The ability of U.S. companies and inventors to deliver innovation is one of America's greatest comparative advantages. However, the DoD faces massive institutional challenges in adopting that innovation to deliver path-breaking capabilities on time and within budget. To overcome this, what new authority, policy, or process changes would accelerate the Army’s and Joint Force's capabilities-development and acquisition processes?
Specifically, how can emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain be leveraged to streamline these defense acquisition workflows, enhance efficiency, and improve transparency? Addressing this question requires a deep analysis of existing processes and authorities, as well as where they reside. The research should analyze real-world applications and pilot programs to identify opportunities for innovation and scalability within current acquisition systems.
Ultimately, how can the military better leverage public-private partnerships with the tech industry to identify, create, and field emerging technological capabilities rapidly to support Joint Force needs at lower costs and with greater speed? What changes must the DoD make to either incentivize the private sector to deliver at acceptable costs or to shift bureaucratic behavior to better leverage the tech industry's preferred models?
- Beers, Lt. Col. Shannon, "Lobbying Gone Wrong Contributes to 346 Deaths," AF Fellows portfolio (Georgetown), 2025, 20 pgs.
- Beers argues that the greatest barriers to efficient capability development for the U.S. military are a lack of meaningful competition combined with unchecked corporate lobbying. Because Boeing is the only remaining large aircraft manufacturer in the United States, the Air Force is virtually forced to rely on them for large military cargo and refueling platforms. Beers points to the KC-46 aerial refueling tanker as a prime example: after a massive lobbying effort overturned an initial contract win by Airbus, the Air Force was saddled with a Boeing tanker plagued by manufacturing debris, a flawed electronic refueling system that blinded boom operators, significant delays, and massive cost overruns. He warns that without robust market competition and strict legislative checks on corporate lobbying, the Air Force will continue to receive substandard products while wasting taxpayer dollars.
- Cortes, Capt Cristian and Capt. Seamus Severance, "BBP on Utilizing the Career Intermission Program for Pilot Prediction," SOS AUAR 2025.
- Cortes & Severence answer this by urging the Air Force to actively partner with major civilian airlines and transportation companies, such as Delta, United, Southwest, and FedEx, to formalize the CIP as a coordinated, transparent program. They highlight that the commercial aviation industry is already eager for workforce predictability and heavily values military experience, as evidenced by the United Military Pilot Program. By establishing a coordinated "separate pool of seniority" for military aviators and lobbying Congress for a pilot-specific USERRA exception, the Air Force can successfully align its personnel forecasting with private-sector systems. This partnership also yields a secondary benefit: returning pilots bring back "industry leading Airline training," which they can share with military crews to systematically improve flight safety.
- Darlington, Chase, "Reaping the Benefits of Additive Manufacturing to Mitigate Supply Chain Issues in Air Force Platforms," GCPME thesis, 2022, 37 pgs.
- Gates, Maj. Justin M., "A Strategic Analysis of Advanced Technologies in Air Force Aviation Risk Mitigation," AFGC thesis, 2025, 46 pgs.
- Gates argues that the Air Force must leverage commercial aviation advancements—specifically fourth-generation automation technologies like Fly-By-Wire (FBW), Flight Management Systems (FMS), and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out—to enhance flight safety and operational efficiency. He demonstrates the severe risks of failing to integrate with commercial standards by citing a near-miss between a commercial PSA Airlines flight and a military UH-60L helicopter that had its ADS-B transmission turned off, leaving the commercial airliner's collision avoidance system blind to the military aircraft. To safely support Joint Force needs in shared airspace, Gates recommends upgrading legacy aircraft to eliminate outdated second-generation technology and mandating the use of ADS-B Out during all non-sensitive military missions.
- Haima, Maj. Brian, "Flying Hundred-Year-Old-Aircraft: A Look at the Acquisition Process," AFGC thesis, 2025.
- The topic asks what the greatest barriers are to lowering costs and speeding the development and delivery of future capabilities. Haima answers this by analyzing the U.S. military's aircraft acquisition process, identifying excessive government oversight, changing programmatic requirements, and high turnover rates among acquisition officers as the primary barriers causing massive cost overruns and fielding delays. To speed up delivery and lower costs, he recommends shortening the acquisition timeline by at least three years during the initial selection phase, which would minimize leadership changes and provide the stability needed to field new aircraft more efficiently.
- Moss, Tytus M., "Guns, Butter and Narratives: The Real Version of Rock, Paper, Scissors," SAASS thesis, 2025, 84 pgs.
- Moss addresses the opportunities to leverage allies by demonstrating that a globally integrated DIB is the primary solution to overcoming severe domestic U.S. production shortfalls and raw material vulnerabilities. He highlights that the U.S. cannot internally meet its own demand for critical resources like lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements, exposing the nation to the risks of "weaponized interdependence" from adversaries like China. To leverage partner capacity effectively, Moss's framework evaluates nations based on their existing research, development, and innovation (RDI), alongside their access to these critical minerals. By actively integrating these capable allies into the supply chain, the U.S. can gain asymmetric advantages, accelerate defense delivery, and establish a highly secure and redundant production network.
- Nicholson, Capt. Jonathan, "LLM Use Case," SOS AUAR, 2025.
- Nicholson answers by contrasting commercial and defense acquisition requirements; while industry builds low-cost, rapidly developed software under loose standards, the DoD requires highly secure, hardened, and heavily tested technologies. Because commercial models do not naturally align with defense-specific constraints, Nicholson argues that instead of spending millions to adapt and maintain commercial LLMs, the military should restructure its internal workflows. He asserts that the most cost-effective and rapid way to relieve DoD workloads is to simplify reporting requirements, continuously monitor metrics via automated databases rather than periodic meetings, and eliminate non-value-added work (toil) through comprehensive policy reform.
- Rhylander, Lt. Col. Erik P., "Key Factors to Achieving Significant Military Innovation," AWC Strategic Studies Paper, 2020, 25 pgs.
- Ramos, Odini Nikolai, "Technology beyond Boundaries: Understanding the Collaborative Challenges of the DoD with the Private Sector," AF Global College thesis, 2024, 36 pgs.
- Savage, Jeanne, "Strengthening Supply Chain Risk Management Planning: How Test and Evaluation Can Enhance Weapon System Security," AF Global College thesis, 2025, 52 pgs.
- Shaw, David R., "Additive Manufacturing in Veterans Affairs," AWC Strategic Studies paper, 2018, 27 pgs.
- Tallman, Lt. Col. William B., "Strategic Implication of Commercial Aerial Refueling Integration into US Defense Operations," AFGC thesis, 2025.
- Tallman answers this by highlighting commercial aerial refueling as a highly cost-effective opportunity to augment military capacity, noting that commercial tanker flight hours are projected to stabilize between $12,000 and $15,000, compared to the $27,800 to $100,000 per-hour costs of operating organic USAF KC-135 and KC-46 fleets. However, he identifies that the greatest barriers to delivering this capability are restrictive U.S. laws and acquisition policies. Specifically, current regulations prohibit leasing military aircraft to contractors for more than one year, require surplus military tankers to be sold at public General Services Administration auctions, and mandate the demilitarization of sensitive equipment—such as the refueling booms—which severely limits commercial companies from affordably building viable fleets.
- Vander Does, Chris, "Biennial Budgets and Appropriations: Providing Financial Flexibility to the Fighting Force," AF Global College, 2024, 44 pgs.
- Wallis, LCDR Emily T., "Reforming the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution for Great Power Competition," AF Global College, 2024, 43 pgs.
- Wing, Maj. Ryan D., "Maximizing the Benefits of Defense Innovation," AF Global College, 2025, 39 pgs.