ONEIL’s Post

In today's fast-paced and highly competitive market, understanding the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and gathering end-user feedback is crucial for the success of any product. This is particularly true for military equipment, where the stakes are higher, and the margin for error is nonexistent. Implementing VOC and end-user feedback can significantly improve product design, performance, and user satisfaction. #VOC #VoiceofCustomer #EndUserFeedback #Military #Defense #Aerospace #ProductDesign

The implementation of end-user feedback in product development and design strategies is imperative to reduced development costs, shorter development cycles and customer satisfaction. This is especially true in the defense sector where the warfighter's ability to efficiently operate equipment is critical. Read more about it here.

A long time coming. Approval for full rate production is finally here so that Lockheed Martin can maximize efficiencies building this #5thGen platform. Already transforming the many air forces that operate it, #f35 has brought on wholesale change of operation for the existing air forces. New customers like Royal Canadian Air Force | Aviation royale canadienne are scrambling trying to understand how to adapt and absorb something so powerful not just as a fighter but as an accelerator of air warfare change. Oh...and the F-35 naysayers have one less issue to whine about as the jet continues to dominate the fighter world and will for decades to come. #lethality #effectivenes, #survivable https://lnkd.in/gUwDpvFC

Northrop Grumman Corporation is collaborating with EpiSci to further develop advanced, trusted autonomous tactical solutions for the United States and its allies. EpiSci’s TacticalAI software will integrate into Northrop Grumman’s aeronautics system architecture to accelerate the delivery of advanced autonomous solutions. Using the U.S. government’s open-architecture design, Northrop Grumman’s autonomy solutions are able to incorporate third-party collaborative platform technologies that allow uncrewed aircraft systems to adapt to changing mission requirements and provide flexibility to military commanders in complex environments. #military #defense #defence #militaryleak https://lnkd.in/gMWre68P

concise, relevant, and actionable

If these development delays keep up, we’ll see RVS 2.0 right around the time the bridge tanker rolls out—which on a normal development timeline would otherwise be enabling RVS 4.0 and autonomous refueling. Comparable to RVS 1.0, it will be incredible when it gets here—every boom operator I know who has seen it in action has been amazed—but one wonders if the so-called “quantum leap” will still be cutting edge if the technology agreement made in 2020 does not actually start rolling out until 2026 or later. The one positive from this article was Assistant Secretary Hunter’s reference to flying on a KC-46 recently. While the base and unit were unnamed, this was a recent flight by #TeamTravis #Airmen from the 6th Air Refueling Squadron—thrilled that the #ExtenderNation could provide first-hand experience for Mr. Hunter’s testimony on Capitol Hill. #NKAWTG #AirPower #CapitolHill #KC46 United States Air Force US Transportation Command Air Mobility Command Travis Air Force Base Air & Space Forces Association https://lnkd.in/g3JmN2D9.

A "unexpected" amount of engineering has the #USAirForce struggling to reach agreement with Boeing on a #price tag for the E-7 #Wedgetail #radar plane, service officials said. “We're having a hard time with that one getting a price agreement with Boeing. We're still in negotiations with them and that's not been finalized yet,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told reporters Tuesday at the Air & Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium here. Negotiations are being held up for the first two test E-7s because there was an “unexpected” amount of “#nonrecurringengineering,” which is a one-off cost to develop a new platform, required to meet the Air Force’s needs for the program, according to Andrew Hunter, the service’s acquisition chief. Service officials thought their requirements were close to the E-7s that the U.K. has already begun procuring from Boeing, Hunter told reporters here. The Air Force announced [in April 2022] it will replace part of the E-3 Sentry, or Airborne Warning and Control System, fleet with Boeing E-7 Wedgetails. In a release, the service said the decision to go with the Wedgetail was based on market research and that it is “the only platform” that could meet all of the Defense Department’s requirements for tactical battle management, command and control, and target tracking in time to replace the aging E-3, which dates back to the 1970s. The Air Force plans to award a contract to Boeing in fiscal 2023 for the Wedgetail, which was developed by Australia for its air force. The Navy with the Constellation Frigate and the Air Force with the E-7 keep doing this. The Europeans designed the FFG and the Australians built the Wedgetail, but the designs didn't meet US specifications so had to change. Everytime you tweak the requirements at all, the price will go up, as contractors get well, and then we're so surprised. 😠

The DOT&E Assessment of Post-IOT&E F-35 Block 4 Operational Testing was made public by the Project on Government oversight. The F-35 (disregarding the version) continues to show existential problems: ·        “The F-35 takes at least twice as long to repair as required” ·        The F-35 is designed to be fighting the world’s most advanced 5th generational fighters.. but in only one trial was a 5th Generation aircraft adversary aircraft used. ·        The F-35 lethality assessment suffered from the inability of the F-35's gun to hit the targets because of design and installation issues. The F-35 lethality assessment also suffered from significant uncertainties in how the modelling and simulation were conducted, how the damage from the tests were collected ( or not), and the inability of the modeling and simulation to represent sand, soil, or concrete.   ·        “Although the C2D2 process was intended to provide new capabilities and address deficiencies on a 6-month basis, that timeline was not achievable or sustainable. In fact, attempting to deliver on that timeline actually delayed the fielding of new capabilities, in comparison to the planned delivery dates for these capabilities in the original program-of-record schedules. Changes introduced in subsequent software versions often caused functionality originally fielded in earlier versions to experience stability problems and other adverse effects.”     ·        “The JPO has begun efforts to replace ALIS with a new cloud-based logistics information system referred to as the Operational Data Integrated Network (ODIN). ODIN is designed to feature faster computer hardware and intends to employ containerized applications to allow for agile software development and more frequent application updates when warranted. ODIN, while cloud-based, is still dependent on the same unit-, country-, and enterprise-level construct with different functions and capabilities enabled at each level. At the time of this report, ODIN hardware was being deployed across the fleet, but still running ALIS software. The first ODIN hardware increment is the unit-level ODIN Base Kit (OBK), designed to replace the SOU for squadron use. Currently, for the unit-level ALIS Squadron Kit, some squadrons are equipped with an SOU while others have an OBK. The most recent program projections place the complete transition from SOUs to OBKs in 2025.” Sources: https://lnkd.in/eYPqZegx https://lnkd.in/ecdApKQM