On 4 August 2016, the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Science and Engineering Technology (S&ET) Division met at The Army and Navy Club, in Washington, DC. The keynote speaker, Mr. Earl Wyatt, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Emerging Capabilities and Prototyping, in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, briefed attendees on the greater emphasis in the Department of Defense (DoD) on prototyping and experimentation under a con- strained defense budget. Mr. Wyatt expounded on the virtues of DoD prototyping as “a set of design and development activities intended to reduce technical uncertainty and to generate information to improve the quality of subsequent decision-making.”
Mr. Wyatt further explained why his office needs to be aware of the technologies being developed in the private sector, so that he can be in a position to procure such technologies when the need arises—often with little advance notice. He also discussed Bet- ter Buying Power 3.0, explaining how the initiative reduces cost; increases innovation; and encourages working with, and selling to, global partners.
Technology focus areas described by Mr. Wyatt included asymmetric force applications, space capability, electromagnetic spectrum, autonomous systems, information operations, and analytics. And the current priorities of his office are Better Buying Power 3.0, the Defense Innovation Initiative, and the National Defense Authorization Act for FY16 and completion for FY17.
DSIAC is actively supporting many of the Better Buying Power 3.0 initiatives described by Mr. Wyatt and is available to support the needs of the DoD defense systems community. Please contact us if you are interested in sharing your defense systems- related technologies with the greater DoD community.
A recent DSIAC success story in the area of prototyping resulted from the pairing of the SURVICE Engineering Company with a British company, Malloy Aeronautics, to develop and market a prototype “Hoverbike,” which uses state-of-the-art quadcopter technology. The Hoverbike can be used as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for a multitude of purposes or possibly even as a manned flight vehicle. This innovative technology was recently featured at the Farnborough Air Show near London, England.
DSIAC looks forward to continuing its participation in the NDIA S&ET briefings. The next briefing is scheduled for 1 September 2016, where the speaker will be Dr. Jason Matheney, Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activ- ity (IARPA).