Manufacturing & Technology News
May 16, 2003
Pg. 1
Pentagon Did Not Authorize Release Of Report
DOD Technology Advisory Group Says Military Capability Is In Doubt Due To Loss Of Electronics Industry
The Department of Defense "faces shrinking advantages acrossall technology areas" due to the rapid decline of the U.S. electronics sector, warns the Pentagon’s Advisory Group on Electron Devices (AGED). "Off-shore movement of intellectual capital and industrial capability, particularly in microelectronics, has impacted the ability of the U.S. to research and produce the best technologies and products for the nation and the warfighter," says AGED in a controversial and unpublished briefing paper. "DOD is forced to rely on perceived system integration advantages to maintain superiority."
AGED, which was created in 1945 as a federal committee to advise the directors of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E), DARPA and other top military officials within the services, says DOD is now in the position of having to obtain the most advanced technologies from overseas. This situation "assigns those nations political and military leverage over the U.S.," says the briefing document, a copy of which was obtained by Manufacturing & Technology News. "We recommend that immediate corrective actions must be taken in order to sustain our technology leadership. [DOD must] re-establish [a] robust research and development base for warfighter technologies and secure permanent military technology leadership."
But the conclusions AGED draws from its National Technology Leadership Forum held last year have not been endorsed by Dr. Ronald Sega, director of DDR&E, to whom the panel reports. Sega’s office has put a hold on distribution of the briefing. The document has not "gone through the proper processes for release of such information and approval," says Pentagon spokesman Donald Sewell in response to an inquiry. "Therefore, the review and approval process, because it was not properly adhered to, presented material in a manner that implied the study conclusions and recommendations were endorsed/supported by Dr. Sega. It is not believed that Dr. Sega actually ever approved it as factually representing DDR&E’s views."
AGED was told earlier this year to stop briefing its conclusions to military officers, other government agencies and congressional staff. It was a demand that some members of the advisory group found to be alarming. "People sometimes stop things and they don’t know what they’re doing," said one participant in the AGED study. "The briefing was quite well received, the conclusions were embraced and embraced enthusiastically, but it got shut down because they didn’t want to hear this." The briefing agenda calls for the development of a "National Plan of Action" to counter the decline of U.S. electronics manufacturing and technology.
AGED’s charter says its job is to identify electronics investment areas "of critical importance to all the services." It is tasked with keeping abreast of the latest trends and developments in the electronics area "and assumes a key role in identifying when major shifts in strategy for the DOD electronics program are needed." It also facilitates "coordination and synergism among all DOD components and other government agencies." It has an annual budget of $381,600 for administrative costs and travel, which are shared by DARPA, the Army, Navy, Air Force and NASA.
The group investigated specific electronics technologies that the U.S. is perceived to dominate. Night vision equipment has provided a "demonstrated advantage — we have ‘owned the night,’ " the briefing paper points out. However, the advent of Si microbridge, room-temperature sensitive thermal detector technology "has resulted in low-cost, mass production," making night vision equipment "a commercial commodity" available to all the world. The U.S. response should be to "reestablish strong R&D capability to leapfrog [the] current generation of sensors and explore camouflaging technologies," says AGED.
In the area of battlefield communications and data networks, the global availability of wireless communications and high data rate fiber optical landlines "has greatly reduced this advantage even against the less sophisticated terrorist threat," says AGED. "Use of best commercial chips and processors levels the playing field for allies and adversaries." The military needs to deploy a new generation of communications and data equipment "to maintain an electronics system lead in the battlefield," including streamlining real-time video and distributed processing networks.
One of the problems hampering DOD is its dependence on commercial off-the-shelf technology, or COTS. This has lowered risks and costs for industry and weapons designers but it "results in weapons systems without competitive advantage," says AGED. There needs to be a "recognition of criticality of non- COTS electronics for maintaining future warfighting superiority." It recommends that the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics "organize [a] DOD/industry analysis team to formulate actions for trend reversal."
With the electronics industry rapidly shifting offshore, DOD and other government agencies must create an initiative to counter the "massive financial and tax incentives" being offered by foreign governments to lure U.S. companies, says the banned briefing paper. Foreign governments are "effectively tilting the playing field," says AGED. DOD should work with the Semiconductor Industry Association "to analyze tradeoffs made by U.S. firms in decisions to move offshore and develop mitigating strategies."
The offshore migration of semiconductor foundries "must be addressed," it adds. "R&D [is] going offshore with the manufacturing. DOD access to cutting edge chip technologies [is] unreliable."
The AGED briefing report calls for further actions to rebuild the U.S. technical talent base through new university enrollment policies. It expresses concern with the fact that so many of the students in advanced engineering and physical science degree programs are from overseas.
AGED also calls for DOD to monitor "the way chipmaking and the innovative aspects of chipmaking are being conducted," says one of the AGED briefing participants. "If you have the center of gravity of chipmaking go offshore, pretty soon it drags everything else with it. It is such a striking conclusion that there seems to be no issue about it. The bureaucrats get uneasy about something that seems to be correct and is gaining visibility. That makes them even more uneasy."
The DDR&E is considering revising the report for public release, but such a version "will not purport to be or present DDR&E’s or the department’s views," say Pentagon spokesman Sewell. "Given the time it would take to revise the briefing and get it through the review process, a revised version probably would not be available for release until around the end of June, at best."
AGED Consultant Members:
Tom Hartwick, Chair, Former Chief Scientist, TRW;
Jack Kilby, Chair Emeritus, Nobel Laureate, Inventor of the Integrated Circuit;
Bill Howard, Former Director of R&D at Motorola and member of the Defense Science Board;
Chuck Krumm, Executive Director, GaAs Technology Conexant;
Barry Dunbridge, Electronics Director, TRW;
Andrew Yang, Co-Inventor S.B. IR Detectors & Cameras;
Conilee Kirkpatrick, Vice President, HRL Laboratories;
George Heilmeier, Former President and CEO, Bellcore (now TelcordiaTechnologies); and
Paul Kelley, Professor, Tufts University.
May 16, 2003
Pg. 1
Pentagon Did Not Authorize Release Of Report
DOD Technology Advisory Group Says Military Capability Is In Doubt Due To Loss Of Electronics Industry
The Department of Defense "faces shrinking advantages acrossall technology areas" due to the rapid decline of the U.S. electronics sector, warns the Pentagon’s Advisory Group on Electron Devices (AGED). "Off-shore movement of intellectual capital and industrial capability, particularly in microelectronics, has impacted the ability of the U.S. to research and produce the best technologies and products for the nation and the warfighter," says AGED in a controversial and unpublished briefing paper. "DOD is forced to rely on perceived system integration advantages to maintain superiority."
AGED, which was created in 1945 as a federal committee to advise the directors of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E), DARPA and other top military officials within the services, says DOD is now in the position of having to obtain the most advanced technologies from overseas. This situation "assigns those nations political and military leverage over the U.S.," says the briefing document, a copy of which was obtained by Manufacturing & Technology News. "We recommend that immediate corrective actions must be taken in order to sustain our technology leadership. [DOD must] re-establish [a] robust research and development base for warfighter technologies and secure permanent military technology leadership."
But the conclusions AGED draws from its National Technology Leadership Forum held last year have not been endorsed by Dr. Ronald Sega, director of DDR&E, to whom the panel reports. Sega’s office has put a hold on distribution of the briefing. The document has not "gone through the proper processes for release of such information and approval," says Pentagon spokesman Donald Sewell in response to an inquiry. "Therefore, the review and approval process, because it was not properly adhered to, presented material in a manner that implied the study conclusions and recommendations were endorsed/supported by Dr. Sega. It is not believed that Dr. Sega actually ever approved it as factually representing DDR&E’s views."
AGED was told earlier this year to stop briefing its conclusions to military officers, other government agencies and congressional staff. It was a demand that some members of the advisory group found to be alarming. "People sometimes stop things and they don’t know what they’re doing," said one participant in the AGED study. "The briefing was quite well received, the conclusions were embraced and embraced enthusiastically, but it got shut down because they didn’t want to hear this." The briefing agenda calls for the development of a "National Plan of Action" to counter the decline of U.S. electronics manufacturing and technology.
AGED’s charter says its job is to identify electronics investment areas "of critical importance to all the services." It is tasked with keeping abreast of the latest trends and developments in the electronics area "and assumes a key role in identifying when major shifts in strategy for the DOD electronics program are needed." It also facilitates "coordination and synergism among all DOD components and other government agencies." It has an annual budget of $381,600 for administrative costs and travel, which are shared by DARPA, the Army, Navy, Air Force and NASA.
The group investigated specific electronics technologies that the U.S. is perceived to dominate. Night vision equipment has provided a "demonstrated advantage — we have ‘owned the night,’ " the briefing paper points out. However, the advent of Si microbridge, room-temperature sensitive thermal detector technology "has resulted in low-cost, mass production," making night vision equipment "a commercial commodity" available to all the world. The U.S. response should be to "reestablish strong R&D capability to leapfrog [the] current generation of sensors and explore camouflaging technologies," says AGED.
In the area of battlefield communications and data networks, the global availability of wireless communications and high data rate fiber optical landlines "has greatly reduced this advantage even against the less sophisticated terrorist threat," says AGED. "Use of best commercial chips and processors levels the playing field for allies and adversaries." The military needs to deploy a new generation of communications and data equipment "to maintain an electronics system lead in the battlefield," including streamlining real-time video and distributed processing networks.
One of the problems hampering DOD is its dependence on commercial off-the-shelf technology, or COTS. This has lowered risks and costs for industry and weapons designers but it "results in weapons systems without competitive advantage," says AGED. There needs to be a "recognition of criticality of non- COTS electronics for maintaining future warfighting superiority." It recommends that the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics "organize [a] DOD/industry analysis team to formulate actions for trend reversal."
With the electronics industry rapidly shifting offshore, DOD and other government agencies must create an initiative to counter the "massive financial and tax incentives" being offered by foreign governments to lure U.S. companies, says the banned briefing paper. Foreign governments are "effectively tilting the playing field," says AGED. DOD should work with the Semiconductor Industry Association "to analyze tradeoffs made by U.S. firms in decisions to move offshore and develop mitigating strategies."
The offshore migration of semiconductor foundries "must be addressed," it adds. "R&D [is] going offshore with the manufacturing. DOD access to cutting edge chip technologies [is] unreliable."
The AGED briefing report calls for further actions to rebuild the U.S. technical talent base through new university enrollment policies. It expresses concern with the fact that so many of the students in advanced engineering and physical science degree programs are from overseas.
AGED also calls for DOD to monitor "the way chipmaking and the innovative aspects of chipmaking are being conducted," says one of the AGED briefing participants. "If you have the center of gravity of chipmaking go offshore, pretty soon it drags everything else with it. It is such a striking conclusion that there seems to be no issue about it. The bureaucrats get uneasy about something that seems to be correct and is gaining visibility. That makes them even more uneasy."
The DDR&E is considering revising the report for public release, but such a version "will not purport to be or present DDR&E’s or the department’s views," say Pentagon spokesman Sewell. "Given the time it would take to revise the briefing and get it through the review process, a revised version probably would not be available for release until around the end of June, at best."
AGED Consultant Members:
Tom Hartwick, Chair, Former Chief Scientist, TRW;
Jack Kilby, Chair Emeritus, Nobel Laureate, Inventor of the Integrated Circuit;
Bill Howard, Former Director of R&D at Motorola and member of the Defense Science Board;
Chuck Krumm, Executive Director, GaAs Technology Conexant;
Barry Dunbridge, Electronics Director, TRW;
Andrew Yang, Co-Inventor S.B. IR Detectors & Cameras;
Conilee Kirkpatrick, Vice President, HRL Laboratories;
George Heilmeier, Former President and CEO, Bellcore (now TelcordiaTechnologies); and
Paul Kelley, Professor, Tufts University.