Pentagon Must Address Modernization Quandary.

• Author: Wostenberg, Rebecca
• Position: Emerging Technology Horizons

Since the Cold War ended, several factors have converged presenting the perfect storm of national security challenges for the Defense Department and the United States writ large.

A series of decisions--or lack of decisions--resulted in delayed defense modernization programs. Near-peer competitors, such as China and Russia, are dramatically increasing their capability while the U.S. faces an erosion of domestic industrial capacity in critical sectors. And the Pentagon now is under significant budget pressure as it maintains legacy systems and capabilities, while responding to the needs and expectations of executive branch leadership, Congress and the American people. This is the modernization quandary.

Earlier this summer, the Emerging Technologies Institute (ETI) hosted the first workshop in an ongoing series focused on accelerating the delivery of emerging technologies into the hands of American warfighters. ETI published a report with the key findings to continue the conversation. The report centered on prioritizing the technologies to maximize capability for cost, examining process changes to improve delivery, and reducing legislative barriers to fielding the technologies.

Given current budget constraints, it will take a concerted effort--with Congress, industry and academia--to streamline processes and increase the tolerance for risk in technology development. Updating acquisition processes and leveraging existing authorities for flexibility and transparency will be necessary, as will strengthened communication between Congress and the Defense Department.

A common theme throughout the report is the importance of digital engineering. Put simply, digital engineering would allow the department to create "digital twins" or a digital representation of a real-world object. As the report highlights, this can have dramatic impacts on reducing costs and accelerating timelines for defense acquisitions. While industry embraced digital engineering some time ago, the Pentagon lags in incorporating this approach. The department must accelerate this process and should emulate digital engineering and data collection techniques used by industry. At the same time, the DoD must clearly define ownership, use and protection as it relates to data and intellectual property in order to successfully transition to digital engineering.

Another key takeaway is that acquisition and budget processes are antiquated and must be overhauled to allow for increased...