Technological superiority has been, and continues to be, a cornerstone of our national military strategy. Technologies such as radar, jet engines, nuclear weapons, night vision, smart weapons, stealth, the Global Positioning System, and vastly more capable information management systems have changed warfare dramatically. Today's technological edge allows us to prevail across the broad spectrum of conflict decisively and with relatively low casualties. Maintaining this technological edge has become even more important as the size of U.S. forces decreases and high-technology weapons are now readily available on the world market. In this new environment, it is imperative that U.S. forces possess technological superiority to achieve and maintain the dominance displayed in Operation Desert Storm. The technological advantage we enjoy today is a legacy of decades of investment in science and technology (S&T). Likewise, our future warfighting capabilities will be substantially determined by today's investment in S&T.

The Director, Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E), has strengthened the S&T strategic planning process to improve the S&T community's responsiveness to their warfighting and acquisition customers. Critical to this process is the Defense Science and Technology Strategy (Reference 1) with its supporting Basic Research Plan (BRP) (Reference 2), Defense Technology Area Plan (DTAP) (Reference 3), and this Joint Warfighting Science and Technology Plan (JWSTP). These documents present the DoD S&T vision, strategy, plan, and objectives for the planners, programmers, and performers of defense S&T. These documents are a collaborative product of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Joint Staff, military services, and defense agencies. The strategy and plans are fully responsive to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Joint Vision 2010 (JV 2010) ( Reference 4) and the National Security Science and Technology Council's (NSTC's) National Security Science and Technology Strategy (Reference 5), as shown in Figure I-1. These documents and the supporting individual S&T master plans of the military services and defense agencies guide the annual preparation of the DoD budget and program objective memorandums (POMs). The strategy and plans are made available to the U.S. Government, defense contractors, and our allies with the goal of better focusing our collective efforts on superior joint warfare capabilities and improving interoperability between the United States and our allies.

Defense Science and Technology Strategy (Reference 1). The Defense Science and Technology Strategy is responsive to the Secretary of Defense's vision to "develop and transition superior technology to enable affordable, decisive military capability." The overall S&T strategy is to "address the joint warfighters' stated needs, maintain a broad-based program spanning all defense-relevant sciences and technologies to anticipate future needs, support the unique needs of the military Departments, preserve long-range research, and do it within limited budgets." The strategy focuses on four generic considerations that have high priority in making strategic decisions about which technologies are pursued:

• Affordability. Where appropriate, S&T projects must focus on increasing the effectiveness of a capability and decreasing cost, increasing operational life, and incrementally improving material through planned upgrades.

• Dual Use. The S&T program must contribute to building a common industrial base by using commercial practices, processes, and products, and by developing, where possible, technology that can be the base for both military and commercial products and applications.

• Accelerated Transition. Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTDs) are a key element in the S&T program to focus science and technology on supporting military needs and problems, expediting transitions, and providing a sound basis for acquisition decisions.

• Strong Technology Base. Basic and applied research generate DoD's legacy to tomorrow's warfighter. Accordingly, it is imperative to maintain a stable technology base investment to develop options for the truly long term—beyond the threats, situations, and budgets that we can predict.

Basic Research Plan (Reference 2). The BRP presents the DoD objectives and investment strategy for DoD-sponsored basic research (6.1) performed by universities, industry, and service laboratories. In addition to presenting the planned investment in each of 12 Basic Research Areas (BRAs) across several technical disciplines composing the basic research program, the plan highlights six strategic research objectives holding great promise for the development of breakthrough technologies for revolutionary 21st century military capabilities:

Defense Technology Area Plan (Reference 3). The DTAP presents the DoD objectives and the applied research (6.2) and advanced technology development (6.3) investment strategy for technologies critical to DoD acquisition plans, service warfighter capabilities, and the JWSTP. It takes a horizontal perspective across the service and defense agency efforts, thereby charting the total DoD investment for a given technology. The DTAP documents the focus, content, and principal objectives of the overall DoD S&T efforts. This year the DTAP includes a separate annex that provides an assessment of the potential technology capabilities of other countries vis-à-vis the United States.

Joint Warfighting Science and Technology Plan. This JWSTP also takes a joint perspective horizontally across the applied research (6.2) and advanced technology development (6.3) plans of the services and defense agencies, but for a different purpose. Its objective is to ensure that the S&T program supports priority future joint warfighting capabilities. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) has endorsed the JWSTP planning process and methodology and the Joint Warfighting Capability Objectives (JWCOs) used in the development of the JWSTP. The 10 JWCOs are not all inclusive—there are other important joint and service-unique warfighting and operations other than war capabilities that need strong S&T support. Nevertheless the JWCOs provide an important focus for the S&T program.

This is the second edition of the Joint Warfighting Science and Technology Plan. It will be issued annually as defense guidance. Advanced concepts and technologies identified as enhancing high-priority joint warfighting capabilities, along with prerequisite research, will receive funding priority in the President's Budget and accompanying Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP).

Together, the JWSTP, DTAP, and BRP ensure that the near-, mid-, and far-term needs of the joint warfighter are properly balanced and supported in the S&T planning, programming, budgeting, and assessment activities of DoD.

Defense Technology Objectives (Reference 6). The S&T investment is focused and guided through Defense Technology Objectives (DTOs). Each DTO identifies a specific technology advancement that will be developed or demonstrated, the anticipated date of technology availability, the specific benefits resulting from the technology advance, and the funding required to achieve the new capability. These benefits not only include increased military operational capabilities but also address other important areas, including affordability and dual-use applications, that have received special emphasis in the Defense Science and Technology Strategy. JWSTP DTOs are limited to Advanced Technology Demonstrations (ATDs) and Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTDs).