III. TRANSITIONING TECHNOLOGY TO
THE JOINT WARFIGHTER

The Cold War acquisition process produced the world's best military equipment. That process, however, is too expensive, and the time from concept to fielding is too long for the post-Cold War budgetary and geo-political environment. This Joint Warfighting Science and Technology Plan describes the following important mechanisms for transitioning innovative concepts and superior technology to the warfighter and acquisition customer both faster and less expensively than the traditional mechanisms.

A. Advanced Technology Demonstrations (ATDs)

Service and Agency ATDs seek to demonstrate the maturity and potential of advanced technologies for enhanced military operational capability and/or cost effectiveness. The DTO Volume for the JWSTP and the DTAP presents summary descriptions of the ATDs cited in this plan. ATDs are characterized by the following parameters:

• large scale, both in resources and complexity;
• have operator/user involvement from planning to final documentation;
• provide specific cost, schedule, and performance metrics;
• have a clearly defined transition target.

B. Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTDs)

ACTDs are designed to transfer technology rapidly from the developers to the users. They are user-oriented and represent an integrated effort to assemble and demonstrate a significant, new or improved military capability that is based on mature advanced technologies. They also are on a scale large enough to demonstrate operational utility and end-to-end system integrity. A demonstration is jointly developed and implemented by the operational user and materiel development communities as key participants. ACTDs allow the warfighter to:

• Evaluate a technology's military utility before committing to a major acquisition effort;
• Develop concepts of operation for employing the new technology; and
• Retain a low-cost residual operational capability if the commander desires.

Upon the conclusion of an ACTD, one of the following three choices will be made based on the results of the exercises:

• Transition the demonstrated technology directly to the warfighter. In this case, only minor, or perhaps no modifications to the existing equipment will be required. This transition approach is particularly appropriate where only small quantities of the new equipment are required.
  
  
• Based upon lessons learned during the ACTD, enter the formal acquisition process at some advanced milestone.
  
  
• Terminate the efforts or restructure them based on the evolved concept of operations and lessons learned during the ACTD.

The ACTD Master Plan (Reference 6) details the ACTD implementation process and discusses the current status of existing ACTDs. The DTO Volume for the JWSTP and the DTAP presents summary descriptions for all ACTDs cited in this plan.

C. Joint Warfighting Experiments (JWEs)

Joint Warfighting Experiments (JWEs) are conducted as part of joint warfighting exercises. A JWE is a snapshot in time when prototypes and technologies from ACTDs, ATDs, development and techhnology base programs are integrated to permit the warfighter potential and gain insight into future advanced Joint Warfighting Concepts. Sometimes there is a need for additional funding for the integration and synchronization effort across these technologies and for unprogrammed, promising joint warfighting technological solutions. This additional funding is programmed in the Joint Warfighting Integration Program (JWIP). JWEs are DoD-wide efforts to support the horizontal integration and synchronization of advanced technologies from ACTDs, ATDs, and advanced distributed simulation products for experimentation in joint warfighting exercises, such as the recent Roving Sands Theater Missile Defense joint warfighting experiments sponsored by the Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command.