reports

Tactics to Strengthen the U.S. Defense Industrial Base with Private Capital

05.05.2025

From Breakthroughs to the Battlefield: Best Practices for Tapping Into the Power of Prototyping

05.05.2025

Accelerating the Future: Leveraging AI for the Transformative Federal Acquisition

05.05.2025

Accelerating the Future: Leveraging AI for Transformative Federal Acquisition

This report explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve the Department of Defense (DoD)’s acquisition system and support its workforce. The report discusses both the opportunities for inserting AI into the acquisition lifecycle and barriers to implementation.

05.07.2025

From Breakthroughs to the Battlefield

This report provides an assessment of the value of prototyping for defense innovation and recommendations for DOD, Congress, and industry to streamline the transition of prototyped technologies.

02.21.2025

Strengthening the National Security Innovation Base Requires International STEM Talent

This report describes current workforce challenges facing the Department of Defense and defense industrial base and the role of foreign-born STEM talent in both defense and the U.S.’ overall S&T enterprise. The report proposes potential paths forward for better harnessing the U.S.’ position as a desired location for international STEM talent.

12.20.2024

Accelerating the Adoption of Emerging Capabilites

This report evaluates past examples and interviews to develop a schema of six attributes of successful rapid development and adoption efforts. The report proposes a variety of recommendations including a new acquisition pathway in the Adaptive Acquisition Framework (AAF) as well as a variety of changes to DoD policies, budgeting rules and practices, and the requirements process.

11.20.2024

Integrated by Mission—Federated for Execution

In December 2023, the Hudson Institute's Center for Defense Concepts & Technology and ETI co-organized a one-day symposium on joint integration. Based on the event as well as subsequent interviews and analysis, this paper refocuses the conversation surrounding CJADC2 by proposing the realization of CJADC2’s goal of decision-making advantage by co-evolving its technical and C2 elements through operational experimentation, rather than emphasizing communications.

09.23.2024

Investing in the Future: Trends in the Defense Department’s Science and Technology Funding

04.30.2024

Accelerating the Adoption of Emerging Capabilities

04.30.2024

Hypersonics Supply Chains: Securing the Path to the Future

04.30.2024

Directed Energy Sourcebook

The 2024 Directed Energy Sourcebook is a publication of the NDIA Emerging Technologies Institute (ETI) designed to provide a publicly available index of companies, government entities, and select universities related to directed energy.

04.24.2024

Directed Energy Weapons supply Chains

This second report in ETI's premier supply chain study assesses high-energy laser and high-powered microwave weapon system supply chains. It provides actionable policy recommendations for their development, health, and resilience.

01.23.2024

Global Governance and Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems

This essay draws attention to key considerations for the technical, policymaking, and military communities when thinking through the opportunities and risks of autonomous weapon system development and deployment. The essay concludes with recommendations that the DoD can pursue to bridge the technical, operational, and policymaking communities.

12.01.2023

Enabling the Joint Warfight: Challenges and Opportunities

This workshop report outlines the key capability and technology enablers for the Joint Warfighting Concept (JWC), including its four Strategic Directives: JADC2, Joint Fires, Contested Logistics, and Information Advantage. This report is based on four workshops ETI held between May and October 2022, which looked at what each Directive is trying to achieve and what technical or engineering tasks are needed so DoD can address the operational challenges that the JWC describes.

11.29.2023

Modernizing Defense Microelectronics: Challenges and Opportunities

This report assesses the state of defense microelectronics modernization. The white paper finds current challenges and bottlenecks to the process before providing actionable policy recommendations for ensuring that more modern microelectronics can be incorporated into defense systems in a timely and cost-effective manner.

11.15.2023

Digital Materiel Management Industry Association Consortium-IAC Kickoff

This report provides a detailed description of the DMM-IAC 2023 Kickoff Conference that occurred in November 2023

11.02.2023

Strengthening STEM Engagement with Minority Serving Institutions

ETI in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Air Force and NDIA's Science & Engineering Technology Division hosted a workshop titled, "Strengthening DoD-Industry-Academia Collaboration to Increase STEM Engagement with MSIs." The event focused on identifying barriers and incentives for bringing more STEM students at Minority Serving Institutions into the Department of Defense and defense industrial base. This report outlines the key observations and recommendations discussed at the workshop.

11.02.2023

Coding the Future: Recommendations for Defense Software R&D

ETI and Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute hosted a workshop titled, “Software as a Modernization Priority”. The event focused on finding innovative ways to research, deliver, and modernize defense software capabilities. This report outlines the key observations and recommendations resulting from that discussion.

07.13.2023

Investing in the Future: Trends in the Defense Department's Science and Technology Funding

This report studies DoD’s S&T funding requests and appropriations over time, analyzing the trends across various strategic “moments” in the 21st century.

06.14.2023

Hypersonics Supply Chains

This first report in ETI's premier supply chain study assesses the current state of hypersonic systems' supply chains and provides actionable policy recommendations for their development, health, and resilience.

05.09.2023

State of the Space Industrial Base

NDIA’s ETI brought together industry experts and the authors of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) “State of the Space Industrial Base 2022” for a workshop to discuss critical steps the United States must take to maintain its leadership position in space.

04.12.2023

Developing a Data Sharing Pilot on Conditions-Based Maintenance

NDIA’s Logistics Division and ETI conducted a workshop on pilot programs related to Conditions-Based Maintenance for DoD, convening experts from government, industry and academia.

02.15.2023

The Modernization Quandary

ETI hosted a workshop focused on how DoD can accelerate the delivery of emerging technologies while balancing against budget pressures elsewhere in its portfolio.

07.26.2021