I think this is a case of pushing for a different path at the Pentagon, said Representative Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana and a co-chairman of the group.
In an interview, he was careful to avoid criticizing the White House this president has been good for defense budgets, he said but Mr. Banks praised the work of Ashton B. Carter, President Barack Obamas last defense secretary, for beginning initiatives to force the Pentagon to explore and adopt technologies already developed in the private sector.
This week, House Republicans plan to issue another report, aimed at containing Chinese power.
Arguing for an end to reliance on legacy systems is one thing; executing that policy is another. Usually each of those weapons systems has a constituency that can step in to save it, often wielding the argument that the Pentagon would be putting workers at military contractors out of a job. Notably, the task force did not identify which systems needed to be retired.
But the task force concluded that approach had squelched risk-taking, and could hinder the militarys ability to fully utilize private sector innovation.
The Pentagon knows how to acquire large programs, like fighter jets or aircraft carries, but it is less adept at purchasing at scale the types of emerging technologies that will be required for future conflict, it said.
Defense Department officials have sought to address that problem. But the task force found that while those efforts sometimes succeeded, they were too small, and the Pentagon has so far only been able to tap into a fraction of the innovation being developed in the United States.read more
Pentagon Is Clinging to Aging Technologies, House Panel Warns
