Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / This thesis discusses risk in Department of Defense (DoD) weapon systems acquisition. It uses the Marine Corps' Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV) as a case study in risk management strategy and techniques. The AAAV will provide the Marine Corps with a fast deploying, over-the-horizon, waterborne insertion capability. The AAAV's improvements over the currently fielded Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) will provide Marines with a highly survivable and lethal weapon system ashore. Risk is the possibility of damage, inj ury or loss. The severity of a risk is determined by a combination of both the probability of an unfavorable event occurring and the severity of the event's occurrence. Risks are present in virtually all DoD developmental programs. Programs suffer from risks in technical challenges, unstable system requirements, missing schedule milestones, unpredictable funding and cost overruns. The DoD currently uses techniques to mitigate risks inherent in advanced system development. This thesis analyzes the AAAV's Program Definition and Risk Reduction (PDRR) acquisition phase risk management strategy. The thesis concludes by drawing from the lessons learned in the AAAV program during PDRR and analyzing the application of the lessons learned during the AAAV's cu rrent acquisition phase, System Development and Demonstration (SDD) / Captain, United States Marine Corps

During the 2000 presidential race, then Texas Governor George W. Bush advocated transforming and reforming how the Department of Defense (DoD) acquires new weapon systems. He promised a "revolution" that would "skip a generation of technology," in order to "move on to futuristic weapons without necessarily buying all those in development." This thesis examines President Bush's proposal and analyzes the potential impact on DoD and the defense industry. Ultimately the research revealed that there are ways to improve the acquisition process and protect the defense industry. The primary conclusion of the research is that it is feasible to skip current weapon systems in development, in order to begin research and development of the next-generation weapon systems. However, DoD will be impacted through higher operations and sustainment (O & S) costs to sustain existing weapon systems if weapon systems currently in development are skipped. The acquisition professionals that participated in this study believe these O & S costs could increase up to 10% per year for anywhere from five to 20 years depending on the type of system. This thesis makes additional recommendations and areas of further research. / Captain, United States Marine Corps

No description available.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The US Government originally funded the development of the Common Airborne Instrumentation System (CAIS) to address industry-wide compatibility, maintenance, and commonality issues. Although initially targeted for US Department of Defense (DoD) programs, CAIS is also being used throughout the world in many commercial applications. This paper provides a fresh look at the evolution of the CAIS concept starting with some historical background of the CAIS Program, an overview of the CAIS System Architecture and recent trends in the use of “Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS)” products and technology.

There is a lack of African American representation in the Department of Defense's (DoD's) Senior Executive Service (SES) Corps. In 2011, only 11.4% of the DoD's SES members were African American. This disparate representation is problematic because it contradicts the creation of a diverse workforce, which in turn limits opportunities for African Americans to join the elite DoD SES Corps. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of 9 African American SES members in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Defense Agencies, and Defense Field Activities to determine factors contributing to their promotions into the SES Corps. The theoretical framework for this study included Burns and Bass conceptualization of transformational leadership, as well as the social learning theories of Bandura and Vygotsky. A snowball sampling technique was used to recruit the participants for face-to-face or telephone interviews. The interview questions focused on the attributes participants perceived as influencing their career progression into the SES. Upon transcribing interview data, an open coding process was used to categorize information collected followed by thematic analysis to facilitate further understanding. Findings indicate that professional qualities such as the ability to perform core executive functions, training, and education contributed to their SES progression. Furthermore, transformational leadership was perceived as being important in SES service. The implications for positive social change stemming from this study include direct recommendations to DoD human resource directors to capitalize on current African American leaders to serve as mentors to emerging leaders in a way that is consistent with transformational leadership.