Andy Green Featured on DoD Acquisition Panel
Mission Technologies President Andy Green advocated for more flexibility in defense acquisition at a Hudson Institute event on June 12.
“Our coalition partners, they have the same challenges that we have,” he said in a panel discussion on “DoD’s Efforts to Achieve Relevant Capability at Scale.” “They’re kind of burdened by the old way of acquiring big platforms over a very long term. We’re going to have to be more flexible. They’re going to have to be more flexible. We’re going to have to be able to do that together and then sync up very quickly in theater.”
Aditi Kumar, deputy director of strategy, policy and national security partnerships at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), also participated in the panel, citing HII’s Lionfish unmanned underwater vehicle program as an example of adaptability and scale because of its open architecture.
“We’re really pushing that model because it makes sense for the warfighter,” Kumar said. “It makes sense for the taxpayer, and it should make sense for the industrial base. Lionfish is a great example of that, where we’ve partnered with HII on its undersea vehicle with mine countermeasure capabilities.”
Green echoed Kumar’s comments, saying, “It’s not a huge program, but I think it’s a great example of how industry and the customer can work together to really very quickly hone in on a good solution. … The customer was involved every step of the way. We were constantly inserting new technologies. We ended up with this UUV that the customer really, really liked.”
Other panelists included Lt. Gen. Robert M. Collins, principal military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology; and Mitch Skiles, senior vice president, Army programs, Palantir Technologies. Nadia Schadlow, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, moderated.
A video of the panel is available on youtube.com.
Hudson Institute is a research organization promoting American leadership for a secure, free and prosperous future. For more information, visit hudson.org.
