11 May 2010

The Discipline of Affordability

On a similar note to yesterday's post, Dr. Ashton Carter (Under-Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) recently said the Pentagon needs to "relearn the discipline of affordability" and "relentlessly pursue affordability."

It sounds to me like he and the SECDEF are both saying it's important and good for programs to be inexpensive. That's the I in FIST, the Inexpensive value. It's a nice change of pace from previous years, when large price tags were seen as both a sign of sophistication and an inevitable attribute of military technology systems.

That's some pretty clear direction from the top leaders. I just hope the DoD's rank and file will read and heed.

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