Jon Schmid

Rethinking Who's Winning the U.S.-China Tech Competition

The competition between the U.S. and China is a multi-dimensional contest involving technological, economic, military, and political elements. To accurately assess a nation's standing, the focus should shift from measures (raw numerical data) to metrics, which offer meaningful interpretations of these numbers.

Report

An Assessment of U.S.-Allied Nations' Industrial Bases in Quantum Technology

The authors assess the quantum industrial bases of several U.S.-allied nations that are major players in the development of quantum technology, beginning with a global look and then focusing on Australia, the UK, Germany, and Japan.

Report

Scientific and Technological Flows Between the United States and China

The objective of this report is to quantify and describe three types of scientific and technological flows between the United States and China to help assess the net effect of these types of flows on U.S. national security.

Report

The Role of Standards in Fostering Capability Evolution: Does Design Matter? Insights from Interoperability Standards

This report presents the findings of a review of two military standards that have enabled significant interoperability and evolution in warfighting to better understand paths toward successful interface standard design in the military environment.

Research Brief

Assessing Systemic Strengths and Vulnerabilities of China's Defense Industrial Base

This brief presents an assessment of the strengths and vulnerabilities of China's defense industrial base (DIB), using a methodology that could be applied to assess any country's DIB.

Report

Assessing Systemic Strengths and Vulnerabilities of China's Defense Industrial Base: With a Repeatable Methodology for Other Countries

The authors assess the strengths and vulnerabilities of China's defense industrial base (DIB) by designing and applying a comparative analytic structure that could be used to assess any country's DIB.

Report

An Assessment of the U.S. and Chinese Industrial Bases in Quantum Technology

This report presents a flexible and repeatable set of metrics for assessing a nation's industrial base in quantum technology, and applies those metrics to the U.S. and Chinese quantum industrial bases.

Report

An Open-Source Method for Assessing National Scientific and Technological Standing: With Applications to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

The author of this report develops a quick-turn and open-source methodology, then applies that methodology to the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning for nine countries.

Report

A Structured Elicitation Approach to Identify Technology-Based Challenges: With Application to Inform Force Planning for Technological Surprise

What do experts envision as the largest technology-based challenges the U.S. Joint Force may encounter by 2040? The authors develop and implement an approach to elicit and evaluate 20 challenges identified by experts.

Report

Acquiring a Mosaic Force: Issues, Options, and Trade-Offs

Mosaic Warfare envisions more fractionated, heterogeneous forces, dynamically composed on tactical timelines. In this report, the authors present insights from a policy game to assess alternative governance models for acquiring a Mosaic force.

Report

Measuring the Value of Invention: The Impact of Lemelson-MIT Prize Winners' Inventions

This report uses the inventions of Lemelson-MIT Prize winners as examples to illustrate the scientific, technological, economic, and social impacts that inventions can have on society.

Report

Benchmarking Data Use and Analytics in Large, Complex Private-Sector Organizations: Implications for Department of Defense Acquisition

This report examines how the private sector addresses data governance and analytics to inform how the Department of Defense can develop and apply advanced analytics to acquisition challenges.

Report

How to Analyze the Cyber Threat from Drones: Background, Analysis Frameworks, and Analysis Tools

The authors explore approaches for understanding, inventorying, and modeling cybersecurity implications of unmanned aerial systems (drones), and examine the threats and trends around them -- specifically, current vulnerabilities and future trends.

Report

Advancing Autonomous Systems: An Analysis of Current and Future Technology for Unmanned Maritime Vehicles

In this report, RAND researchers explore current and potential military applications of autonomous systems, focusing especially on unmanned undersea vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles.