Rolling Out PAEs, DRPMs, and Tech Areas

Welcome to the latest edition of Defense Tech and Acquisition.

• Navy announced it’s first PAE while Army announces 6 PAEs

• Gen White becomes DRPM (portfolio) of Air Force programs

• DoD CTO Focuses the Department on Six Critical Tech Areas

• Space Force provides vector for its long range goals and acq reforms

• Golden Dome may finally give Congress look behind the curtain

• Commission provides status on China progress and recommendations

Portfolio management implementation continues. The Army unfurled its plan last week and the Navy goes public this week.

New Navy Unmanned Acquisition Office Could Oversee up to 66 Programs, Consolidate 6 PEOs

The Portfolio Acquisition Executive Robotic Autonomous System (PAE RAS) will absorb the development of up to 66 programs across 18 different offices under a single acquisition professional that would report directly to the Navy Acquisition Executive.

• The PAE position will oversee programs that range from the XLUUV program, to the emerging Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC), and the swarming small unmanned surface system will nest under PAE RAS.

• The PAE portfolio will be responsible for about $19B in acquisitions across the 60 programs over the next five years. Three major UAS — MQ-4 Triton long-range reconnaissance aircraft, the Marines MQ-9A Reaper drone and the MQ-25A carrier tanker — worth about $15.3B aren’t covered under the new PAE RAS..

• The first two major tasks for the new PAE will be to lead the competition for MASC and take on the acquisition responsibility for Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), an effort born from the Replicator Initiative.

• Both lines have seen a funding boost of $3.6B from the Reconciliation Act.

• Congress set aside $2.1B for MASC — the Navy’s effort to build an unmanned vessel that would act as an adjunct magazine and a sensor platform for manned ships, superseding the previous large and medium USV programs.

• DAWG is the new acquisition program designed to take on the mission of the Replicator Initiative that seeks to solve specific operational problems like a Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan.

• Other early efforts for the PAE include shifting the Navy away from Boeing’s Orca for the Navy’s XLUUV program and Black Sea’s GARC for the service’s small USV program, finding a small UAV for use on guided-missile destroyers and new C2 software.

“This is our first PAE and they are moving.” Jason Potter, Acting Navy SAE

“Speed to delivery is now our organizing