Unconventional and emerging armament committee formed.

• Author: Hartman, Dan
• Position: ASSOCIATION BRIEFS

* The November 2011 National Defense article, "10 technologies the US. Military Will Need for the Next War," noted that there has been an innovation gap in the Defense Department's research and development programs. This has caused the U.S. military to assume a reactionary posture to enemy tactics.

To address the innovations necessary to eliminate these gaps is going to require creative thinking by developers and the utilization of existing technologies in novel ways. The Unconventional and Emerging Armament (U&EA) Committee of the Armaments Division of the National Defense Industrial Association was recently formed to establish a forum whereby all forms of nontraditional, unconventional armaments and technologies at any stage of development can be show-cased.

One of the highlights from the article was the military's need for nonlethal weapons technology, specifically directed-energy weapons. This is a large and wide-open category of armaments that encompasses all forms of energy--microwave, laser, electrical, chemical, etc.--and is ripe for innovation. The U&EA would like to foster that innovation. Currently there are many nonlethal and less-than-lethal weapons used in law enforcement and peacekeeping operations. Improving and adapting these technologies to make them suitable for combat operations offers another spectrum of improved capabilities to be addressed by this new committee.

The public expects that nonlethal weapons are just that, but can any weapons truly be nonlethal? The Defense Department's stance on the weapons is that they don't have to have a zero probability of producing fatalities or permanent injuries--just a minimal probability. These are all topics that can be addressed at the U&EA meetings.

Other areas of interest within the Defense...