Urgent Warfighter Needs: Opportunities Exist to Expedite Development and Fielding of Joint Capabilities

To be validated as a joint urgent operational need, a requirement must be joint in nature and, importantly, if not addressed immediately will seriously endanger personnel or pose a major threat to ongoing operations. DOD has taken a number of steps to provide urgently needed capabilities to the warfighter more quickly and to alleviate the challenges associated with the traditional acquisition process for acquiring capabilities. In June 2011, the Secretary of Defense established the...
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To be validated as a joint urgent operational need, a requirement must be joint in nature and, importantly, if not addressed immediately will seriously endanger personnel or pose a major threat to ongoing operations. DOD has taken a number of steps to provide urgently needed capabilities to the warfighter more quickly and to alleviate the challenges associated with the traditional acquisition process for acquiring capabilities. In June 2011, the Secretary of Defense established the Senior Integration Group to serve as DOD's single authority to prioritize solutions that can be fielded quickly and to direct actions to resolve issues associated with joint urgent needs, including requirements, resources, and acquisitions. In addition, the military services (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps) have each established processes to address service-specific urgent and compelling warfighter needs. The Office of the Secretary of Defense established JRAC in 2004 to help overcome institutional barriers and provide timely, effective support to meet the urgent materiel and logistics requirements that combatant commanders deem operationally critical.