The U.S. Defense Department announced in late 2014 an initiative to reinvigorate American military technology innovation known as the "Third Offset Strategy," and after a year of classified investigation and secret deliberation some early components of this strategy are being revealed.
Initial reviews of the approach have highlighted the futuristic (almost sci-fi) vision for next-generation U.S. weapons programs — robots, swarming drones, "Iron Man" suits and the like — but equally noteworthy are new aspects of the concept for how these systems might be developed and deployed more efficiently. Key changes include proactively tapping non-defense high-tech companies for targeted contributions and deepening collaboration with trusted allies like Japan to help catalyze breakthrough applications, but these new concepts face many hurdles.
Tucked inside the 2017 U.S. defense budget request is about $15 billion to place relatively small research bets on over-the-horizon technologies that can help the U.S. military maintain a leading edge over any competitor over the long term. Close allies like Japan have an interest in seeing this effort succeed. Priority investments range from energy production and storage to so-called lethal endgame technologies, including lasers or directed energy weapons, but a particularly intriguing focus is the broad arena of robotics, autonomous systems and artificial intelligence.