Lt. Col. James McGuyer, deputy chief of the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization‘s technology strategy division, has said JIDO seeks technologies it can field immediately to counter improvised threats such as unmanned aerial vehicles.

The U.S. Army said Wednesday McGuyer told audience at a Lab Day event held in May at the Pentagon he believes the government and industry should cooperate to get platforms out to the field.

He added that JIDO works to track methods and materials that adversaries use to create explosive devices and shares collected information with combatant commanders and allies.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency absorbed JIDO, formerly the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency, in October to comply with a 2016 National Defense Authorization Act provision.

JIDO was established to help foster mission collaboration and the integration of management offices in the contracts, facilities, financial management, human resources, logistics management, security and counterintelligence areas.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said NATO member states plan a 4.3 percent increase in military spending this year amid President Donald Trump’s call for allies to pay more for their own defense, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

“I welcome the strong focus of President Trump on defense spending and burden sharing, because it is important that we deliver,” Stoltenberg said at a news conference Wednesday in Brussels.

“European allies should invest more in defense not only to please the United States, but they should invest more in defense because it is in their own interests.”

The spending increase planned for 2017 reflects a $12 billion rise from the 2016 levels.

NATO announced Wednesday that only five out of 29 member states met their defense spending goals in 2018.

Romania plans to reach its spending target this year, with Latvia and Lithuania to follow suit in 2018.

Reuters also reported that NATO member countries plan to develop national plans that would detail how they will meet the defense spending levels at 2 percent of their gross domestic product by 2024, acquire new weapon systems and track warfighters’ contributions to missions.

Stoltenberg said alliance members would allocate the increase in defense budget to military training and exercises, pensions, salaries, equipment and efforts to accelerate NATO troop deployment, the report added.

The Government Accountability Office has called on the Defense Department to establish a department-wide strategy that will guide prototyping initiatives.

GAO said Tuesday DoD’s prototyping efforts face challenges such as limited funds, a risk-averse culture and competing priorities.

DoD has yet to develop a strategy that outlines prototyping goals and priorities as well as roles and responsibilities, which could result to “unproductive or poorly coordinated” investments, GAO noted.

The congressional watchdog also urged DoD to implement a funding strategy to address budget challenges facing prototype development efforts.

Prototyping projects compete for DoD funds specifically with acquisition programs, GAO said.

The agency noted that the “strategic bucket” approach could help address funding issues through the allocation of resources to various types of projects based on an organization’s strategy.