S&T Emphasis Areas

Seven capabilities were identified as cross-cutting areas critical to one or more of the mission areas identified in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). The Science and Technology (S&T) Executive Committee (EXCOM) chartered a Steering Council for each area to develop research and engineering "roadmaps" to inform and guide Department S&T investments for each of the seven areas. These seven capability areas are:

• Autonomy: Autonomous systems to augment military operations;
• Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction: Counter known, unknown and emerging threats;
• Cyber: Improve the DoD performance for all operations in cyber space;
• Data-to-Decisions: Shorten the cycle time from data gathering to decisions;
• Electronic Warfare & Protection: Enhance the electromagnetic spectrum as a military domain;
• Human Systems: Improve the fusion of humans and systems;
• Engineering Resilient Systems: Expedite design and delivery of trustworthy, adaptable and affordable defense systems.

The Department will pursue these priorities across the entire DoD S&T Enterprise, and has begun initiatives to execute the roadmaps for each. These priorities will draw upon relevant ongoing research from across government and industry.