Gaining New Military Capability: An Experiment in Concept Development

Abstract : In the face of changing operational requirements, expanding technological opportunities, and ever restricted budgets, simply buying more of the same will prove an inadequate strategy for equipping the next generation of military forces, But to make effective use of new technologies to perform changing military tasks, the military must develop new technological and operational concepts for performing a wide range of military operations. Unfortunately, current practice in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) frequently works to limit systematic thinking about alternative approaches to challenging military tasks. Ideally, broad thinking about how specific missions might be accomplished should precede decisions about what kinds of platforms, what classes of technologies, or which military service is most appropriate for particular tasks. Too often, however, these steps in the process of planning force modernization are reversed. As a result, concept development sometimes becomes an exercise in finding a use for a given technology, platform, or operational method rather than in finding the right technology or platform to perform a specific function. Thinking about alternative options is narrowed, and competition among alternative concepts is weakened.