Defense Undersecretary Focuses on Generating New Warfighting Capabilities

Heidi Shyu, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker, said generating new capabilities for warfighters through modeling and simulation, rapid prototyping, and acquisition and sustainment is a key focus of her office.

Speaking during a panel at the Sea-Air-Space Summit at National Harbor, Maryland, Shyu said her office will be doing the said activities every six months in partnership with military services, combatant commands, industry and coalition partners to accelerate the discovery and deployment of new warfighting technologies, the Department of Defense website reported.

The simulation phase involves running critical physics-space modeling and simulation, allowing red and blue teams to predict possible outcomes of conflict scenarios. Under the rapid prototyping phase, technologies will undergo trials in a laboratory setting and in a live environment to validate their capabilities. According to Shyu, a three-time Wash100 awardee, the Joint Staff is in charge of identifying capabilities that should be prioritized for fielding.

The official, meanwhile, shared that her office is also focused on acquiring an asymmetric capability against advanced adversaries.