Ukraine, which faces an existential threat, is innovating in military technology and concepts at a rate far faster than the US government, according to participants in a congressional hearing.
As reported by the Voice of America, chairman of the National Defense Strategy Commission Jane Harman noted the need to stimulate innovation and new technologies that would take less time and resources to implement than they currently do. She also noted the speed with which new technologies are being implemented on the battlefield in Ukraine.
“We need to stimulate change. Ukraine and Russia are innovating on the battlefield and it takes weeks, not years,” Harman said.
”I was in Kyiv last week, and before that in April, and I saw it with my own eyes. If the Ministry of Defense cannot move at the same speed and scale, it will lose. This committee should help the head of the Defense Ministry and his deputy to solve this problem,” Harman urged.
The report with recommendations states that the National Defense Strategy Commission considers some practices in procurement research and development, as well as an excessive risk-avoidance culture, outdated for the modern strategic environment.
Examples of rapid change and industrial involvement, such as in the case of the Space Force, the Defense Innovation Unit, and the Strategic Capital Management Office, remain the exception rather than the rule, the report says.
“We can’t continue to fund things that have been shown to be of no value as new software. We just have to ask what Ukraine can teach us. Ukraine can teach us this, in particular, because you can build a drone for $350. My comment on this is that you can’t buy a cup of coffee in the Pentagon for $350, and we are talking about our future,” says the head of the National Defense Strategy Commission.
Harman emphasizes that some of the Pentagon’s current programs, which are focused purely on equipment, should be replaced with others that make greater use of modern technology and software.
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- Ukrainian Armed Forces to receive Buffalo vehicles, considered to be among safest armored vehicles in existence
- Forbes: Ukraine’s Baba Yaga drones now reportedly equipped with guided bombs
- Ukraine approves new Kozak-5MED armored medical vehicle for its armed forces
- VR/AR military tech projects take center stage at Kyiv’s Defence Vision Day
- Ukrainian-made demining vehicle receives approval for combat use
