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Mapping the unmanned future: CBO Policy Options & Other important documents

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At a gathering of unmanned systems professionals, I heard a lot ofrobot attack  griping about product development.  Trying to deliver a system that the government wants was impossible, because of the time lag.  Who knows what the Department of Defense would want or need 2 or 5 years from now? All participants in the meeting agreed that it was the governments’ fault.  The Feds simply weren’t telling us what they wanted.  Well, it’s not for the lack of trying.  It seems every week there’s a new roadmap, report, vision, or long-term plan.  I recently reviewed my personal collection of downloaded documents and came up with: Read more

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COTS Obsolescence & Total Cost of Ownership

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The initial purchase price of your rugged computer may only be aCOTS Obsolenense  small part of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Platform support, customization, integration, connectivity, and inadequate durability may make your “bargain” very expensive.  Will your rugged computer be good for your ROI five or ten years from now or just for today?

Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) products are attractive for the price and established supply chain. However, there is a fundamental problem buying mass-produced off-the-shelf items. New and upgraded products typically generate more profit than old ones. Corporations prioritize the overhead of product support for the greatest revenue earners, i.e. the new products. Support for older platforms is phased out. Read more

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Network-centric Warfare: Dead or Alive?

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One of the guiding principles for the defense community has been network-centric warfare. Most, if not all, weapon systems developed in the last decade have been evaluated by this standardnetwork centric warfare.

Recently, the Department of Defense announced the closing of Networking and Information Integration (NII), an office closely associated with network-centric warfare. With the past elimination of Future Combat Systems, the Office of Force Transformation and other high-profile endeavors, some are wondering if the emphasis on network-centric warfare is waning.  Dr. Loren Thompson, in his The Twilight Of Network-Centric Warfare article, went as far as to say “…network-centric warfare is an idea whose time has passed.”

If true, this would have enormous implications for those tasked with getting the best possible technologies to warfighters.  The abandonment of this established doctrine of network-centric warfare would introduce a new variable in the already difficult task of providing combat systems. Has the idea that launched a thousand PowerPoint presentations really been discarded?

For the rest of the article, click here.

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