Forging the Defense Industrial Base for the Digital Age

“The tech bros aren’t helping us too much [in Ukraine].”

That was Dr. Bill LaPlante, DoD’s top acquisition executive, at a recent defense conference.

He also said: “If somebody gives you a really cool liquored up story about a DIU [project] or OTA [contract] ask them when it’s going into production, ask them how many numbers, ask them what the [unit cost] is going to be, ask them how it will work against China. Ask them all those questions because that’s what matters. And don’t tell me it’s got AI and quantum in it. I don’t care.”