The Air Force is finally poised to deal with the “Valley of Death” problem—the gulf between the invention of an innovative new technology and its deployment at scale to warfighters— leaders of the department’s science and technology enterprise told defense industry executives Aug 27.
Valley of Death
The Defense Innovation Board adopted a series of new recommendations and praised the Air Force for its big bets on emerging technology in recent years that seem primed to help new entrants to the defense market bridge the so-called valley of death between initial investment ...
House Armed Services Committee chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) wants to create a new position in each service’s secretariat, with the responsibility of finding promising new technologies and helping shepherd them across the so-called “valley of death” between successful prototypes and a program of record. ...
Skyborg, the Air Force’s effort to develop an artificial intelligence-enabled system to control unmanned aircraft, is ready to “graduate” and contribute to key programs such as the Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems, a top program executive officer said. But while the so-called “Vanguard” ...
The Air Force could buy and field emerging technologies faster if it had funds at the ready that weren't earmarked for a specific program, the outgoing head of Air Force Materiel Command said. This approach could shave years off the typical timeline but would require ...
How a flight line superintendent turned an inspired idea into the Air Force’s one-stop shop for Augmented Reality. It only took 10 years.
The Air Force is seeing results in attracting small and medium businesses and startups by using targeted investments and putting them together with commercial investors, panelists said in an acquisition panel at AFA's virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. But once the small businesses are ...
