Defense Science Board 2006 Summer Study on 21st Century Strategic Technology Vectors. Volume 1: Main Report

Abstract

For the foreseeable future, U.S. military forces will be called upon to perform a wide range of missions. These include major combat, counter insurgency, stability and reconstruction, countering weapons of mass destruction, homeland defense, and disaster relief. These varied missions present different challenges calling for highly adaptive military forces. One common feature of these missions is the increased responsibility placed on junior leaders and the small teams they lead. This report of the Defense Science Board 2006 Summer Study on 21st Century Strategic Technology Vectors identifies a set of four operational capabilities and their enabling technologies that can support the range of future military missions. In identifying these capabilities, the report defined technology broadly, to include tools enabled by the social sciences as well as the physical and life sciences. A key enabler to all of these capabilities is the availability of ubiquitous, secure, reliable, rapid connectivity among all the sources and users of information. This report recommends ways that DOD can (1) reestablish a tighter integration between DOD's user and technology communities, (2) enrich its capacity to recognize and exploit technology opportunities, (3) establish robust processes to insert new capabilities into ongoing operations to meet an expected long term need, and (4) cut in half the time it nominally takes to field major systems. The report also identifies steps to broaden and deepen DOD's in-house technical expertise, search globally for technologies that may become important to DOD and/or its adversaries, provide budget flexibility, lower barriers to commercial firms working with DOD, and revitalize internal research and development investments in the defense industry.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA463361

Entities

Organizations

  • Defense Science Board

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Biological Sciences
  • Business Administration
  • Cognitive Science
  • Detectors
  • Employment
  • Information Operations
  • Knowledge Management
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Economics
  • Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.