MITRE has released a report highlighting the need for the defense acquisition system, or DAS, to be more warfighter-centric to facilitate the delivery of capabilities that keep pace with the rapidly evolving battlefield conditions.
The nonprofit corporation said Friday uniformed engineers and scientists should have sufficient acquisition training and authorities to rapidly innovate and address emerging problems at the tactical edge.
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Extreme Product Ownership
MITRE cited U.S. Special Operations Command’s adoption of “Extreme Product Ownership,” an agile approach that focuses on users and value to reduce risks to development and combat operations.
In the report, MITRE mentioned the 160 Special Operations Aviation Regiment and its use of Extreme Product Ownership, which led to the development of new software that provided new capabilities and addressed cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
Models for Pushing Agile Acquisition to the Tactical Edge
According to the report, the “MacGyver” model and the Air Force tactical battle labs are the two models for moving agile acquisition to the tactical edge.
Under the MacGyver model, operational units are required to adapt mature technology through iterative experiments and implement field innovation. With this approach, some additional acquisition authorities are delegated to group commanders to ensure that detachments can acquire commercial platforms needed to develop minimum viable products to meet unit requirements and “potentially form the basis of an Urgent Capability Acquisition.”
With the Air Force tactical battle labs, adapted mature tech platforms are paired with novel operating concepts to develop new warfighting systems and address known capability gaps.
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