Operationalization of Defense Innovation Unit 3.0

Driving Defense Innovation: Defense Innovation Unit 3.0 will focus on rapid deployment of commercial technologies

DRONELIFE Contributor Dawn Zoldi (Retired Colonel, U.S. Air Force)

In the field of defense innovation, XPONENTIAL spotlighted the operationalization of DIU 3.0. In a fireside chat discussion between Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Director Doug Beck and Courtney Albon of Defense News & C4ISRNet, this effort will help defense leaders provide the warfighter with the latest, proven, mature We did a deep dive into what represents a major change in the way weapons are equipped. Commercial technology. With a focus on rapid deployment in an evolving war and security landscape, these innovations will address critical capability gaps and usher in a new era of defense readiness and effectiveness. Read on to learn more about the continued evolution of the DIU approach from its early days to the future.

Mr. Beck's unique background includes 13 years as a former vice president at Apple, one of the founders of DIU, 27 years in the U.S. Naval Reserve (highest rank as captain), and currently leading DIU 3.0. They are called two lenses. .

Beck, who was instrumental in starting the original organization called DIUx under Ash Carter's direction to harness the power of the commercial technology sector, brings extensive experience in integrating commercial technology into military operations. .

His time at Apple inspired his efforts to leverage proven, mature commercial technologies to address strategic challenges in areas such as AI, autonomy, cyber, energy, telecommunications, space, and biotech. giving rations.

Mr. Beck's extensive involvement in the Indo-Pacific region emphasizes the importance of understanding the geopolitical landscape and regional dynamics, further deepening his leadership perspective.

Given the sense of urgency accentuated by the evolving security environment, Beck believes it is imperative to leverage this capability now, especially with the support of key stakeholders in the Department of Defense, Congress, and the technology sector. I recognize this and will use this background and experience to lead DIU. To the future.

evolution

Since its founding in 2015, DIU has undergone a significant evolution marked by transformation, from its first establishment as DIUx (1.0) to its current iteration as DIU 3.0.

In its early stages, DIUx focused on bridging the gap between the defense and commercial technology worlds, bridging the lack of integration between the two areas.

To date, DIU has made significant progress both in terms of its operational capabilities and cooperation with the commercial sector. Through its 2.0 phase, which spanned approximately 2016-2017, DIU demonstrated the ability to rapidly address real-world military challenges by leveraging commercially derived technology and existing authorizations in innovative ways. did. It provided concrete solutions to combatants in months rather than years. While the achievements are laudable, Beck noted that they are not sufficient to meet the strategic demands of today's security landscape.

With DIU 3.0, Beck has shifted its focus to applying this proven capability to strategically important operational gaps to ensure scalability and impactful results. The DIU has evolved into a direct organization to increase its importance and leverage its ability to function across service areas. But DIU's mission remains steadfast: to provide solutions that enable victory on the battlefield and sustain national security objectives, Beck said.

The DIU 3.0 strategy, released last August, outlines five key initiatives aimed at expanding the organization's impact. Beck explained how the team continues to implement it.

First, the DIU is deeply embedded in the warfighter, working with organizations such as the Joint Mission Accelerator Director to actively shape technology implementation strategies. This approach fosters a nuanced understanding of operational needs and facilitates direct engagement with DIU personnel.

Second, DIU continues to scale across the Department of Defense (DOD) by forging deep partnerships with the services, Joint Staff, and OSD partners to accelerate innovation. For example, initiatives such as Replicator aim to leverage existing structures, such as the Navy's Office of Strategic Capabilities, to speed up the process.

Third, DIU works with various institutions and partners to synergize efforts and overcome barriers to commercial technology adoption. This collaborative approach ensures a consistent ecosystem that delivers impactful results.

Fourth, DIU remains committed to streamlining its engagement with the technology industry and providing clearer paths and insights into opportunities and risks. This will facilitate scalable investments in DIU initiatives, Beck said.

Finally, DIU emphasizes deep partnerships with allies and partners. Beck recognizes the importance of collective efforts to address common challenges.

Through these collaborative efforts, DIU has already built trust and made significant progress in its mission in Bex's first year as DIU Chair.

DIU 3.0 has been allocated nearly $1 billion by Congress, and Doug Beck continues to meet the challenge of quickly putting this money to work to execute the mission. Understanding that this financial support affirms confidence in the DIU, Mr. Beck and his team have approached it with the utmost seriousness, working closely with Congress to ensure effective enforcement. Ta.

Beck said the team's strategy is centered around prioritization, focusing on efforts that promise true strategic impact, such as deterring conflict and ensuring victory in combat situations. Mr. Beck will focus on expanding and accelerating ongoing strategic efforts, strategically strengthening and integrating existing technologies, strengthening partnerships with organizations such as AFWERX and SPACEWORX, and further collaborative efforts to maximize impact. , explained that it has allocated funding to four key areas: advancing critical systems efforts; Lower barriers to entry, such as cybersecurity standards. Although Mr. Beck did not intend to reveal a large budget, the initiatives he outlined promised substantial action and progress across a number of key areas. He said DIU would “just go after it” and get results.

Following Deputy Secretary Hicks' announcement of the Replicator program last August, Beck said Replicator 1.0 has made significant progress toward achieving that goal. Replicator 1.0 is focused on autonomous technology, with the primary goal of rapidly delivering expendable autonomous capabilities to large-scale warfighters within 18-24 months, with effectiveness that breaks scalability barriers. I have proven it.

Replicator 1.0 operates under a governance structure established by the Deputies Innovation Steering Group, with DIU playing a key role as the leader of the Innovation Working Group and steering the decision-making process to enable rapid progress. It's streamlined. This governance structure includes the Combatant Commands (COCOMS) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (OSD) with the Office of the Secretary of Defense. According to Beck, this means doing things in parallel rather than sequentially.

Leveraging existing efforts such as Commercial Service Opening (CSO), this multidisciplinary team successfully completed the first part of system determination by the end of 2023. The team is currently planning to move on to his second part to deliver its new features.

Replicator 1.0 is poised to continue delivering a variety of off-the-shelf and new technologies to warfighters in an accelerated time frame. Breaking through traditional barriers, the Replicator team achieved several milestones that typically take two to three years in just over a month.

This advancement has fueled DIU's efforts to institutionalize this approach for future iterations. Beck announced that there will be Replicators 2, 3, and 3 in the future.

Blue UAS operates at the intersection of autonomous and unmanned systems across the air, water, surface, and subsurface domains and represents one of DIU's most dynamic efforts to advance autonomous innovation and capability enhancement.

Beck detailed one of the notable success stories in this field: the lionfish. The project, which has its roots in commercial service entry (CSO) in 2019, initially focused on working with Navy PEO Unmanned to develop a small undersea vehicle to replace the Mark18 Mod 1 for critical mine countermeasures operations. Since then, Lionfish has evolved into a multifaceted endeavor. Following the Navy's first Other Transaction Authority (OTA) award for the program contract, Lionfish has been expanded into a separate software stream aimed at enhancing search and evasion capabilities. DIU's Autonomous Group and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Group, working closely with relevant Navy teams, significantly reduced the development schedule from six months to just six days. Beck said this illustrates the power of synergistic efforts in technological advancement.

Another cornerstone of Blues' mission is the establishment of a comprehensive Blue UAS framework for policy-compliant unmanned systems. Launched in 2020, the framework initially consisted of a list of pre-cleared systems that complied with department policy. Beck said the Blue UAS framework currently has 30 separate components, ranging from software to radios to cameras.

Blue has since expanded its reach. XPO announced an exciting new process to incorporate certified components of the AUVSI Green UAS Framework into the Blue UAS list. This initiative not only reflects Blue UAS's commitment to promoting interoperability and standardization, but also highlights the company's responsiveness to evolving operational demands.

With a continued focus on software monitoring and resiliency, as exemplified by projects such as Resilient Communications for UAS at SOCOM, Blue strengthens the capabilities of unmanned systems across a variety of mission sets. It continues to serve as a catalyst.

According to Beck, the framework will be completely revamped this fall. In the meantime, Blue UAS continues to expand its capabilities, reduce costs, and improve scalability. We want to scale up and give more people a chance to get on the list, Beck explained. This is important to all of us.

This is important for all of us, Beck concluded. I had one of my greatest “aha” moments when I returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. He explained that DoD innovators must assume some reputational and process risk to move forward. Failure to do so simply transfers risk to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, and this is unacceptable. We must take such risks to avoid fatal risks to our people and our nation. And Beck remains committed to doing just that.

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Dawn MK Zoldi (U.S. Air Force Colonel, Retired) is a licensed attorney who served 28 years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, both in the military and in the federal civil service. She is the CEO and founder of her P3 Tech Consulting and is an internationally recognized expert on unmanned aircraft systems law and policy. Zoldi has written for several magazines and hosts a popular Technology Her podcast. Zoldi is also an adjunct professor at the undergraduate and graduate levels at two universities. In 2022, she received her Airwards Peoples Choice Industry Impactor Award, was recognized as one of the Top Women to Follow on LinkedIn, and was featured in the eVTOL Insights 2022 PowerBook. For more information, follow her on social media and visit her website at https://www.p3techconsulting.com.

Miriam McNab is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a keen observer of the emerging drone industry and the drone regulatory environment. Miriam has written over 3,000 of her articles focused on the commercial drone sector and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam holds a degree from the University of Chicago and has over 20 years of experience in high-tech sales and marketing new technologies. For drone industry consulting or writing, please email Miriam.

Twitter: @spaldingbarker

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