Key Takeaways from DoD’s 2025 Acquisition Report
DoD's Acquisition Reform Report; Indonesia Engages with India and Japan; France and the Indo-Pacific
Hub Story: DoD Announces Acquisition Reform Plan
Spoke Story: Indonesia's Hedging Strategy with India and Japan
Spoke Story: France Leads Indo-Pacific Exercise
Alliance Insights: Key Articles This Week
Hub Story: DoD Announces Acquisition Reform Plan
The US Department of Defense released its 2025 report on overhauling its acquisition process to improve agility, flexibility, and alignment with national strategies. Reforms focus on modernizing data sharing, enhancing decision-making tools, and strengthening workforce capabilities, guided by recommendations from the Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) Reform. These updates aim to ensure the process is effective, efficient, and adaptable to evolving threats by 2028. DoD’s acquisition process comes under constant fire for being slow and inflexible. Despite DoD leadership saying acquisition reform is a top priority, a recent study by the Government Accountability Office found that since 2020 “the average amount of time for major defense acquisition programs to deliver capability increased from 8 to 11 years.”
While DoD’s 2025 implementation report adopts 26 of the Commission’s 28 recommendations, it is much less ambitious in scope. The Commission outlined a pathway to fundamentally restructure defense acquisition, completely replacing the current PPBE system with a new Defense Resourcing System (DRS). This is how the current PPBE system is broadly organized:
Planning: This phase involves setting strategic goals and objectives, assessing threats and opportunities, and determining resource requirements for defense programs and acquisitions.
Programming: During programming, specific programs and projects are identified and prioritized based on the strategic goals established in the planning phase. This includes outlining timelines, budget estimates, and resource allocations.
Budgeting: In this phase, detailed budget proposals are developed based on the programs and projects identified in the programming phase. It involves allocating funds to support acquisitions and other defense-related activities.
Execution: Execution involves implementing the programs and projects as funded through the budgeting phase. This includes contract awards, project management, and overseeing the delivery of goods and services.
The Commission recommends replacing PPBE with DRS, which is organized into three phases: strategy, resource allocation, and execution.
The Commission argues that this new process offers several advantages. It improves the connection between strategic goals and resource allocation by providing clearer guidance, particularly in terms of risk-taking and force structure. By consolidating programming and budgeting phases, it reduces duplication and conflicting outcomes, streamlining the process. Senior leaders will have better visibility into programs and initiatives, ensuring consistent decisions throughout the process. The consolidation of IT systems will create efficiencies and reduce organizational complexity. Ultimately, the DRS aims to simplify the budget process, improve strategic decision-making, and save time in preparing budget materials.
The new 2025 PPBE implementation report completely scraps the main thrust of the Commission’s recommendation for a new acquisition process, but adopts the rest of the recommendations to reform PPBE. DoD’s report structures the recommendations into four buckets:
Objective 1: Strengthen and simplify strategy to budget to capability to successfully deliver on our strategic priorities in a complex, ever-changing, geopolitical environment.
Objective 2: Modernize and simplify information sharing between DoD and Congress to effectively present and defend the equities of the Department.
Objective 3: Modernize and simplify financial management, defense business systems, and end-to-end environment to empower data-driven, fiscally informed, strategic decision-making.
Objective 4: Invest in today's and tomorrow's workforce to develop and recruit an agile and adaptable civilian service.
The US government has been attempting to reform acquisition for years with little success. The Biden administration was never likely to make the tough decisions required for radical reform. While the DRS may create more problems than it solves, given the growing threats, evolving enemy capabilities, and an atrophied American defense industrial base, leadership must take action to address these challenges.
Spoke Story: Indonesia's Hedging Strategy with India and Japan
Indonesia is strengthening its strategic partnerships with middle powers like India and Japan to enhance defense and economic cooperation while navigating the growing influence of China. In talks with Indian Prime Minister Modi, Indonesian President Prabowo emphasized defense manufacturing, maritime security, and regional stability, while also pursuing greater economic collaboration. Similarly, in discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba, Indonesia seeks to balance relations with major powers by fostering closer ties with Japan in defense, energy, and technology, aiming to avoid over-reliance on any single country.
Like many other nations, Indonesia seeks to balance its relations between China and the United States. Prabowo’s embrace of India and Japan reflects how countries will increasingly turn to middle powers to hedge against great powers. While Washington should deepen ties with countries like Indonesia, policymakers should recognize that Indonesia is seeking to strengthen ties with American partners such as India, Japan, and Australia. In 2024, Kurt Campbell was criticized for ‘deputizing’ Australia by allowing it to take the lead in relations with the Pacific islands, but this strategic approach is largely correct. The United States should rely on close allies and partners to build relationships in regions where Washington faces challenges.
India will be a critical partner to support. India's defense exports have increased by over 30 times in the last decade, with the US now accounting for nearly 50% of these exports, demonstrating the deepening defense ties between the two nations. This surge, bolstered by American companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin collaborating with Indian manufacturers, highlights India's growing role as a defense supplier. As India continues to expand its defense capabilities, the US should further embrace this partnership to enhance regional security and technological collaboration, particularly in the face of growing geopolitical tensions.
Indonesia and Japan have strengthened their partnership through concrete actions, such as Japan providing significant security assistance, including patrol boats, radar systems, and drones, to enhance Indonesia’s maritime security. In 2023, Japan also granted Indonesia two monitoring ships to help secure its waters, particularly the North Natuna Sea, where both nations have a shared interest in upholding international maritime law. Despite some differences in their approaches to China, these defense collaborations reflect a growing and durable relationship, exemplified by Japan’s plans to invest in Indonesia’s maritime capabilities over the next decade.
As the United States continues to struggle with its relationships with countries like Indonesia, assisting partner nations such as India and Japan in making inroads will be critical.
Spoke Story: France Leads Indo-Pacific Exercise
This past week the United States participated in the 2025 La Perouse exercise. Led by the French Carrier Strike Group, the exercise brings together a range of allied and partner nations, including the US, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, to enhance maritime security and interoperability in Southeast Asia's critical straits. The exercise aims to improve cooperation in maritime surveillance, interdiction, and air operations, with the French Navy focusing on regional security and information-sharing through the Indo-Pacific Information Sharing platform. Despite participating in separate national phases, Southeast Asian nations like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore continue to engage with international partners to bolster regional security in the face of rising maritime threats.
USNI News: French Carrier Charles de Gaulle Kicks Off La Perouse Exercise in South East Asia:
“La Perouse 25 is divided into three locations – the Malacca Strait, the Sunda Strait and the Lombok Strait. The objective of the exercise is to provide maritime safety in the three critical straits through the French Navy operating with regional and international partners and sharing information and coordinating actions against multiple threats by using the Indo-Pacific Information Sharing platform (IORIS).
The La Pérouse 2025 exercise and France's broader strategic engagement in the Indo-Pacific carry significant geopolitical implications. By leading this multinational maritime security exercise with nations like the US, India, Australia, and Japan, France reaffirms its commitment to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, demonstrating the importance of multilateral cooperation in securing critical maritime chokepoints. The exercise enhances interoperability among regional powers, fostering stronger defense relationships that improve collective crisis response capabilities in one of the world’s most strategically important regions. Furthermore, France’s ability to project military power with its nuclear-capable Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier serves as a powerful symbol of European influence in a region increasingly dominated by the US-China rivalry. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a European nuclear power, France's actions signal its intention to balance the influence of other major powers in the region, positioning itself as a stabilizing force in an era of rising tensions over maritime sovereignty and international law.
Alliance Insights: Key Articles This Week
Japan:
Nikkei Asia: Japan's top diplomat to lay out Tokyo's red lines to Trump administration
Breaking Defense: Japan inks deal with Shield AI for sea-based V-BAT drones
Nikkei Asia: Japan to handle stealth tech for fighter developed with U.K. and Italy
India:
Nikkei Asia: India seeks 'complementary' partnership in chip industry with Japan
Breaking Defense: India joins Eurodrone effort as observer nation
South Korea:
Brookings: How will South Korea navigate US-China competition in 2025?
Breaking Defense: Will S. Korea’s drama cause problems, or savings, for Poland’s large weapon buys?
The Philippines:
Australia:
INDOPACOM:
Comm, Clear and Connected: The 8th Communication Squadron keeps Beverly Pack 25-1 connected
Australian Secretary of the Department of Defence visits U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
Other: