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The Unseen Cost: Industrial Base Consequences of Defense Strategy Choices
Since World War II, the U.S. defense industrial base has been a critical part of America’s economic and military elements of power. The Department of Defense (DoD), however, has traditionally made decisions on its strategic postures — what kind of wars to prepare for and how to prepare for them — with the belief that the defense industry would be able to support whatever course DoD set. This belief is no longer valid. A significant gap has developed between DoD’s view of industry as an always-ready supplier of military capabilities and how industry actually makes decisions on what capabilities to offer. And that gap is widening.
Publication Date: July 2009

 

Modernizing Defense Logistics
The initiative to modernize Defense logistics has high payoff potential for the new Administration.  They can produce significant savings though accelerating more efficient government practices and processes.
Publication Date: July 2009

 

Aerospace Industry Guidelines for Implementing Interoperability Standards for Engineering Data
The purpose of this document is to provide strategic and tactical guidance for the adoption by industry of a common standard-based information backbone. This will enable interoperability for product definition data across the aerospace industry and throughout the product life cycle. It is for use by acquirers and suppliers at all tiers in support of engineering data interoperability. The general principles and processes outlined in these guidelines are applicable to any engineering data interoperability solution. The use of a common backbone creates advantages for all stakeholders throughout the supply chain, from design and production to consumption and operation. Adopting standards-based data exchanges to create interoperability of engineering data reduces the cost, risk, complexity and increases the speed of working with suppliers and partners at any level.
Publication Date: February 2009


The Role of Space in Addressing America's National Priorities
This report underscores how deeply space plays a role in the everyday lives of our citizens and how space has become a vital part of both our economy and national security. While the United States still enjoys a leadership position in spaceflight, satellite services and national security space operations, that lead is perishable. Our nation has many areas of international cooperation in space ventures, but we also have credible competitors with the vision and resources to equal or even supplant our dominance — a situation that would adversely affect both our economy and national security. In a very real sense the "space race" is far from over: We might not be racing, but our global competitors certainly are.
Publication Date: January 2009


A Special Report: Launching the 21st Century American Aerospace Workforce
The long-term vitality of the U.S. aerospace workforce is a priority issue for AIA. This report is a starting point for the aerospace industry to collectively recommend and develop solutions to overcome the problem. And it is an invitation for government and like-minded stakeholders to partner with us in designing those solutions.
Publication Date: December 2008

 

U.S. Defense Acquisition: An Agenda for Positive Reform
There has been substantial expansion of acquisition-related legislation in the national defense authorization acts passed during the past 10 years. Since the late 1990s, the number of acquisition provisions put in place by Congress has increased by three-to-four fold. In the past two years alone, the number has approached 100. At the same time, there is a trend towards budget growth and workforce reduction, which impacts the ability of acquisition officials to operate efficiently and in compliance with all rules and laws. AIA believes that now is the time to address those imbalances in the defense acquisition system and take action for positive reform. This report provides an overview of the acquisition system, and offers recommendations for improvement.
Publication Date: November 2008


A Recommendation to the Department of Defense to Adopt the S1000D – the International Specification for Technical Documentation
There is industry consensus that S1000D ought to be the preferred specification for all technical documentation procured by the Department of Defense. S1000D addresses and corrects many problems related to technical data management and concurrency. Included in those problems is the inability to keep training content current with authoritative technical sources. S1000D enables all technical documentation in support of a common system, including training, to be accurate and current throughout a system's life cycle process. This white paper outlay the benefits of S1000D.
Publication Date: October 2008


Launch into Aerospace
Alarmed over the critical need to develop the next generation of workers for America's aerospace industry, AIA's member companies have committed to an agenda to strengthen the workforce of the future in this report. "Launch into Aerospace" identifies the goals and actions the industry will take to address the workforce challenge.
Publication Date: September 2008


U.S. Defense Modernization: Today's Choices for Tomorrow's Readiness
With a new administration and Congress taking office soon, AIA is working to ensure that policymakers understand the major questions they will face next year. This report provides specific recommendations and cost of failure consequences for nine weapon system sectors in addition to logistics and science and technology activities. It details the policy choices outlined in the earlier AIA paper, "U.S. Defense Modernization: Readiness Now and for the Future".
Publication Date: August 2008

Survey documenting Stakeholder expectation of the transition to lead-free electronics in Aerospace and high performance electronics
There is an apparent lack of industry information or consensus as to when major lead-free events will occur in the global electronics industry, for example, when can we expect significant unavailability of lead-bearing components for use in aerospace systems, or, when will avionics assembly facilities face significant pressure to implement lead-free assembly alloys?  Although there are certainly many qualifications and uncertainties regarding the available information, it may be worthwhile for the AIA-GEIA-AMC Lead-free Electronics in Aerospace Project Working Group (LEAP WG) to make an effort to develop a lead-free timeline.  A “timeline team” was convened by the AIA LEAP Working Group and after several meetings established an approach which took the form of a survey. This survey addresses key issues and questions framed in a time period of the next one to two years, then out to five and finally ten years and beyond.
Publication Date: August 2008


U.S. Defense Modernization: Readiness Now and for the Future
U.S. military readiness is at risk due to rising defense operations and maintenance costs and ballooning personnel expenditures. This report examines dynamics within the defense budget that threaten future readiness, and outlines the consequences of using Defense Department investment accounts as a discretionary bill payer.
Publication Date: April 2008


Engineering Data Interoperability - A Standards Based Approach
Across the aerospace industry, the need for efficient data exchange has never been greater. Aerospace companies have increasingly focused on the role of systems integrator, relying on partners and suppliers to provide significant portions of their aircraft designs. Meeting the requirement for integration and collaboration, however, has been costly and time-consuming given the disparate set of applications and methods typically employed.presents. This White Paper summarizes the AIA Engineering Data Interoperability Group's activities, their related findings, and their recommendations.
Publication date: March 2008


How the Aerospace Industry is Facing the Lead-free Challenge
The Lead-free in Aerospace Project-Working Group has released a white paper on European Union directives that, in 2006, banned certain chemicals and compounds crucial to electronic equipment and aerospace production. The group; which includes AIA, the Avionics Maintenence Conference and the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association; summarizes guidelines and standards to meet the challenges of the EU rules.
Publication date: February 2008


Overcoming Barriers to Public Service
The current process of filling senior politically appointed leadership positions in government is not serving our best interests and is repelling the nation's best candidates from public service. Members of the AIA Legal Committee have put together this report – Overcoming Barriers to Public Service – which identifies specific problems keeping highly qualified people from working in important government posts and proposes specific fixes.
Publication date: October 2007


Industry Input to the OSTP on U.S. Earth Observation Policy
It is in the national and economic security interest of the United States to maintain an independent global Earth observation capacity (to provide measurements and monitoring determined to be critical to U.S. interests in global information and attendant infrastructure). Given the documented experience and well established utility of Earth observations from sensors deployed on, over, and under the Earth’s surface, the purpose of this policy is to optimize the U.S. benefits, and provision of, observations to support established and evolving research and operational science applications for society by minimizing systems effects on the data being collected. Additionally this policy is important so U.S. leadership can establish a global information infrastructure and be recognized as a major contributor to this infrastructure into the future.
Publication date: September 2007


Materiel Readiness Modeling and Simulation Capability
An AIA Product Support Committee working group published this report for the Defense Department examining the feasibility of establishing department-wide predictive modeling and analysis capability for weapon system life cycle outcome assessments. These modeling and simulation tools would predict resource-to-outcome sensitivities for such materiel readiness drivers as materiel reliability, materiel down time and total lifecycle costs. The working group determined that such a capability is not only viable but already being applied to some program development and sustainment phases. With this report, the working group details its recommended two-phase implementation plan to address this issue.
Publication date: August 2007


Life Cycle Sustainment: Accomplishing Performance Driven Outcomes through Condition Based Maintenance and Continuous Process Improvement
DoD logistics operations underpin the sustainment of military material readiness. These operations involve the efforts of over 1 million military service members and DoD civilians and are estimated to cost more than $114 billion in FY 2006. DoD material readiness sustainment value streams range from the procurement of consumable parts for minor repairs to the overhaul of entire weapon systems. These value streams involve many diverse organizations, from large industrial activities to forward-deployed units. Properly incentivized through performance based contracting vehicles, Industry can provide life cycle sustainment improvements that yield year-on-year DoD operational cost reductions while providing industry with time based ROI opportunities, through application of proven CPI capabilities at acceptable levels of risk. This paper explores this possibility.
Publication Date: May 2007


Integrated Space Operations Summit (ISOS) Panel Report
The report makes recommendations on the industrial base supporting the space shuttle and the International Space Station, the report of the President's Commission on Moon, Mars, and Beyond, human capital issues, and technology innovation.
Publication date: March 2005


The Future of Aerospace Standardization Report
The report provides recommendations to strengthen the U.S. aerospace standards infrastructure to support and enable the creation, maintenance, and distribution of global aerospace standards, which are value added enablers for the industry.
Publication date: January 2005

Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry
The Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry was established by Congress to examine the political and economic environment the aerospace industry will face in the coming decades and provide recommendations and advice on government policies necessary to maintain a prosperous industry.
Publication date: November 2002