As part of a broader shift in acquisition philosophy, the Pentagon may combine parts of several innovation-fostering offices into a new one focused on buying cutting-edge products from companies, a senior defense official tells Defense One.
“We are going to create an organization that is the commercial-engineering version of DARPA,” using portions of the Strategic Capabilities Office, the Defense Innovation Unit, and the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, the official said on condition of anonymity.
In another change, the official said, the Pentagon aims to spend less on research, and what the official described as “abstractions” and more on usable arms and gear. (The official did not describe any immediate plans for DARPA, the Defense Department’s primary basic and applied research arm.)
“This [Trump] administration cares about weapon systems and business systems and not ‘technologies,’” the official said. “We're not going to be investing in ‘artificial intelligence’ because I don’t know what that means. We're going to invest in autonomous killer robots.”
The official said the plan is in its infancy, and very much open to change.
Another defense official said, “As the Department looks ahead toward accelerating the delivery of the most lethal, advanced technologies and capabilities to our warfighters, we are examining our current structure to best determine how to align our efforts to achieve maximum effect and efficiency, and to build from the successes of organizations like DIU in bringing commercial technologies to warfighters in the Services and Combatant Commands. Those discussions are in the early stages, and no decisions have been made.”
The plan would need buy-in from the def ..
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