The FY 1981 Department of Defense Program for Research, Development, and Acquisition.
Abstract
The challenge a head is formidable. We are behind quantitatively in deployed equipment and are falling further behind because of disparities in equipment production rates. While we are still ahead in defense technology, we are in danger of losing that advantage because of massive Soviet spending in defense R&D. But we also have some distinctive advantages: a superior technological base, a competitive industry with greater productivity, and allies with a substantial industrial capability. In order to meet the formidable challenge we face, our investment strategy must fully exploit these substantial advantages. Our overriding near term need is to get on with the modernization of our forces. Our technology is of little to our armed forces when it is not embodied in operational equipment. Most of our ground forces weapon systems now deployed--our main battle tank, our armored personnel carrier, our air defense gun missile, our attack helicopter--were developed during the fifties and entered production in the sixties. As a consequence they simply do not incorporate current technology, and they provide maintenance and support problems created by their age. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA086014
Entities
Organizations
- United States Department of Defense