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28 Sep 23. Government shutdown doesn’t halt, but hinders Pentagon work. If the U.S. government shuts down as expected on Oct. 1, it will halt the payments of salaries across the Department of Defense, furlough hundreds of thousands civilian employees, and slow the pace of war planning and the military modernization, the Pentagon said Thursday.
“If there is a shutdown in just a few days, our service members would be required to continue working, but would be doing so without pay, and hundreds of thousands of their civilian colleagues would be furloughed,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said.
Troop pay is delayed during a government shutdown, but Singh said housing and bills are not.
The authority to draw from U.S. arms for Ukraine remains intact – for now – because of a financial mistake that released $6 billion worth of authority to ship from U.S. stores. For example, Ukrainian “F-16 pilot training would continue,” said Chris Sherwood a Pentagon spokesman.
However, some “delivery of defense articles, services, and/or military education” could be paused, Sherwood said.
The Democratic-led U.S. Senate forged ahead on Thursday with a bipartisan stopgap funding bill aimed at averting what would be the fourth partial government shutdown in a decade. read more
In anticipation of the looming shut-down the department is deciding which of its processes are going to be deemed “necessary” for national security, and which will be “impacted by furloughs of personnel and DoD’s suspension” of activities that aren’t deemed necessary to continue.
A shutdown and use of temporary funding measures “will hit every company that supports federal missions,” trade association presidents David Norquist, of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) and David Berteau of the Professional Services Council (PSC) wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders.
“Under a shutdown, the government stops payments on invoices not yet paid for costs incurred before the shutdown,” the letter said. Smaller businesses don’t have the “financial reserves to pay their costs when the government is not paying them” the letter warned, adding that could lead to job losses.
NDIA and PSC represent companies like Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), L3Harris Technologies Inc (LHX.N), Bank Of America Corp (BAC.N) and Oracle Corp (ORCL.N). (Source: Reuters)
28 Sep 23. Cooperation Is Key to U.S. Success in ‘Decisive Decade.’ Teamwork and cooperation are key to success in this “decisive decade,” President Joe Biden’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy told the Senate Armed Services Committee today.
Derek H. Chollet, who’s in line for one of the most crucial jobs in the Pentagon, testified alongside Cara L. Abercrombie, Biden’s nominee for assistant secretary of defense for acquisitions.
Chollet currently serves as counselor for the Department of State and previously served as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. Abercrombie is a deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for defense policy and arms control at the National Security Council. She has served in the Defense Department since 2003.
“There is no more sacred mission than that of the U.S. Department of Defense to keep Americans safe and to protect our interests abroad,” Chollet said. “I am deeply humbled at the prospect of returning to the Pentagon to work with the inspiring men and women of our armed forces.”
Chollet emphasized that this is a critical time saying, “… this is a moment as challenging and complex as any we have faced in our modern history.”
He agreed with many leaders saying that China is the pacing challenge and the only competitor with the means and will to overturn the international rules-based system that has kept the peace since the end of World War II.
He also cited the “acute threat” of Russia — especially in light of that country’s unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine. “If confirmed, I will continue this administration’s work to provide military support to Ukraine and rally the world for Ukraine’s self-defense,” Chollet said.
Chollet said the world cannot forget about the threats posed by North Korea and Iran and extremist groups. He said the U.S. military must be prepared to take action when necessary. “Our forces must be as modern and capable as possible,” he said. “That means having an urgency to invest and innovate, whether that’s ensuring that our undersea warfighting capability remains second to none or continuing to lead on .”
Information technology also means building and maintaining a safe, reliable and effective nuclear triad, he said.
Chollet also said the U.S. military must work with other countries, other federal agencies and with the Congress to realize these strategies. He said that, if confirmed, he will work inside and outside the Defense Department with the combatant commanders and service chiefs.
“No less important, working together means forging a close partnership with all of you on this committee and the Congress as a whole,” Chollet said. “I have long admired this committee’s bipartisan commitment to our national security, and its thoughtful and forward-thinking oversight of our military. You have my word that, if confirmed, I will treat you as the full partner that you need.”
Abercrombie stressed the need for speed in acquiring and fielding new military capabilities. “Acquisition policy has always been extremely important to the department’s function, but has taken on greater significance in today’s dynamic security environment,” she said.
Innovation is moving at an increasingly rapid clip, with new technologies being developed by nontraditional sources. “We cannot be satisfied with business as usual,” Abercrombie said. “We no longer can wait decades to bring programs to fruition. Our ability to deliver capability to the warfighter rapidly is absolutely critical to ensuring the United States military remains the finest fighting force in the world.”
The committee must vote to approve the nominees, then forward the nominations to the full Senate for approval. (Source: U.S. DoD)
28 Sep 23. DOD Announces Release of 2023 Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction. Today, the Department of Defense released the unclassified version of its 2023 Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD). The 2023 DOD CWMD Strategy seeks to account for current and emerging WMD challenges and threats, and provide tailored methods to address them. The Department will account for WMD threats holistically to prevent, mitigate, withstand, operate through, and recover from WMD attacks in close consultation with Allies and partners.
“This Strategy lays the foundation for the Department to confront the complex and demanding challenges presented by WMD,” wrote Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in the Secretary’s Foreword.
In line with the 2022 National Defense Strategy, the CWMD Strategy recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the pacing challenge, Russia as the acute threat, and the DPRK, Iran, and violent extremist organizations as persistent threats.
Recognizing that different actors and threat modalities pose distinct challenges, the CWMD Strategy outlines a strategic approach that requires tailored investments and actions to address each challenge. The CWMD Strategy explains how the Department will align authorities, operations, activities, and investments based on the DoD’s unique current and emerging CWMD needs.
“This Strategy reinforces other guidance provided in the Nuclear Posture Review, the Missile Defense Review, and the Biodefense Posture Review by clarifying the role of the CWMD mission within the Department’s overall approach to integrated deterrence and conflict,” said Secretary Lloyd Austin, “I am confident that the Department possesses the ingenuity and determination necessary to outpace current and future threats.”
The 2023 CWMD Strategy is the third iteration for the Department, and replaces the 2014 Strategy for CWMD.
The unclassified 2023 Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction can be found here: 2023 Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (defense.gov)
The Fact Sheet for the 2023 Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction can be found here: DOD 2023 CWMD Strategy Fact Sheet (defense.gov) (Source: U.S. DoD)
27 Sep 23. DOD Is Taking Steps to Shore Up Industrial Workforce. The Defense Department is taking steps to ensure the U.S. industrial base can meet the growing demand for skilled workers well into the future, a senior Pentagon official said today.
Keith DeVries, managing director of manufacturing technology for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said manufacturers’ demand for skilled workers is projected to grow significantly over the next few years — and meeting that demand is critical for the U.S. to maintain its economic and warfighting edge.
“Based on estimates from our manufacturing institutes, there are more than 800,000 open jobs in manufacturing today,” DeVries said during a webinar on the future of defense manufacturing. The webinar was hosted by Defense News.
“The industry over the next decade will require more than 4m jobs to maintain sustainable throughput, and the current estimate says that if we cannot address the skills gap by 2030 we could be looking at over $1trn in impact,” he said.
Those figures apply to commercial manufacturers, as well as the defense industrial base.
“The defense industry is tapping into the same pool as the commercial industry,” he said. “If Caterpillar or Toyota were to hire 1,000 assemblers or 2,000 welders for their commercial demands, that impacts the defense industry’s ability to tap into the same skill sets.”
He said the daunting workforce figures have compelled defense officials to take a long-term approach to shore up the supply of skilled workers into the future.
“One of the things that we talk about a lot in our office and in our community is that workforce supply is a supply chain issue of its own,” DeVries said.
We cannot simply pour money into a problem today and expect a result tomorrow,” he said. “We have to take a longer view. We have to develop, nurture and mature capability for not only traditional manufacturing but advanced manufacturing as well.”
The DOD has put several programs in place to get ahead of the curve, he said.
DeVries said the DOD’s defense manufacturing community support program, for example, includes efforts to help companies across the defense industrial base ensure their workforce can meet current and future demands.
The program, which was authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2019, allocated $80m to assist more than 2,200 defense businesses.
He said DOD has also invested in programs designed to prepare departing service members and veterans for civilian careers in high-demand manufacturing and has made key investments in raising awareness of manufacturing careers for school-age children.
DeVries said that in addition to specific DOD programs to shore up the defense industrial base workforce, the department partners with a variety of U.S. government agencies.
“There’s more to be done,” he said. “And we’re doing that in partnership across the interagency. We’re reaching beyond the walls of DOD.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
27 Sep 23. Defense Official Says Shutdown Worse Than Continuing Resolution. Congress has until the end of this week to fund the federal government or agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. Absent either of those actions, the government will shut down starting Oct. 1.
A CR would be “bad,” but a shutdown would be “horrible,” said William A. LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment.
LaPlante spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ International Security Program.
“If the government shuts down, testing will stop and acceptance by the government of equipment when it is finished and ready to be accepted stop,” he said.
For example, in 2013, during the government shutdown, factory workers were sent home. Production lines on things like munitions and the F-35 Lightning II stealth multirole combat aircraft stopped.
Next week, the Defense Department has some testing to do for an item it has earmarked for Ukraine, he said.
“Unless we can get some type of a waiver, it’s not going to happen,” he said.
Also, people are not going to be able to travel to work on acquisition and sustainment projects, “so, it’s just extremely disruptive,” he said.
“The message it sends to the government workforce is, we’re sending people home, our engineers, our acquisition professionals, our sustainers our contracting officers, we’re just sending them home and saying you’re not essential,” LaPlante said.
The other option is for Congress to pass a continuing resolution. CRs maintain the previously appropriated year’s level of funding for federal programs for a specified period of time.
In the case of a CR, any increases in production are not going to happen without a special waiver, he said.
In past CRs, this negatively impacted production of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, he said.
Both of those systems have been sent to Ukraine.
LaPlante noted that China, which is the department’s pacing challenge, never has continuing resolutions or government shutdowns. (Source: U.S. DoD)
26 Sep 23. Key Official Says Shutdown Would Damage National Defense. The Chinese army is not facing a shutdown nor is Russia shutting down its efforts to conquer Ukraine, and the U.S. Congress must take steps to avoid a government shutdown, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said.
Congress must fund the government or pass a continuing resolution by the end of the fiscal year on Saturday to avoid a government shutdown Oct. 1.
“We need to avert any kind of effect that a shutdown could have, not just on the Defense Department but throughout the federal government,” Hicks said last week.
DOD leaders would like to see a full-funding bill passed, but Hicks said a continuing resolution would be preferable if a government shutdown can be avoided. A continuing resolution continues appropriations at the same level as the previous fiscal year for a certain amount of time.
“As bad as it could be to have a CR — which we always want to avoid — it would be even worse for the defense of the nation to have a shutdown,” Hicks said.
The government must close if there is a lapse in appropriations, but there are exceptions to that rule. During a government shutdown, DOD still must continue to defend and protect the United States and conduct on-going military operations.
DOD would continue activities funded by the Defense Working Capital Fund, a revolving fund that funds business-like DOD activities. These activities are in the Defense Logistics Agency, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Finance and Accounting Agency.
There are also excepted activities mostly centered around duties necessary for the safety of human life and the protection of government property.
“A shutdown would degrade and impact our operational planning and coordination, impact our more than 800,000 civilians, and severely diminish our ability to recruit and retain quality individuals for military service,” DOD officials said.
On the strategic level, a shutdown would play into the hands of U.S. competitors. A shutdown requires money, and it also requires money when the government starts up again — not to mention the lost time. “No amount of funding can make up for lost time,” the official said. “A shutdown impacts our ability to outcompete the PRC — it costs us time as well as money, and money can’t buy back time, especially for lost training events.”
On a practical level, a shutdown would have significant repercussions for military members and their families. Military personnel on active duty — including reserve component service members on active duty — will continue to report for duty and carry out assigned duties without pay. Most military permanent change of station moves will be halted.
Post and base services would be closed or limited. Elective surgeries and procedures in DOD medical and dental facilities are not excepted activities and these would have to be postponed.
The Defense Commissary Agency would close commissaries in the United States but would keep overseas facilities open.
DOD civilians, including military technicians, who are not necessary to carry out or support excepted activities would be furloughed. “Permanent change of station for civilian personnel will continue only to the extent expenses are chargeable to a funded PCS order issued prior to the funds lapse,” officials said.
Once a continuing resolution or appropriations act is signed, employees will be paid retroactively for unpaid hours worked and time charged as furlough as soon as feasible, officials said.
Active and reserve component service members will receive September’s end-of-month paychecks on Sept. 29. Military members cannot be paid during the lapse unless legislation is passed appropriating funds. “October mid-month, military pay will be delayed if a continuing resolution or appropriation is not passed by Oct. 11,” officials said. “Leave and earnings statements will not be released.”
Military retirees and annuitants are not paid from appropriations, so their payments will continue as scheduled, officials said. (Source: U.S. DoD)
26 Sep 23. GOP, Dems clash on multiyear munitions buys as shutdown looms. A niche appropriations debate on multiyear munitions buys has ballooned into one of the numerous partisan standoffs over the defense spending bill. House Republicans are refusing to allow the Pentagon to use multiyear contracts for two munitions programs, citing previous cost variations and delays during an earlier contract with RTX, formerly Raytheon Technologies.
But the White House wants Republican appropriators to fund multiyear buys for the two missile programs, arguing doing so will help ramp up the beleaguered munitions-industrial base. And House Democrats have criticized Republicans’ refusal, arguing it makes them weak on China.
Further complicating the situation, Republicans have failed to advance their defense spending bill three times over the past two weeks with a government shutdown looming on Sunday. As Congress hurtles toward a shutdown at worst, and a stopgap funding measure at best, the Pentagon will not be able to start making multiyear purchases for any munitions whatsoever until several weeks or months down the line.
The Pentagon’s fiscal 2024 budget request asks for $1.4bn to fund the seven munitions identified as high-priority over five years and another $1.9bn to procure their components in bulk buys.
House Republicans funded the Pentagon’s multiyear request for five of them: the Naval Strike Missile, Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, PATRIOT Advanced Capability-3, Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile and the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile.
But they stopped short, opting not to fund multiyear purchases for the Navy’s Standard Missile-6, dubbed SM-6, or the Air Force’s Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, known as AMRAAM.
While multiyear procurement is more commonly used to purchase big-ticket items like ships and aircraft, the Defense Department hopes doing the same for munitions will help defense companies accelerate production by ensuring demand stability. The defense-industrial base has struggled to quickly replenish the billions of dollars worth of munitions drawn down from U.S. stockpiles for Ukraine.
And war games hosted by the House China Committee in April found the U.S. would rapidly run out of munitions — including the SM-6, Naval Strike Missile and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile — in a war with Beijing in the Pacific. That committee endorsed multiyear munitions buys as part of a series of 10 bipartisan recommendations on Taiwan it drafted in May.
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee declined the Pentagon’s $1.9bn bulk buy request for all seven munitions programs when it advanced its defense spending bill along party lines in June, prompting Democratic appropriators to accuse them of failing to “counter Chinese communist party threats” via a pair of news releases.
A report accompanying the defense spending bill said the Pentagon “failed to provide the committee with cost savings expected to be generated by” the bulk procurement request.
The Republican bill allocates $1.4bn in multiyear munitions buys for all the requested munitions except the SM-6 and AMRAAM.
A report accompanying the bill states the Appropriations Committee “strongly agrees with the need to ensure the munitions industrial base has steady demand from the Department of Defense to meet national defense requirements.”
But it adds, “The committee is particularly concerned the department cannot provide realistic cost estimates and has proceeded with these multiyear procurement requests without a firm understanding of each program’s unit cost and production capacity.”
The report does not offer details on the cost variations and production pace.
“RTX appreciates the efforts by the department to increase capacity and drive stability into the missile industrial base through the use of multiyear contracts,” company spokesman Chris Johnson told Defense News in a statement. “Every program is unique, and we are working with the department to respond to congressional questions as part of the budget process.”
Johnson added that the SM-6 delays are “caused in large part by delays in solid rocket motor manufacturing” and said RTX is working with the Navy to identify alternative sources.
On the AMRAAM, he noted RTX is “working with the Air Force on options which would address production gaps and extend the program of record to drive savings.”
Congress first authorized sweeping multiyear munitions buys in the FY23 defense policy bill. Democrats controlled both chambers at the time, but appropriators provided almost no money to fund multiyear munitions purchases for FY23. A White House statement on the defense spending bill earlier this month “strongly opposed” the lack of multiyear funding for the SM-6 and AMRAAM and the absence of bulk funding for all seven munitions in FY24.
The Senate’s defense spending bill, which the Appropriations Committee advanced 27-1 in July, fully funds multiyear buys for all seven munitions but calls for “greater and more consistent industry co-investment” commitments “to more equitably share both the costs and benefits.”
Regardless, the Pentagon cannot ink contracts for munitions during the likely event of a shutdown starting next week. And various versions of the short-term spending bills proposed so far explicitly bar the Defense Department from multiyear procurement until Congress passes a full budget. (Source: Defense News)
25 Sep 23. With Government Shutdown, Troops Still Protect Nation, But Possibly Without Pay. With a possible government shutdown less than a week away, defense leaders say the nation will remain protected. But service members may end up doing that defense work without being paid. Elsewhere, training operations could be curtailed, which will affect long-term readiness. Efforts to support Ukraine may also be hampered.
“A shutdown … puts the government on a complete standstill,” said Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh during a discussion today with the Pentagon press corps. ” the U.S. military is going to continue to do its job and protect our national security interests and … those of our allies and partners as well.”
While the nation will remain safe, there will be challenges to the young service members who provide that security, to their families, and to the long-term readiness that comes from the training that keeps them combat ready, Singh said.
“A shutdown would be detrimental for the department,” she said. “Troops would go without pay. Military families would be impacted, of course. For folks that are not getting paychecks, that impacts how and when can buy groceries, child care, all of these things. Commissaries would be closed on bases. So, we are still … we’re hoping that Congress can reach a deal to avert a shutdown. But we are planning for that or taking steps to plan for that, should a shutdown occur.”
While national security will be maintained during a shutdown, Singh said, readiness will suffer as the training operations that keep service members sharp are curtailed.
“When you don’t have your full operating capacity, to be able to help with a mission, to be able to conduct an exercise or training, of course, that gets to our national security and readiness,” she said.
In Europe, efforts under “Operation Atlantic Resolve” provide increased troop rotations and equipment to the European theater to help maintain security there. Pentagon officials have said they expect to be able to maintain much of that effort through a government shutdown. But there will still be some effects felt, Singh said.
“Things could be delayed when it comes to training,” she said. “If any of our personnel are furloughed … that could have impacts to the larger mission.”
When it comes to supporting Ukraine, Singh said already approved funding means the U.S. could still offer more equipment and support as needed. But a government shutdown could affect the department’s ability to actually draw down that equipment from stocks and get it to Ukraine.
“I don’t know how this impacts how we roll out additional with a government shutdown,” she said. “It doesn’t affect the funds that we have accessible to us, but like how, how we continue to do that — I just don’t have more on that.” (Source: US DoD)
22 Sep 23. GAO blasts contractor-led F-35 maintenance as costly, slow. A lack of spare parts and technical data, poor training of maintainers, and a lagging effort to expand repair depots are dragging down the U.S. military’s ability to keep the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in the air, a government watchdog said in a report released Thursday.
And the problems hindering the military from taking over more sustainment activities from the prime F-35 contractor, Lockheed Martin, will cost the government billions of dollars each year if a more cost-effective strategy isn’t found, the Government Accountability Office wrote in its report.
The F-35 and its advanced capabilities make it a formidable weapon in the United States’ arsenal, GAO said. But if the plane can’t get off the ground because of problems with its maintenance and sustainment, the report added, that “valuable edge” does the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps no good.
The three services combined have more than 450 F-35s, and the Defense Department eventually plans to buy a total of almost 2,500 fighters with a life-cycle cost of more than $1.7trn.
The vast majority of that life-cycle cost, $1.3trn, comes from the operation and sustainment of the jet, GAO said.
But the F-35′s availability has lagged for years, and if a war broke out today, many fighters would be unavailable to fight. In March 2023, GAO said, the mission-capable rate for all F-35s was at 55%. That’s well below the 70% mission-capable goal the Air Force has for its F-35As, and the 75% goal for the Navy and Marine Corps’ F-35B and F-35C variants.
Key lawmakers and watchdog groups have regularly criticized the military and Lockheed Martin for failing to improve the F-35′s availability. Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, who directs the F-35 program, has launched an effort he calls the “war on readiness” to fix the issue, although public details remain scarce.
GAO’s new report presents a deep dive into the many issues that combine to drag down F-35 availability — particularly in obtaining parts to fix broken jets.
The Pentagon agreed with GAO’s recommendations to reconsider its sustainment approaches to the F-35; decide whether the government should take over more responsibilities; consider whether changes to the Navy and Air Force are necessary to better sustain the jet; decide what technical data the services need to support any changes to maintenance processes; and identify what resources might be necessary.
In a statement from the F-35 Joint Program Office, Schmidt said the program continues to work on a “more resilient sustainment structure” and grow its capacity and efficiency worldwide. This includes standing up a network for repair, transportation and warehousing faster, and using incentives to industry to make more F-35s available at an affordable cost.
Lockheed Martin said in a statement to Defense News it’s ready to work with the government as it plans for the future of the F-35′s sustainment. The company added it has long worked with the government to fix the issues that degrade F-35 readiness through its reliability and maintenance program.
A spare parts conundrum
The backlog of broken spare parts that need fixed has more than doubled since spring 2019, GAO said, from 4,300 to more than 10,000.
It now takes an average of 141 days to repair a broken spare part — far above the F-35 program’s goal of 60 days — and nearly three-quarters of those parts are sent back to the original equipment manufacturer for repair.
Rather than wait nearly five months for a repaired part, GAO said the F-35 Joint Program Office often buys new parts at a higher cost. This helps get the fighter back in the air faster, GAO acknowledged, but it drives up sustainment costs. Pentagon officials do not think it’s a sustainable strategy. (Source: Defense News)
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