DIIG Current Issues No. 16: Wrestling with Complexity in Defense Programs

In recent years, defense programs are more ambitious than any previously attempted. They promise unprecedented capability through integrating groundbreaking technologies into network-centric systems-of-systems, such as the Army’s Future Combat System (FCS) and the Coast Guard’s Integrated Deepwater System (IDS). Yet such programs involve unparalleled complexity – not only of the underlying technology, but of the organizations that propose, build and use them – which in turn affects the ability to deliver them on time and on budget. New policies and governance models are called for, as well as changes in the organizations that manage such programs.