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

With the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Defense has had to accelerate efforts to field capabilities addressing urgent warfighter needs, including joint needs affecting more than one service. This report assesses: (1) how quickly capabilities responding to joint urgent operational needs have been developed and fielded; and (2) what key practices enabled executing organizations to overcome challenges. To do this, the report studied a sample of joint urgent operational needs including all urgent needs over $100 million approved from April 2008 through Dec. 2010 and a random selection of smaller urgent needs. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find report.