National defense is key to the President’s National Security Strategy of Engagement and Enlargement. The Administration has launched a series of initiatives designed to capture and apply science and technology to reply to those challenges, that specialize in the subsequent objectives: supporting our military forces within the range of missions they’ll be assigned, reducing acquisition costs, and nurturing a healthy national science and technology infrastructure to spawn innovation and also the vital industrial capacity to maximize it.

Science, Technology, and posture

Science and technology help to counter special threats like terrorism that can’t be met by conventional warfighting forces, and that they underpin the intelligence capabilities necessary to assess the hazards our nation faces. The U.S. military also relies on science and technology to create our advanced military systems cheaper throughout their entire life cycle. And by maintaining a detailed dialogue with the warfighters, the defense S&T community not only remains sensitive to user needs but also sensitizes the user to the probabilities that technology offers for responding to evolving threats.

U.S. military capabilities not only protect the U.S. and its citizens from direct threats, but they also help maintain peace and stability in regions critical to U.S. interests and underwrite U.S. defense commitments around the world. Maintaining a robust defense capability means the U.S. soldiers, and also the Department of Defense more broadly, must be prepared to conduct the subsequent sorts of missions, as described within the President’s national security strategy:

Forward stationing and periodic deployments also permit U.S. forces to realize familiarity with overseas operating environments, promote joint and combined training among friendly forces, improve interoperability with friendly forces throughout the globe, and respond in a timely manner to crises.
Conducting contingency operations. The U.S. must be prepared to undertake a large range of contingency operations in support of U.S. interests.

Countering weapons of mass destruction. While the U.S. is redoubling its efforts to forestall the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and associated missile delivery systems, we must at the identical time improve our military capabilities to discourage and forestall the effective use of those weapons. That is, they have to be able to fight. Such high combat readiness demands well-qualified and motivated people; adequate amounts of recent, well-maintained equipment; realistic training; strategic mobility; and sufficient support and sustainment capabilities.