The United States must accelerate and streamline its defense research programs in order to meet the challenges posed by evolving threats, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2022) The United States must accelerate and streamline its defense research programs in order to meet the challenges posed by evolving threats, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said on Wednesday.
"But today, we have to evolve faster than the threats evolve - which means our capabilities must be designed and built to be flexible, adaptable, and interoperable from the beginning," Hicks said during remarks at a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) event. "We have to shrink that 'lab-to-fab' timeline from decades to years, or even months - which means we've got to be thinking early and often about what happens after DARPA proves a concept and prototypes a capability."
Hicks cited threats from strategic competitors such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran as challenges met with innovation. For that reason, the Biden administration's defense budget request for the coming fiscal year includes the largest-ever investment in research and development, Hicks said.
Interagency work and collaboration across sectors and borders will be critical to innovation within the commercial and technological ecosystems of other aligned countries, according to Hicks.
The Pentagon is in a "persistent competition for advantage," Hicks said.
Hicks' remarks were part of a "DARPA Forward" event at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. The conference is part of a DARPA-sponsored series of conferences at universities across the country in an effort to spur innovation and help deliver US technological advantages, according to the agency.
