During the past several weeks, I have been fortunate to meet with some of the military’s most innovative leaders charged with building next-generation technology for the Department of Defense (DOD). With the benefit of hearing perspectives from nearly every service, I’ve been struck by a few themes that have emerged universally. These include the need to rapidly: (1) modernize and integrate modern systems with legacy systems; (2) move technology from prototype to production in a joint environment; and (3) integrate commercial vendors and best practices.
These challenges have arisen in the past decade and are made even more apparent by today’s geopolitical landscape. The nation's near-peer competitors are making substantial investments in these challenges and are making rapid progress.