Pentagon strategy urges faster tech transition, more collaboration

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s newly unveiled science and technology strategy calls for better coordination among the military services, more urgency in fielding the latest technology, and greater investment in the department’s physical and digital test and lab infrastructure.

The unclassified version of the strategy, released May 9 , highlights two forces that are driving the Defense Department’s push for more partnerships among the services and the rapid fielding of new capabilities: a threat environment that’s growing in complexity, and a commercial marketplace “infused with private investment” that the department can leverage.

“The DoD must be more proactive with its engagements with the private sector to make the right investments to capitalize on emerging technologies, as well as to preempt adversary attempts to do the same by protecting critical and emerging technologies early in the development cycle,” the document states. “We must also solve increasingly complex security challenges that involve science and technology.”

Heidi Shyu, who serves as the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, and her team developed the strategy over the last year , which Congress required in the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.

The 11-page document outlines how the department will harness emerging technology to counter threats from Russia and China. Those threats include cyberattacks on the DoD’s supply chain, biological warfare and advances in offensive space capabilities — all areas that correspond with “critical technology areas” the Pentagon has prioritized in recent years.

Nina Kollars, an adviser to Shyu, told reporters in a May 8 briefing the department will deliver an implementation plan to Congress in the next three months.

In the area of collaborative warfighting, the strategy notes that funding for emerging technology must be part of a “carefully crafted” plan that’s coordinated among the military services to avoid duplication or waste.

Kollars said that along with supporting more joint demonstrations through programs like the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve , the strategy highlights a need for more “rigorous, threat-informed analysis” to underpin those experiments and help determine which projects should transition to the field.

“What is particularly important to the building at this point is ensuring we have investments in modeling and simulation and rigorous analysis,” she said. “All of those elements ... will help us identify what it is exactly that we should be getting after in terms of budgetary investment.”

The document also emphasizes the role international partnerships play in strengthening science and technology development. It calls for an expansion of existing multilateral agreements in order to increase production capacity among allies and strengthen overall deterrence.

Asked whether the strategy supports the easing of export controls and other international technology-sharing policies, Kollars declined to offer specifics, but said those details would likely be “hashed out” as part of the implementation plan.

The document doesn’t recommend specific infrastructure investments, but does link the DoD’s technological superiority to the quality of its lab and test environments. The department last year identified a $5 billion funding shortfall for key infrastructure modernization projects.

Kollars said infrastructure — both physical labs as well as digital modeling and simulation capabilities — is “on the forefront of the minds of everyone in the DoD.”

“We cannot make a 21st century force with 20th century infrastructure,” she said.

Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

华盛顿——五角大楼最新公布的科技战略要求加强各军种之间的协调，加快最新技术的部署，并加大对国防部实体和数字测试及实验室基础设施的投资。

5 月 9 日发布的非机密版战略重点强调了推动国防部加强各军种间合作和快速部署新能力的两大因素：日益复杂的威胁环境，以及国防部可以利用的“充满私人投资”的商业市场。

文件指出：“国防部必须更加积极主动地与私营部门合作，进行正确的投资以充分利用新兴技术，并通过在研发早期阶段保护关键和新兴技术，先发制人地阻止对手采取类似行动。我们还必须解决日益复杂的涉及科学技术的安全挑战。”

负责研究和工程的国防部副部长海蒂·舒和她的团队在过去一年中制定了这项战略，这是国会在 2022 财年国防授权法案中要求的。

这份11页的文件概述了国防部将如何利用新兴技术应对来自俄罗斯和中国的威胁。这些威胁包括针对国防部供应链的网络攻击、生物战以及进攻性太空能力的进步——所有这些都与五角大楼近年来优先考虑的“关键技术领域”相吻合。

Shyu 的顾问 Nina Kollars 在 5 月 8 日的新闻发布会上告诉记者，该部门将在未来三个月内向国会提交一份实施计划。

在协同作战领域，该战略指出，对新兴技术的资助必须纳入一个“精心制定的”计划，该计划需要在各军种之间进行协调，以避免重复或浪费。

科拉尔斯表示，除了通过快速防御实验储备等计划支持更多联合演示外，该战略还强调需要进行更多“严格的、以威胁为导向的分析”，以支撑这些实验，并帮助确定哪些项目应该过渡到实地应用。

她表示：“目前对这座建筑而言，尤其重要的是确保我们在建模、仿真和严谨分析方面进行投资。所有这些要素……都将帮助我们明确预算投资的真正目标。”

该文件还强调了国际伙伴关系在加强科技发展方面发挥的作用。它呼吁扩大现有的多边协议，以提高盟国的生产能力并加强整体威慑力。

当被问及该战略是否支持放宽出口管制和其他国际技术共享政策时，科拉尔斯拒绝提供具体细节，但他表示，这些细节可能会在实施计划中“敲定”。

该文件并未提出具体的基建投资建议，但确实将国防部的技术优势与其实验室和测试环境的质量联系起来。国防部去年发现，关键基础设施现代化项目存在50亿美元的资金缺口。

科拉尔斯表示，基础设施——包括物理实验室以及数字建模和仿真能力——“是国防部所有人最为关注的问题”。

“我们不能用20世纪的基础设施打造21世纪的军队，”她说。

Courtney Albon是C4ISRNET的太空和新兴技术记者。自2012年以来，她一直报道美国军方新闻，重点关注空军和太空军。她曾报道过国防部一些最重要的采购、预算和政策挑战。