WASHINGTON – Will Roper, the man in charge of the purse strings for the Air Force’s $60 billion military research, development, and acquisition budget, oversees some 550 programs for the Air Force. Tech Crunch reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
18 Nov. 2020 -- Roper has placed an emphasis on what he calls digital engineering to create internal manufacturing capabilities within the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and develop new defensive capabilities and offensive weaponry for a 21st century battlefield.
As the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics — and principal adviser to the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force for R&D, test, production, and modernization efforts within the Air Force — Roper has a view into where the military is racing ahead to meet the challenges of the battlefield of the next millennium.
In Roper’s view that could encompass the presence of weaponized artificial intelligence (AI), persistent drones or even genetically edited bioweapons or human augmentation.
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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
