Will Roper, director of the Defense Department’s strategic capabilities office, has said SCO works to identify existing military systems that can be redeveloped to perform new functions through the use of three approaches, DoD News reported Monday.Cheryl Pellerin writes Roper said at a media roundtable event that these approaches include repurposing, integration of systems into teams and the use of commercial technology platforms.
“Year-by-year we look at all the systems we have in the department and we are looking to make one of those three [approaches] work to our advantage,” Roper said.
“We’ve found that most of the systems we have can be changed… to do new things.”
He said the adoption of such approaches has led to the development of the Arsenal Plane Program and updates to the U.S. Navy’s Standard Missile-6.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, then-deputy defense chief, established SCO in August 2012 in an effort to develop novel concepts and maintain technological advantage through the use of existing military platforms, Roper noted.
