“BREAKING DEFENSE” -By Scott Alexander
“How can industry and government best work together to push critical systems into the hands of our military faster? Here are four key pillars that can offer the U.S. this decisive advantage in an age of growing threats.”
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“The threats facing the U.S. and its allies continue to proliferate. With peer and near-peer adversaries deploying increasingly advanced weapon systems across all
domains the diversity, sophistication and quantity of challenges continue to increase.
Even those with limited industrial capacity and technological prowess have access to relatively low-cost, modern weaponry capable of inflicting significant damage.
To stay ahead of this complex and dynamic threat environment, the U.S. military requires a robust and agile industrial base capable of rapid prototyping and development, high-volume manufacturing and the ability to surge or redirect production based on shifting demand.
This was one of many important topics discussed at the Air and Space Forces Association’s conference held in the nation’s capital recently. In an ever-complex geopolitical environment, what does the future of weapon development look like?
Collaboration at the core
To accomplish our shared goal of enabling our warfighters to stay ahead of the rapidly evolving threat environment, our government customers are smartly embracing new acquisition philosophies that encourage collaboration amongst industry.
Initiatives like the Weapon Open System Architecture (WOSA), being used by the U.S. Air Force and now the Navy, are encouraging modularity and interoperability between component vendors. For example, the inclusion of these WOSA standards within Eglin Air Force Base’s Weapons Government Reference Architecture will support high-volume production and rapid technology iteration as future threats evolve.
The government can take additional steps to encourage open standards and plug-and-play modularity, especially at the subcomponent level. They might consider, for example, providing solicitation information directly to major subsystem providers through contracting vehicles such as Eglin’s Wide Agile Acquisition Contract. This would ensure major contributors within the weapons ecosystem have the same information – regardless of prime-subcontractor relationship. It also opens the door for the government to deal directly with major subsystem vendors.
Regardless of the mechanisms, continued robust government-industry dialogue is essential. This dialogue helps align expectations with industry capabilities, while keeping industry responsive to the government’s objectives. Communicating requirements early and often on acquisition programs will lead to better outcomes for all.
At L3Harris, we’re also focused on seeking collaborative opportunities not just with the government but also with our industry peers and emerging new entrants. From incorporating new technologies into our manufacturing processes to partnering with academic institutions and strategically aligned start-ups, we are working with other disruptive innovators to cultivate teaming opportunities that bring robust, discriminating capabilities to the fight – and ultimately continue to give the U.S. an outsized advantage over those who would do us harm.
Investment in sub-tier suppliers
Russia’s war in Ukraine and emerging global issues have made it clear that the United States must reinvigorate defense production supply chains that went dormant or slowed over the past several decades. Solid rocket motors (SRMs), in particular, power the vast majority of U.S. weapon systems and are rightly a key focus as it relates to strengthening the industrial supply base.
One easy action we can take to quickly strengthen the industrial supply chain as it relates to SRM components is directly investing in suppliers of cases, igniters and nozzles. In some cases, we’re down to a single provider of these critical SRM subcomponents, which makes production scalability a challenge – especially when multiple primes are vying for the same resource. After all, no matter how many SRM providers come into the market, we will all still rely on the same sub-tier suppliers.
We’ve taken this action seriously at L3Harris by directly investing our own capital into critical SRM component suppliers. Over the last 18 months, we have provided more than $25 million to our sub-tier SRM suppliers to expand their capacity and modernize their manufacturing processes. More investment in these critical suppliers is necessary by government and industry alike.
Direct and multi-year contracts
When we know what’s coming, we can be ready. Multi-year contracts encourage private sector investment at the subcontractor level, boosting industrial-base stability and capacity while fostering innovation and reducing costs. Accurate and consistent demand signals support investment in infrastructure and facilities needed to provide capacity and drive affordability.
In fact, where it makes sense, direct-to-supplier contracts with the government can also be an effective tool to increase affordability and get these systems in the hands of our government customer more swiftly.
Leveraging additive manufacturing for rapid prototyping
While not always the answer, additive manufacturing (AM), along with 3D modeling and digital engineering, is well suited for rapid prototyping of critical components – especially on complex hardware like hypersonic propulsion systems. On L3Harris scramjet engines, for example, AM has led to a more than 75 percent reduction in manufacturing time and costs, and a 95 percent reduction in parts count. Targeted application of AM is just one example of how industry can quickly collaborate with our government partners to design, model, prototype and test at the speed of relevance.
America and its allies are facing a world where increasingly capable adversaries are probing for weaknesses across multiple domains. Government and industry must continue to work together to make informed and timely acquisition decisions to get critical weapon systems into the hands of our warfighters.
By embracing modularity and interoperability initiatives like WOSA, and through robust dialogue where government requirements are communicated clearly, early and often, industry can rise to meet the challenges posed by rapidly evolving threats. Our ability to deploy weapons in large numbers quickly and affordably, and to rapidly innovate against evolving threats, will keep our adversaries guessing and ultimately create a safer world.”
Scott Alexander is president of the Missile Solutions sector in the Aerojet Rocketdyne segment of L3Harris Technologies.
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