DIU Prototyping

Abstract

The DIU mission is to strengthen U.S. national security by accelerating the adoption of commercial technology throughout the military and growing the national security innovation base. DIU partners with organizations across the Department of Defense (DoD), from the Services and components to combatant commands and defense agencies, to rapidly prototype and field advanced commercial solutions that address national security challenges. With offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, and in the Pentagon, DIU connects its DoD partners with leading technology companies across the country. The 2018 National Defense Strategy asserts that we have returned to an era of inter-state strategic competition with Russia and China, heightening the sense of urgency with which the nation, and Department of Defense (DoD), must reform our acquisition policies and approach to sustaining military-technical superiority. Notably, the critical technologies that forge military-technical superiority are increasingly dual use and rapidly developed by the commercial sector. While adversaries are challenging the U.S. across several dimensions, most importantly, our near peer competitors are at par or ahead of the U.S. in critical technology areas. Consistent with the FY 2020 Office of Management and Budget (OMB)/Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) research and development budget priorities, this new era of competition requires technological superiority to ensure the United States’ ability to project power, maintain international norms and rule of law, to provide credible deterrence, and prevail in conflict. DIU increases the Department's access to leading-edge commercial technologies and talent, with the ultimate goal of accelerating innovation into the hands of the warfighter. Working across the country, and in collaboration with allied international partners, DIU is developing new ways of doing business, growing our national security innovation base to include more "non-traditional" companies that had previously not collaborated with the military, working with traditional vendors in novel ways to increase efficiency, and challenging innovators to share their knowledge and expertise in support of our nation's defense. Through a competitive prototype process, DIU identifies and provides access to technology companies and products on behalf of DoD organizations. Additionally, DIU executes projects to leverage commercial sector technology analogous to military applications thereby increasing dual-use technology agility for the DoD. DIU Prototyping funds facilitate the award of projects that can augment commercial technologies, existing government-owned capabilities, or concepts for defense application. DIU focus on six technology areas where commercial industry is the lead: •Advanced Energy and Materials - Leveraging proven advancement in energy and materials technology to enhance capabilities and strengthen resilience across installation and distributed operations. •Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) – Applying AI/ML learning to accelerate critical decision making and operation impact. •Autonomy – Adopting and countering autonomous systems with a focus on human-machine interaction and scalable teaming. •Cyber – Making enterprise combat information open, accessible, and secure for defense personnel across the globe. •Human Systems – Optimizing the human system and its enabling platforms through enhanced equipment, innovative training, and novel health applications. •Space – Developing on-demand access to space, persistent satellite capabilities, and broadband space data transfer.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2022
• Source ID: 0604341D8Z_4_0400_PB_2022
• Change Summary Explanation: The FY 2021 increase supports Gig Eagle, a real-time talent market platform, and NSIC to support dual-use hardware startups. Project 844 NSIC was initially requested in the FY 2020 President's Budget submission; however, FY 2021 is the first year the project receives funding. The FY 2022 funding request was reduced by $2.200 million to account for the availability of prior year execution balances.
• Service Agency Name: Office of the Secretary Of Defense

Entities

Organizations

• Office of the Secretary of Defense

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Advanced Electronics
• Autonomy
• Biomedical
• Engineered Resilient Systems
• Human Systems
• Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Acquisition
• Air Force
• Artificial Intelligence
• Autonomous Systems
• Data Transmission
• Department Of Defense
• Engineering
• Human-Machine Interaction
• Leading Edges
• Machine Learning
• Military Applications
• Military Personnel
• National Security
• Product Development
• Small Business
• Space Systems
• United States

Readers

• Defense Technology Research and Development.

Technology Areas

• AI & ML
• AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy
• Autonomy
• Cyber
• Space