House Panel Eyes Billiondollar Pentagon Fund To Push Commercial Tech
WASHINGTON -- A strategy proposed by former defense innovation director Mike Brown for leveraging technology from commercial and non-traditional companies has received broad endorsement from a House committee on the 2024 US Defense Expenditure Act.
The House Budget Committee approved the bill on June 22, providing $1 billion for new commercially available systems, including low-cost drones and satellites, efficient communications and computing, and artificial intelligence capabilities.
The Pentagon's Business Integration Center DIU will oversee the foundation's work and use the funds to drive innovation and new capabilities over the next three years. Within 90 days of the law's entry into force, the agency is required to submit a report outlining a portfolio acquisition plan and identifying ten candidate projects.
"This portfolio is a response to the growing tactical and logistical risks associated with current weapons systems, as well as the lack of capability and diversity of the industrial base," says the report of the committee accompanying the legislation. "The development of non-traditional resources and non-traditional solutions is essential to this reporting and requires the taking of conscious and calculated risk to foster conscious and accelerated positive change."
The proposal reflects the "hedge strategy" devised last year by Brown, who headed the DIU from 2018 to September 2022, and retired chief of naval research, Rear Admiral Lorin Selby. They argued that while the Department of Defense has multiple organizations focused on innovative approaches to rapidly developing new capabilities, it lacks a coordinated and focused approach to their delivery.
Brown and Selby called on the Department of Defense to develop a process that embraces more technology-based capabilities, pursues business opportunities with a sense of urgency, and focuses on small, low-cost, light-powered autonomous systems. "Yeah.
The way the Ukrainian military is using technology from commercial companies to counter Russian aggression is also in response to a desire to create a wallet of protection, the committee said.
"Having overseen Ukraine's use of unconventional weapons, the committee supports the maturity and focus of 'innovative organizations' on the rapid deployment of new capabilities from new sources," the report said.
The creation of the portfolio and the associated funding will be a major boost for the DIU and follows Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's recent decision to make the office directly reporting. The committee highlighted the move in its report, saying the move was "an important step in the timeline for building a conscious hedging portfolio."
"If implemented properly, this rule can ease the burden on taxpayers, reduce private equity, boost America's economic vitality, accelerate innovation and expand the pool of talent to support the nation's defense," the press release said.
The proposed $1 billion loan includes more than $612 million in additional funds for Spiralen, with the remaining $420 million being transferred from existing accounts. Congress allotted just $191 million to the agency in fiscal 2023.
The bulk of the new funding will go to the Defense Innovation Unit's fielding account, which supports AI-related technologies, including $10 million for AI-powered drones, $23 million for virtual automated takeoff and landing logistics, and $13 million U.S. dollar. For digital engineering. In addition, $220 million will be allocated to rapidly conduct covert combat command field training projects.
The committee directs DIU to work with the Pentagon's director of digital and artificial intelligence in this effort.
The bill would require each military secretary to appoint a non-traditional innovation entrepreneur to work with industry business partners and lead military service projects. The new organizations "will bring together the best practices identified in defense innovation over the last several years."
"Designated Nexus field projects begin with problem definitions and mastery requirements while on-site hardware and software development is staged over three years," the committee said.
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