This Defense Technology Area Plan presents the Department of Defense objectives and investment strategy for those technologies critical to Defense acquisition plans, service warfighter capabilities and joint warfighting needs. The Defense Technology Area Plan takes a horizontal perspective across Military Services and Defense Agencies efforts, thereby charting the total Defense investment for a given technology.

This third edition of the Defense Technology Area Plan embodies many of the refinements we continue to make in our integrated science and technology strategic planning process. The plan identifies the anticipated return on the Defense investment in science and technology through more than 200 Defense Technology Objectives. These Defense Technology Objectives have be refined considerably in this edition of the plan. We have eliminated those with marginal impact, and added new objectives to ensure attainment of our strategic goals, and sharpened the focus on several to better articulate the science and technology program payoff. These refinements serve to increase out emphasis on rapid transition of technology it the operational forces. This years plan has a separate annex which provides an assessment of the potential technology capabilities of other countries vis-à-vis the United States.

The Defense Technology Area Plan is a dynamic document. It is the product of corporate planning and provides guidance to the Military Services and Defense Agencies to ensure that their integrated investment in technology development is responsive to the need of our primary customer - the warfighter - well into the future.

Anita K. Jones
Director of Defense Research and Engineering