Military Scientists Breathe Sigh of Relief: No Budget Crunch Ahead 11 2,010
By Grace V. Jean
The Pentagon’s budget may be under fire, but fortunately for military scientists, the department’s annual $2 billion investment in basic research is expected to enjoy immunity.
“It will remain in a very good posture for the next five or six years,” said Zachary Lemnios, director of defense research and engineering at the Pentagon. “That said, the challenge is to get that community, both our researchers and our laboratories, and the researchers that we fund throughout academia, focused on game-changing concepts for the future.”Military labs also feel growing pressure to push technologies that have relevance in the battlefield.
“It will become even more important that I stay engaged with the major commands and understand what they want so that we can keep our technology focused,” said Maj. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Pawlikowski said she welcomes the scrutiny. “The more feedback I can get about what we’re doing and its value to the Air Force, I think the better we can be,” she said. “I think it will help give me some motivation, an incentive to really sharpen our pencil and really take a hard look at where we are spending our dollars and making sure we are not doing things inefficiently.”
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
