1. Accelerating Technology Development
“DoD needs to develop new ways to achieve innovation at what Secretary Mattis refers to as “the speed of relevance” “Factors determining whether or not technology transitions from the laboratory to the warfighter include: technology maturation, performance, affordability, manufacturability, funding, schedule, continued need and/or support from program managers and sustained priority for the technology/system for the Department
Dr Griffin testimony to Congress on “Technology Transfer and The Valley of Death”
“We must develop new lethal capabilities and accelerate the pace in which we get that capability to the warfighter to ensure our quantitative edge”
Dr Griffin testimony to Congress on “Promoting DoD’s Culture of Innovation”
Introduces the primary points of this lecture.
You learned about the NDAA in the intro lesson so we’re going to start with that in mind and see what the DoD leadership has to say about S&T priorities and investment areas.

2. System Program Offices
Valley of Death
RDT&E
BA 3
Adv Tech Dev
BA 2
Applied
Research
BA 1
Basic
Tech Base
S&T
Managed by Labs
BA 4
Adv Component
Dev
BA 5
Eng & Mfg
Dev & Demo
Managed by
System Program Offices
BA 7
Op System
Dev
*BA = Budget Activity
Technology Transition “Seam”
PEOs/PMs
Competitive
“Hard” requirements
“Production” quantities
Constrained
Need to fit into “big” picture
Low (no) risk
Failure is not really an option
PEOs/PMs CAN
Plan transition
Talk to requirements people
Talk to priorities people
Talk to funding people
R&D Labs
Proprietary
“Soft” requirements
Ones-of-a-kind
Unconstrained(?)
Stands alone
High (some) risk
Failure expected/tolerated
PEOs/PMs CANNOT
Print money
Have funds not tied to specific PEs
Invent requirements or transition unilaterally
INSTRUCTOR NOTES:
Ask students if they agree and discuss the impact of these issues
Dr Griffin says this is the biggest problem we face
BA = Budget Activity
State, the attainment of funds to transition from BA 3 to BA4 is the greatest challenge faced in new technology development. The cause is the change in Command and who controls the money between BA3 and BA4.
What happens to a S&T program that is well done; however, does not satisfy the Programmatic office? Where do discarded technologies reside?
Valley of Death