Aperture

摘要

Cuts in research and development have so badly eroded the US lead in military technology that it's razor thin in some areas and gone in many others, according to the Pentagon's top technology chief. Competitors are catching up fast and unless action is taken-and quickly-the lost edge will pose a profound strategic problem for the nation. "Technological superiority is not assured," said Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's acquisition, technology, and logistics chief. "I'm very concerned about... where we're going to end up," he said during a January panel discussion sponsored by the Center for New American Security in Washington, D.C. Kendall said the US has gotten complacent since its technology led to overwhelming victory during the Cold War and the first Gulf War, and this "led to an assumption over the next 25 years that technological superiority would be a fact of life," but it isn't, he said. Other countries are increasing their R&D investments "while we're decreasing ours," and consequently, "we do have reason to be concerned," he reported.