Expanding rapid prototyping is only a first step toward fixing the Defense acquisition system

The Department of Defense (DOD) continues to grapple with its unwieldy acquisition system, even as China exploits new technologies to enable it to defeat American forces in an armed confrontation in the Pacific. Seeking to ensure that the United States can maintain its technological lead, the DOD has asked Congress to permit the military service secretaries to shortcut the weapons development approval process "by starting development activities in the year of execution ... instead of waiting in the two-year budgeting cycle for funding or new start authorization." The effect of this change would be to enable the military service secretaries…