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| US SecDef Chuck Hagel |
By Zachary Keck
The Pentagon’s new Offset Strategy is modeled on two very different historical examples.
In what some are rightly calling “one of the most important [speeches] by an American defense secretary in recent years,” over the weekend the U.S. Defense Department unveiled its new Offset Strategy aimed at perpetuating America’s military superiority.
In a speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum (and accompanying memo [PDF]), Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the Pentagon’s new “Defense Innovation Initiative.” In Hagel’s words: “This new initiative is an ambitious department-wide effort to identify and invest in innovative ways to sustain and advance America’s military dominance for the 21st century. It will put new resources behind innovation, but also account for today’s fiscal realities – by focusing on investments that will sharpen our military edge even as we contend with fewer resources.”
Hagel said the Pentagon would focus its efforts on the “the fields of robotics, autonomous systems, miniaturization, big data, and advanced manufacturing, including 3D printing.”
The new initiative, which was many months in the making, is being undertaken primarily in response to China and Russia’s military modernization programs. As Hagel explained in the speech, “While we spent over a decade focused on grinding stability operations, countries like Russia and China have been heavily investing in military modernization programs to blunt our military’s technological edge.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat