Technological Innovations: The ACTD Program

Abstract

In the 1950s and 1960s, many business firms assumed that they had optimized production. Consequently they removed production from the competition equation. In the two ensuing decades foreign competitors outproduced them. Manufacturing faced a hard choice: change or die. Now it is the turn of the defense sector, which followed the same approach for a long time. But the competition moved ahead, ranging from aggressor states to terrorists who use technologies that previous enemies never had, thus posing new challenges. The attacks on September 11 magnified the need for rapid change. Innovation within the Armed Forces is coming from the advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) program, but such developments alone cannot ensure automatic preeminence or defeat terrorism. Technology as well as advanced concepts, tactics, techniques, and procedures must be applied to competitive areas defined in the Quadrennial Defense Review.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA525428

Entities

People

  • Sue C. Payton

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Control Systems
  • Cyberattacks
  • Detectors
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Information Operations
  • Information Systems
  • National Security
  • Radar
  • Security
  • Situational Awareness
  • Space Systems
  • Surveillance
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Economics
  • Strategic Security Studies