As America’s strategic opponents advance their technological benefit, the U.S. should take motion to keep away from dropping its edge, stated the undersecretary of protection for analysis and engineering.
On Capitol Hill Thursday, Heidi Shyu instructed lawmakers on the Home Armed Providers Committee what the Protection Division should do to keep up its technological benefit. Step one, she stated, is constructing a powerful basis for analysis and growth inside the division. The second, she stated, is altering how DOD does enterprise.
“Each robust construction wants to face on a stable basis to make sure this nation retains our edge and fuels the long run applied sciences and capabilities,” Shyu instructed lawmakers. “We should make a dedication to science and expertise, significantly in primary analysis.”
Shyu stated the division should, amongst different issues, improve efforts to draw the perfect expertise, should construct extra strong and mandatory infrastructure for R&D, should carry out joint experimentation and should do higher at collaborating throughout the expertise ecosystem.
“If we anticipate the division to draw the world’s finest and brightest, to supply state-of-the-art applied sciences, we should modernize our laboratories and check ranges,” she stated. “The way forward for the division is dependent upon proficient individuals, and we’re dedicated to growing this expertise.”
As a part of that dedication, she stated, the division has invested in a wide range of workforce, academic and analysis packages starting from Okay-12 robotic methods to STEM scholarships and social science analysis.
The Protection Division has traditionally been a frontrunner in R&D and nonetheless is. However now, within the U.S., the personal sector’s capability for R&D — with out the DOD’s involvement — has exploded, Shyu stated.
“As seen in Ukraine, novel industrial expertise, paired with typical weapons, can change the character of battle,” she stated. “The division’s processes, starting from programming, to experimentation, to collaboration, needs to be up to date to mirror the dynamic panorama of right now and anticipate the wants of tomorrow.”
The U.S. personal sector, Shyu stated, is America’s aggressive benefit.
“We should deal with enhancing how the federal government and personal sector work collectively,” she stated. “I’m dedicated to working with you to make sure the division can transfer as shortly as potential because it engages with the personal sector, and the entire innovation ecosystem, to quickly transition expertise to future capabilities.”