FROM THE AAE
The American way of war is war through logistics.
to handle with more traditional missile- and air-defense systems.
Having done all this research, we are now confronting the high cost of producing these directed-energy systems. Tat’s a significant barrier to overcome as we want to field directed-energy systems across the Army at scale. So, in this case, it’s a question of technology refinement versus perhaps pure invention. We’ve overcome great technical hurdles in directed energy, but we now need innovative technical solutions to refining these technologies so we can affordably produce them at scale.
Counterhypersonics. A fourth area is counterhypersonic technologies. Much has been made of advances in the area of offensive hypersonic weapons. Te Army is one of the leading services in DOD, developing its own offensive hypersonic weapon systems. However, matching an enemy missile for missile in this area could prove very costly and still leave our forces vulnerable to enemy systems. So, we need help in finding innovative ways to coun- ter hypersonic weapons in an affordable way. Innovation that offsets an opponent’s technology in a way that imposes costs on them is the kind of thing that DOD has excelled at in the past, and we need that kind of innovation now in the area of counterhypersonics.
SECURING CAPABILITY Another important issue I’m working on is not only finding innovative technolo- gies, but also moving them from research
HELP WANTED
While the Army has many outstanding scientists, a far wider circle of the science and technology community, both in government and the private sector, is required to achieve its goals. (Photo by Richard M. Arndt, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center)
to production across the so-called “valley of death.”
First, we are formalizing new strategies to improve transition from science and tech- nology labs to program executive offices, to ensure that innovative technology has a landing spot and, more importantly, funding in place when ready to take it into production. Making sure that govern- ment funding is in place at the right time is something we have long struggled with, so progress in this area is very important. Successful transition ultimately comes down to invested personnel and manag- ers in our laboratories and our program offices being held accountable to success- fully manage transition within the labs and product line teams.
Second, we are trying to make sure we do a better job of communicating with innovators both inside and outside the
government on what the Army needs. Te Army is a big place with a lot of people with great ideas doing great work, so I can see how it’s difficult to find the right spots to find out what’s really a priority and what’s likely to get funded if we develop the technology. We need to do a better job of coordinating our needs and commu- nicating them through trusted sources of information, so innovation communities can find the answers and know exactly who in the Army to work with on a given issue. Also, and this is critical, there has to be an actual need for the system to do a useful function in the military, and then the technical research side of how to fund the research and get it into acquisition.
Overall, our focus must remain on collab- oration, cooperation and unity of effort to ensure our joint warfighters are ready to deter adversaries and, if necessary, fight and win in combat.
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