, pending a study from the Office of the Secretary of Defense assessing whether the Flight II LPD is the most cost-effective platform to meet amphibious needs. The halt to the program’s line has placed existing LPD-33 advanced procurement in limbo.

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Overview of Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Authorization Act​

The following is the Dec. 7, 2023, Congressional Research Service report, FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act: Overview of Funding Authorizations..

From the report​

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is policy legislation typically introduced and reported each year by the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services (also known as the House Armed Services Committee, or HASC, and the Senate Armed Services Committee, or SASC). The act primarily sets policy and authorizes appropriations for activities of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and national security programs of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 marked the 62nd consecutive year for which Congress enacted an annual defense authorization.

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Report to Congress on Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense​

The Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) program, which is carried out by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Navy, gives Navy Aegis cruisers and destroyers a capability for conducting BMD operations. BMD-capable Aegis ships operate in European waters to defend Europe from potential ballistic missile attacks from countries such as Iran, and in in the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf to provide regional defense against potential ballistic missile attacks from countries such as North Korea and Iran. The number of BMD-capable Aegis ships has been growing over time. MDA’s FY2024 budget submission states that “by the end of FY 2024, there will be 53 total BMD capable [Aegis] ships requiring maintenance support.”

The Aegis BMD program is funded mostly through MDA’s budget. The Navy’s budget provides additional funding for BMD-related efforts. MDA’s proposed FY2024 budget requests a total of $1,747.2 million (i.e., about $1.7 billion) in procurement and research and development funding for Aegis BMD efforts, including funding for two Aegis Ashore sites in Poland and Romania. MDA’s budget also includes operations and maintenance (O&M) and military construction (MilCon) funding for the Aegis BMD program.

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