Proven Warfighting Capabilities Delivered at the Speed of Need

Abstract

The enduring mission of the Department of Defense (DOD) is to provide the military forces to deter war and ensure the Nation’s security. Test and Evaluation (T&E) is critical to the DOD mission success: It enables delivery of the proven, combat ready systems needed to enable the lethality, suitability, resilience, survivability, agility, and responsiveness of the future Joint Force. With the complexity of the multi-domain operating environment increasing at more dynamic rates, the T&E tools, processes, infrastructure, and workforce must capitalize on the latest advances in science and technology to transform T&E strategies, stay ahead of the adversary, and continue to inspire trust and confidence in our warfighting capabilities while responding to the adaptive acquisition framework to deliver those capabilities at the speed of need. This paper focuses on identifying the transformational changes that the T&E enterprise needs to implement to enable accurate characterization of the operational performance and limitations of the DOD to prevail in conflict and defend the homeland. This paper summarizes the desired end state and preliminary actions to motivate a call for action across government, industry, and academia to define the right measures of performance and accelerate the proposed transformation.