House Panel Eyes Billiondollar Pentagon Fund To Push Commercial Tech

WASHINGTON - A strategy proposed by former Defense Innovation Director Mike Brown to use technology from commercial and non-traditional companies has been included by a House committee in the FY 2024 Defense Spending Act.

The bill, approved by the House Appropriations Committee on June 22, provides $1 billion to create an "coverage portfolio" of commercially available innovative systems, including low-cost drones and satellites, flexible communications and computing nodes, and artificial intelligence capabilities.

DIU, the Pentagon's commercial integration center, will oversee the use of the funds, which it will use to support existing innovation initiatives and support the deployment of new capabilities over the next three years. The bill requires the department to submit a report within 90 days of the law's enactment detailing the procurement plan for the portfolio and identifying ten candidate projects.

"This portfolio is a defense against the growing and inherent tactical and logistical risks of today's weapons systems, as well as a defense against the risk to the industrial base due to a lack of capacity and diversity," the committee said in a statement. report accompanying the invoice. "The development of non-traditional resources and non-traditional solutions is central to this reporting and requires conscious, calculated risk-taking to drive positive, intentional and accelerated change."

The proposal reflects a "defense strategy" developed last year by Brown, who led the DIU from 2018 to September 2022, and retired head of naval research Admiral Lorin Selby. They argued that while the Department of Defense has a number of organizations that focus on innovative concepts aimed at rapidly creating new capabilities, it lacks a focused and systematic approach to deploying them.

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Brown and Selby urged the Defense Department to develop a process that takes advantage of new technology at scale, applies commercial opportunities with a sense of urgency, and focuses on small, low-cost autonomous systems powered by artificial intelligence.

The committee says the defense portfolio effort is also a response to how the Ukrainian military has used technology from commercial companies to counter Russian aggression.

"In monitoring the use of unconventional weapons from unconventional sources in Ukraine, the Committee supports the maturity and focus of 'innovative organizations' to quickly create new opportunities from new sources at scale," the report says.

The creation of the portfolio and associated funding will give the DIU a significant boost and follows Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's recent decision to create an office that reports directly to him. The committee highlights the move in its report, saying the transition represents "an important step in the timeline for the deliberate creation of the defense portfolio."

"If done right, this arrangement could ease the burden on taxpayers by mobilizing private capital, increase America's economic advantage by accelerating new technologies, and expand the workforce that supports national defense," the committee said.

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The proposed $1 billion allocation includes more than $612 million in additional funding for DIU, with the remaining $420 million transferred from existing accounts. In fiscal year 2023, Congress allocated just $191 million to the organization.

The bulk of the new funding will go to the Defense Innovation Unit Fielding account, which supports various AI-related technologies, including $10 million for AI-powered unmanned aerial vehicles, $23 million for virtual autonomous takeoff and landing systems, and $13 million dollars. Millions on digital technology. In addition, $220 million will be allocated to quickly provide combat teams with field-ready dome designs.

The committee directs DIU to coordinate this effort with the Pentagon's Director of Digital and Artificial Intelligence.

The bill also recommends that the secretary of each military service appoint a corporate manager of unconventional innovation, responsible for collaborating with industry business partners and leading projects within the service. The new organizations will "bring together a network of best practices identified in defense innovation over the past few years."

"These Nexus-designated projects will begin with a problem statement and iteratively develop requirements by developing software and hardware for a full flow over a three-year period using small teams of warfighters, buyers and technologists," the committee said.

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