Fundamental Capability Portfolio Management: A Study of Developing Systems with Implications for Army Research and Development Strategy.

摘要

Over the past years, the United States Army has faced an increasingly austere budgetary environment of unknown duration. At the same time, in the future the Army must prepare for a more diverse, burdensome and uncertain strategic environment, from conventional warfare to counter- insurgency. Anticipating these constraints, in 2006 the Department of Defense (DoD) mandated the use of capability portfolio management in acquisitions, to ensure that an efficient mix of systems is being developed and fielded within strict budgetary limitations. However, a lack of research in two important areas is constraining the ability of the Army to perform effective portfolio analyses. First, there is limited research to help the Army perform specific portfolio analysis and assessment of this kind. Second, for individual systems within a portfolio, a body of research has documented the extent and causes of cost growth, schedule delay, and cancelation in major weapon systems , but relatively less attention has been paid to the smaller, less expensive systems that actually make up the majority of the Army s budget. A growing literature has begun to establish a framework for portfolio analyses involving military systems. These studies have often focused on project selection either within a capability requirement area, which groups systems within a very broad category, or across such broad categorical areas. A capability requirement area actually contains multiple systems serving very different specific functions at a more fundamental, basic level. For example, Lethality is one traditional capability requirement area defined by the Army as the ability to destroy or neutralize adversaries. The lethality requirement needs to be accomplished in a myriad of different ways depending on the situation by utilizing a variety of weapons, such as small arms, missiles, mortars, and artillery. Therefore, prior to the consideration of gaps within the overall lethality capability area, one must firs.