Patrick Durrant | Sydney

Outgoing US Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall, who spoke at last year's ADM Congress, and was the mastermind (along with Defense Secretary Dr Ash Carter) of three evolutions of the US Defense Department's 'Better Buying Power' principles, has warned the incoming Trump Administration to avoid quick fixes when it comes to military equipment acquisition.

Speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, Kendall spoke about a US Government publication he had put together based on his writings over the last five years called “Getting Defense Acquisition Right”.

“Rapid acquisition means high risk, low quality acquisition.”

Kendall has lived defence acquisition for the past 40 years and said the compendium would be useful, particularly to those outside of the US Defense realm, to appreciate the real day to day problems that US Department of Defense (DoD) program managers confront.

Kendall, who has seen many examples of poor defence acquisition policy over the years, said he was not a believer in acquisition magic, and that the process was more about hard work, attention to detail and “really knowing what you are doing”.

“The challenge in defence acquisition is to do something that has never been done before to a schedule and budget that you've set, achieve the performance you set out to do, and as a result create a new weapons system that is a generation ahead of what the rest of the world has,” he said.

“The expectation that people generally have, which is that you are going to do that perfectly, is unrealistic and leads to a lot of problems, but that's the job and managing that complexity is at the heart of what we have to do.”

In working with industry, Kendall said in his belief the right approach was a businesslike, cordial one that understood each other's interests and fostered win-win outcomes that gave a reasonable profit to industry, and even better returns if they performed particularly well.

Kendall said cost overruns had come down significantly in recent years. Speaking about ‘should cost’, he told of how he was constantly pressuring his 150-odd program managers to find new targets for cost reduction and then take action to meet them.

“I would still get a few who would say ‘I'm all fine, I'm still under budget’– that's not the definition of success in my opinion.

"If there's any one thing we've done in terms of cultural change or a consistent set of policies that affects outcomes – that's it.”

He was concerned about the rapid acquisition trend.

“Rapid acquisition means high risk, low quality acquisition – the cost of speed is quality, and some features that are often discarded in favour of speed are cybersecurity, reliability, maintainability, cost driving features, and say, the ability of the product to work in all climates and terrains.”

He said there were times when rapid acquisition was necessary, citing the US Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles that were rushed into production to provide protection against roadside IEDs in Iraq, but stressed it was “not a panacea to solving your problems”.

Kendall confessed he was a little nervous if the new Trump administration “brings in outsiders who have no idea how the Pentagon works, how the defense industry works”.

He had seen it happen before, relating stories from his earlier years in acquisition when the then administration had thought it would be a good idea to hire commercial industry professionals as Undersecretaries.

“They were good people, but by the end year they started to understand the jungle they were living in ... bringing someone in who does not understand the cultures and the experience in that environment is a dis-service.”

You can download a copy of “Getting Defense Acquisition Right” here. The full speech can be viewed below.