Improving the Army's Next Effort in Technology Forecasting

Publisher Marketing: An important challenge for the Department of Defense (DOD) science and technology (S&T) programs is to avoid technological surprise resulting from the exponential increase in the pace of discovery and change in S&T worldwide. The nature of the military threat is also changing, resulting in new military requirements, some of which can be met by technology. Proper shaping of the S&T portfolio requires predicting and matching these two factors well into the future. Some examples of technologies which have radically affected the battlefield include the Global Positioning System coupled with inexpensive hand held receivers, the microprocessor revolution which has placed the power of the Internet and satellite communications into the hands of soldiers in the field, new sensing capabilities such as night vision, the use of unmanned vehicles, and composite materials for armor and armaments. Some of these new technologies came from military S&T, some from commercial developments and still others from a synthesis of the two sectors; but all were based on advances in the underlying sciences. Clearly, leaders and planners in military S&T must keep abreast of such developments and look ahead as best they can. Contributor Bio:  Lyons, John fm.author_biographical_note1Contributor Bio:  Chait, Richard John W. Lyons is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy (CTNSP), National Defense University. He was previously director of the Army Research Laboratory and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Dr. Lyons received his PhD from Washington University. He holds a BA from Harvard. Richard Chait is a Distinguished Research Fellow at CTNSP. He was previously Chief Scientist, Army Material Command, and Director, Army Research and Laboratory Management. Dr. Chait received his PhD in Solid State Science from Syracuse University and a BS degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. James J. Valdes is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Defense University's Center for Technology and National Security Policy and the Army's Scientific Advisor for Biotechnology. Dr. Valdes received a PhD in neuroscience from Texas Christian University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes. He has published more than 120 papers in scientific journals and was a 2009 Presidential Rank Award winner.