Official: Composites, Propulsion, Sensors Ripe For Exploitation

The Defense Department Office of Force Transformation has identified composite materials, propulsion systems, weapons and sensors as technology sectors ripe for exploitation, according to Terry J. Pudas, the office's acting director.

The goal, and challenge, for the DOD and its suppliers would be to shrink the time and cost involved in these sectors' cycles, which can run decades from initial research to final implementation.

By comparison, communications and information technology software and components have cycle times calculated in months or just a few years, Pudas said at the American Enterprise Institute. However, those technologies increasingly are available worldwide and the United States maintains its advantages primarily from its speed in systemization.

By contrast, the DOD is at a historical milestone where past investments in research and development of composite materials, electrical drives and propulsion and small-diameter bombs are beginning to pay off, Pudas said. Other payoff areas include innovative hull designs, along with greater ship speed and payload fractions and robotics.

Speaking on the future of the U.S. Navy, the AEI forum topic, Pudas proposed that new fleet design principles drive future fleet determinations. For instance, the power and survivability of a fleet should be "decoupled" from its size, and mass replaced by information as a leading metric.