Technology Never Sleeps

Technology Never Sleeps

James Chew, Chair NDIA S&ET Division,

Group Director, Cadence Design Systems

Welcoming Remarks for

NDIA Executive Breakfast with

Ms. Mary Miller, ASD(R&E) (Acting) as Speaker

1 June 17

Good morning, everyone!

Considering the time in history, it’s quite appropriate that we’re back at the Army-Navy Club, featuring a very special speaker.

Seventy-three (73) years ago, this country was preparing for D-Day. We all know of the success and the results, but many do not realize the significance of the S&T and R&D that were performed between the end of World War 1 and our involvement with World War 2 that provided the training, logistics expertise, and equipment and allowed the success of D-Day.

Here’s just a few examples of the equipment, tactics, and logistics that contributed to the success of D-Day, and ultimately Victory in Europe and Victory in the Pacific:

-     The ARMY administering the Civilian Conservation Corps

-     “Air Infantry” was developed

-     The Army Air Corps and Strategic Bombing

-     The B-17

-     The M1 semi-automatic rifle

-     The M4 Sherman Tank

-     The Landing Craft

-     The Designed in 1942, Utility, All-wheel drive, Dual rear axle (DUKW)

While history has shown all to be successes, none of these would have existed if it were not for two things:

(1)                Courageous Change Agents:

The then “Guardians of the Status Quo” saw no value in the aforementioned items. None of these systems would have been available had it not been for the visionaries who saw the warfighting value and were willing to push them through. While some in the room will remember that Billy Mitchell was “rewarded” for demonstrating the military value of strategic bombing by being court-martialed, many don’t remember that the B-17 was known as “Andrew’s folly”. Rejected by the Army and the Navy, DUKWs first saw service in, and proved their value with, the Coast Guard. MG Adna Chaffee Jr saw the value of mechanized armies and assisted in the development of the first U.S. Army armored forces.

(2)                Deep Technology Tool Box:

But none of the equipment and tactics would have been possible with the science and technology work that was performed between wars. It was a researcher at the Army’s Springfield Armory that harnessed the technologies to give our troops the first semi-automatic rifle used in World War 2. The Army’s work on spring suspensions , rubber-bushed tracks, and radial engines allowed for the development of the M4 Sherman. It was an Army Reserve lieutenant who was attending MIT that co-developed the DUKW. And it was the S&T that allowed for the development of turbo-supercharged radial engines and the Norden bomb sight that allowed the B-17 to be the effective high altitude strategic bomber.

Human curiosity and ingenuity ensures that technology never sleeps. Every time our country or one of our industries has faced a crisis, visionaries reached in to our deep technology “tool box” to quickly develop equipment and capabilities to answer the call.

The work performed by the DoD Science and Technology program results in discovery, which leads to invention, and then causes innovation. While their widely-publicized results have been impressive, our friends at the Strategic Capabilities Office and at DARPA could not accomplish their respective missions were it not for the deep technology tool box, developed the DoD S&T program.

Technology does not sleep. It will always find a home. There is always a market this is continuously developing products that need the latest matured high technology to succeed. And like water, technology follows that path to transition.

And it’s the word “matured” that I hope people notice. The artificially created “Valley of Death” is largely because our S&T program has been denied the R&D resources to mature the many cutting edge technologies they developed. This has resulted in short-sighted edict by some in the DoD Acquisition community that the DoD S&T program must support current acquisition programs. Those that believe, and practice, this could not be more wrong. As Robert Frosch said in his famous speech, “The Customer for R&D is Always Wrong”, the DoD S&T program supports the DoD Acquisition program professional grandchildren. By the way, it was MY “home service”, the Air Force Space Community, that first dictated 6.3 projects should be co-funded by acquisition programs for completion and transition. Is it no wonder that the Air Force Space program now significantly lags the commercial space industry in terms of affordability, readiness, and ability to deliver on firm, fixed priced development programs?

I notice that more people in the DoD Acquisition community are beginning to REALLY study the commercial development process. These people have noticed that because there is a strong incentive for commercial companies in competitive markets to integrate new technologies to create the latest “gotta have” products that delight the customer and work right the first time, those companies invest the time and the resources to make these technologies ready for prime time. Nunn-McCurdy breaches are an embarrassment the Program Office leadership and frankly, a minor inconvenience to the Prime contractor. But a product recall or a product liability lawsuit can be fatal to a company.

And that is how we can help our speaker. Our community needs to be courageous change agents, strongly advocating in the Building, in the White House, and on the Hill that, if firm, fixed priced acquisition programs are desired, the funding to fully mature these technologies must be provided. We must bring back 6.4 funding to the DoD S&T program and have the DoD S&T Program DRIVE DoD system and capability development.

Technology never sleeps. If we work together to make the DoD an attractive market, it will naturally first transition here.