With threat of narrowing military lead, US DOD expands its global tech-scouting to sustain its technological edge

The technology environment across the world today is evolving to one where having one country have a technological advantage over another is not just going to be in our future,” said Air Force Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of the Air Force Material Command headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. With the proliferation of technology in the information age, “our near peers are comparable to us in many areas,” the four-star general said. “I think the key to the future of the United States is our ability to quickly field this new technology and to adapt and change and to be agile in how we do technology development,” she said.

Continuing to push the technology envelope is central to maintaining U.S. preeminence in military capability, said Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter  in his Silicon Valley speech, “threats to our security and our country’s technological superiority are proliferating and diversifying.” “The U.S. global lead in defense technology is being actively eroded by potential competitors who themselves are pursuing advanced technologies to develop asymmetric capabilities that challenge the U.S. ability to carry out critical missions.”