Identifying Opportunities to Take Point with Technology
Technology serves as one of the many ways the United States, its allies and peer or near-peer competitors can gain an advantage in the Great Power Competition. The speakers at DAU’s Flagship Event of the Summer took multiple approaches to finding ways to use technology to solve materiel and personnel challenges facing the Department of Defense (DoD). The speakers discussed going beyond developing new technology to ensure it gets delivered to the warfighters at speed and scale. This starts with finding ways to overcome the “Valley of Death.”
Adopting an Adopter’s Mindset
Justin Fanelli, Chief Technology Officer, Department of the Navy and Technical Director, Program Executive Office (PEO) Digital, defined the valley of death as “the challenges and lagging time between the innovation of a new technology and delivering it to the warfighter.” Overcoming the valley of death has been a major focal point for acquisition professionals for more than a decade, and Fanelli proposed one method to get over the valley by using the Innovation Adoption Kit. “The Innovation Adoption Kit is available to everyone,” Fanelli said. “We don’t have an innovation problem in this country. We have an innovation adoption problem.”
That problem crystalized for Fanelli during his career when he realized that despite feeling ready to take on the world, he was repeatedly cautioned to avoid one fight: “the bureaucracy.” Yet, throughout his career, he realized that the bureaucracy might be a bigger foe than he thought, despite never finding it. “Maybe, we’re all the bureaucracy. Our organization’s bureaucracy, its software, tells us to be perfect,” Fanelli said. “We’re playing not to lose…and that has seen us dither away a 20-year advantage.”
Adopting innovative ideas is authorized, Fanelli explained, stating that new authorities, the pace of technology, the exponential increase in data – all of it requires innovation to manage and overcome. “We’re allowed to play to win,” he said.
He pointed to three “plays” that his PEO has successfully used to run 21 pilots and to end the valley of death, highlighting “investment horizons, road mapping and top level requirements,” though he noted that all of the plays are available and finding the right play to improve acquisition outcomes will be key to “adopting smarter.”
With the warfighter on the opposite end of the valley of death, Fanelli encouraged the acquisition community to adopt early, grab a kit and to work on speaking a common language to improve transition rates.
“Taking Point means adopting what someone else is doing,” Fanelli said. “We must turn our bureaucracy into an enabling organization for the first time in our lives.”
Innovating DoD’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance
AI governance is one area where innovation and adoption are proving vital to DoD getting ahead with this new technology. Whether it's leveraging the Responsible AI Toolkit or updating the AI Adoption Strategy, DoD is maintaining a leadership position on AI. While both lay people and experts are struggling to understand AI, it is becoming increasingly grounded in everyday life. AI images, chat bots and tools are being used personally and professionally, and DoD must adopt this new capability.
At DoD, experts are working together to find out how to adopt AI in software. The Office of Industrial Base Resilience is currently seeking input from the public to help guide DoD in crafting AI policies to support the Defense Industrial Base and defense systems. The government is also leveraging AI to better serve the public via an AI use case inventory. To lead in the acquisition community, DoD will need to find ways to adopt AI, ensure proper governance and maintain secure AI systems.
Interested in learning more about AI and DoD? Take Point by registering now for the AI Foundations for DoD Credential. View a recent TED talk from Helen Toner, AI policy researcher and former board member of OpenAI, is available here.
Reigniting U.S. Munitions: Fortify Our Defense Ecosystem
Will Durant, President, Energetics Technology Center, provided a clear-cut example of where DoD is innovating and delivering value to the warfighter. He began by describing the initial problem: should the U.S. be forced to respond to a peer or near-peer threat, munitions will last approximately two weeks. “Energetic materials are in rocket motors and warheads,” Durant said. “[They are] the point of the spear to cause lethal effect on target when called to act. These stockpiles exhaust faster than they can be replenished.”
This situation is clearly unacceptable – extended engagements with peer or near-peer competitors are unlikely to resolve in two weeks' time. “U.S. munitions must have speed, range, signature management and lethal effect,” Durant said, outlining other needs alongside the lacking stockpile. To maintain deterrence, Durant explained, the U.S. military must demonstrate “readiness, responsiveness and sustainability. Without sustainability, we have no deterrence, and our enemies know this.”
This requires the ability to produce munitions in quantity of sufficient quality to have a deterrent effect. Alongside the materials, Durant also said that DoD must develop a skilled workforce to handle the materials and rigorous safety procedures needed to manage energetic materials. Currently, the U.S. is finding ways to expand the chemical supply chain to remove dependency on China.
“The newest energetic material was 80 years ago during World War II,” Durant said. “Targeting systems, safe handling systems have improved, but in a nuclear competition, we’re behind.” The U.S. is behind as Russia and China have developed new, higher performing energetic materials. “China doesn’t face the valley of death,” Durant said, allowing China to “develop, scale and transition new, higher energetic weapon systems that will outperform the U.S.”
To meet this challenge and regain superiority, Durant said that the acquisition community must revisit the existing system, starting at requirements and updating the entire lifecycle. The previous acquisition system – the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution Process – was implemented decades ago. Forming proper requirements is necessary to getting a product over the valley of death.
“System level advances can be met with technology other than new energetic materials,” Durant explained. Without proper requirements, there is no cause for testing or transferring potential solutions from the lab to the field. While new systems might be short-term solutions, they will ultimately fail to keep pace with new energetic materials developed by China or Russia.
DoD is finding ways to solve these problems, including the new Joint Energetics Transition Office. “This is the first definitive step in 40 years to get warfighters an edge at the energetic weapon component level,” Durant said. Innovative solutions, updated and new requirements, technology and preparing a workforce capable of solving these challenges are all part of the next steps to securing DoD’s munitions supply.
To get over the valley of death and deliver capabilities at speed and scale, DoD must “consider capability advancements at the component level,” Durant said. Only by issuing new requirements and addressing the production shortfall can DoD ensure the “warfighter has enough supply of necessary munitions.”
Innovation and Technology
Innovating new technology and finding ways to leverage existing technology is key to winning the future. As Fanelli stated, “You’re the difference between the last 10 and next 5 years.”
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Matthew Sablan