Iraq war demands faster software deployment
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'Five-year development cycles won't hack it with this kind of enemy,' a senior Defense official says of the challenge DOD faces in Iraq in relation to the time it takes to field new systems.
SALT LAKE CITY'Facing an enemy in Iraq that seems to morph daily, military IT leaders say they need speedier deployment of new systems. And they need funding flexibility to get it done.
'Five-year development cycles won't hack it with this kind of enemy,' said Sue Payton, deputy undersecretary of Defense for advanced systems and concepts. Speaking at the annual Systems and Software Technology Conference, she noted that Iraqi insurgency forces have shown an astonishing ability to change tactics.
As an example of the kind of speedy software delivery that's required, Payton cited the ability of robots to pick up and move to safety improvised explosives planted by terrorists'work that used to be done by soldiers wearing massive shock-resistant suits. That capability was developed and deployed since the start of the Iraq war.
John Ogg, director of the Air Force Materiel Command's Engineering Directorate, cited 'the need for speed in rapid delivery of new capabilities.' He pointed to the newly acquired, software-enabled ability of unmanned airplanes to deliver Hellfire missiles at close range.
But more than discrete functions, Ogg said, the military needs rapid integration of disparate systems.
'We need the interoperability of complex systems' across domains, he said.
Payton said in an interview that a big impediment to rapid software development and deployment is that often the required capabilities aren't pre-approved for the programs of record, some of which date to the Cold War. Program managers must be able to easily move around funds to pay for new systems and systems enhancements without waiting on congressional action.
'We need to reprogram on the fly,' Payton said.
Also citing the need for speed were managers from DOD's information assurance groups.
Jeff Hughes, chief of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Anti-Tampering Software Project, said the lab must vastly increase its capacity for testing and certifying new software developed by contract and military programmers. The lab can certify 12 packages per year but needs to ramp up so it can validate hundreds, he said.
Hughes said the war in Iraq definitely has increased the urgency for more software testing.
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