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Happy Friday!
Let's get started with top news stories this week.
Good News from NPS!!! The Global Accreditation Center for Project Management Education Programs (GAC) conferred accreditation status upon the following project management graduate degree and certificate programs at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in the Department of Defense Management (DDM):
Master of Science in Defense Program Management (816)
Master of Science in Program Management (836) – Distance Learning
Advance Acquisition Studies (217) – Certificate Resident
Advance Acquisition Studies (218) – Certificate Distance
Programs that achieve Program Management Institute (PMI) GAC accreditation must demonstrate and meet the GAC’s rigorous global standards of accreditation. Over 135 project management degree programs in twenty-two countries around the world are accredited by GAC. GAC accreditation ensures the quality of academic degree programs and their graduates in order to meet the standards of the rapidly growing field of project management.
This Week's Top Stories
China Is Ready for War
And Thanks to a Crumbling Defense Industrial Base, America Is Not
Seth G. Jones, Foreign Affairs
Standing guard on a Chinese destroyer in Qingdao, China, April 2024 Florence Lo / Reuters
- China is now a military heavyweight, and the U.S. defense industrial base is failing to keep up. When the Axis powers were advancing in Europe and Asia, President Franklin Roosevelt mobilized that base, calling it the “arsenal of democracy.” A similar U.S. effort is necessary today.
- U.S. defense production has atrophied, and the system lacks the capacity and flexibility that would allow the U.S. military to deter China and, if a conflict does break out, to fight and win a protracted war in the Indo-Pacific region or a two-front war in Asia and Europe.
- Washington must fix critical bottlenecks, and it must act fast if it wants to keep pace. In short, the United States needs to commit much more attention and resources to military readiness if it is to succeed in assembling a new arsenal of democracy.
- China’s massive state-owned enterprises are charged with developing and building the country’s weapons systems.
- Today, four of the world’s top ten largest companies in combined defense and nondefense revenue are Chinese, including the two largest: Aviation Industry Corporation of China and China State Shipbuilding.
- This is a seismic change from a decade ago, when no Chinese firm cracked the world’s top 100 defense companies. Looking at defense revenue alone, China has five companies in the global top 12, also up from zero ten years ago. Chinese defense companies now rival such U.S. giants as Lockheed Martin, RTX (Raytheon), Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics in size and production capacity.
- Looking at this array of Chinese military capabilities, U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall III bluntly noted, “China is preparing for a war and specifically for a war with the United States.”
Office of Strategic Capital Announces First Notice of Funding Availability to Secure the U.S. Industrial Base
Department of Defense
The Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) today announced the release of its first Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), which lays out eligibility criteria and initiates the application process for OSC loans. This will be the first OSC application call to accelerate commercialization and scale production for critical technologies.
"With this Notice of Funding Availability, OSC establishes itself as a credible lending partner for U.S.-based companies that manufacture and produce critical technology components," said Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. "This demonstrates that DoD is dedicated to using every tool in our toolbox to secure America's and our military's enduring technological advantage."
The U.S. Isn’t Ready for a Modern War
Elliot Ackerman, The Free Press
- If the U.S. has to fight a war against a peer-level adversary, quality of systems will matter—but so will quantity, and we have discounted quantity for too long. If we fail to reinvest in our military industrial base, and if we continue to rely on a sclerotic, bloated defense acquisition system, we will be unprepared. We will be the Germany of the Third World War.
Zelensky Says Ukraine Can Now Produce Four Million Drones a Year
Joe Saballa, The Defense Post
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the country is now capable of manufacturing up to four million drones annually, underscoring its commitment to boosting local production.
- Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, drone production was nearly non-existent in the now war-torn nation.
- But “under extremely difficult conditions of the full-scale war,” Kyiv was reportedly able to triple its overall domestic weapons production in 2023 and doubled that again in just the first eight months of 2024.
- “Years ago, the Ukrainian defense industry looked, unfortunately, helpless. But now, it is an industry that is on its way to becoming a leader, at least in Europe,” Zelensky stated.
Pentagon on the hunt for cheap, one-way drones
Carley Welch, Breaking Defense
The Department of Defense is turning to industry for low-cost, one-way long-range unmanned aerial systems that can operate in “disrupted, disconnected, intermittent, low-bandwidth” (DDIL) environments, according to a recent Defense Innovation Unit solicitation.
- Recent conflicts have highlighted the asymmetric impact low-cost, one-way unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have on the modern battlefield. The Department of Defense (DoD) must be able to employ low-cost precision effects at extended ranges. Reliable, affordable, and adaptable long-range UAS platforms that allow for employment at scale will maximize operational flexibility for the Joint force.
- The DoD is seeking commercial solutions for ground-launched, one-way UAS platforms that can operate at ranges from 50-300 km+, launch quickly and expeditiously, navigate at low altitudes, carry a variety of payloads, and operate beyond line of sight in disrupted, disconnected, intermittent and low-bandwidth (DDIL) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) denied environments.
Pentagon homes in on counter-drone tech in Replicator 2 initiative
Valerie Insinna and Ashley Roque, Breaking Defense
- "The expectation is that Replicator 2 will assist with overcoming challenges we face in the areas of production capacity, technology innovation, authorities, policies, open system architecture and system integration, and force structure," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
CNO Franchetti: ‘We’re continuing to learn’ countering drones, missiles in the Red Sea
Mark Pomerleau, Defense Scoop
- One of the key lessons from the Navy’s recent engagements with Houthi missiles and drones in the Red Sea is being adaptable on the battlefield to use existing systems differently.
- Over the last year, Navy assets in the region have come under fire from a barrage of systems launched by the Houthis — a group backed by Iran that has controlled portions of Yemen, including the capital, since 2014 — to include one-way drones and missiles. Navy ships have used a variety of expensive missiles to shoot down these assets, leading many outside experts to ask if the sea service and the Department of Defense are on the wrong side of the cost curve, shooting down inexpensive projectiles with million-dollar ammunition.
- “The other lesson learned … is really using what you have differently. Using Hellfire against unmanned surface vehicles, air-to-air, aviation platform shooting down UAVs,” Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations, told reporters during a roundtable Wednesday hosted by the Defense Writers Group. “These are things where we’re really learning. I think that Ukraine has shown us that you can innovate on the battlefield. I want to innovate before the battlefield, so we can stay ahead of any adversary any time.”
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