Photo by Matthew Kirk/U.S. Marine Corps
The Acquisition and Technology Policy Program (ATP) helps ensure that U.S. and allied forces have the materiel they need to accomplish their missions in every warfighting domain: space, air, ground, sea, and cyber.
The fifth-generation (5G) technology standard for broadband cellular communications is expanding in Europe and will offer many more capabilities than the existing fourth generation long-term evolution standard. The authors consider U.S. military uses of the 5G technology standard for cellular communications in a notional 2030 time frame, concentrating on a future smart logistics mission in the Baltics and surrounding countries.
Technological superiority is vital to U.S. national security. New RAND research models and assesses the challenges and gaps in the Department of Defense (DoD) commercial technology pipeline, from concept to fielding. To better harness commercial technologies, DoD needs policies that incentivize and improve information sharing, coordination, and collaboration between defense innovation organizations and traditional acquisition stakeholders.
ATP helps defense policymakers prioritize investments in forces, capabilities, and technologies and drive those investments toward operational objectives. For example, ATP has helped identify how to improve airbase resilience to attacks; how to pair autonomous, unmanned aerial vehicles with manned platforms to suppress or destroy enemy air defenses; how to sustain power projection forces in contested environments; and how to integrate artificial intelligence into military operations and weapon systems.
To help policymakers improve cost, schedule, and performance outcomes, ATP has assessed the prevalence and consequences of bid protests; developed strategies for sustaining the aircraft, munitions, and shipbuilding industrial bases; assessed options for governing, managing, sharing, and using acquisition data; explored methods for reducing the time to field new capabilities without affecting cost or performance; and made acquisition and industrial policy more evidence-based.
ATP scientists and engineers help force developers understand the broad trade-offs among technologies prior to prototyping, assess the value proposition of technology concepts prior to making large investments, conduct independent assessments of top industry performers, and identify the risks and opportunities for technology transitions.
Most real-world decisions cross the boundaries of these focus areas, since a decision to invest in a weapon system or technology hinges on its value to future military operations, the risks of unproven technologies, and the costs of developing, producing, and sustaining a system throughout its lifecycle. ATP research crosses the boundaries, bringing together technologists, force developers, and acquisition professionals. ATP supports real-world decisions via analyses of alternatives (AoAs), strategic portfolio reviews, and strategy formulations, particularly when a cross- disciplinary perspective is necessary.