A less-discussed feature of the Senate defense authorization bill would shift the burden of research and development costs from the government to industry, a defense budget expert said Tuesday. Andrew Hunter, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said the Senate’s change in military contracting rules includes a 1 percent penalty con cost-plus contracts. There was a time when “the DOD drove research and development elsewhere in the US and worldwide. But today that is not even close to being true,” Hunter said during a budget discussion at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. The penalty, Hunter said, would incentivize fixed-cost contracts in which a military contractor takes on the risks related to research and development of new technologies. This shift signals a “new era where new technologies will not be developed on the government dime,” he said.
As Hurricane Melissa hammers the Caribbean, the U.S. Air Force’s “Hurricane Hunters” are busy flying into the massive Category 4 storm to collect atmospheric data—with one experiencing greater than expected turbulence Oct. 28.
