WASHINGTON \u2014 House lawmakers proposed a surge in funding for the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Innovation Unit following its leader\u2019s sudden resignation, reportedly over concerns about a lack of support for the office\u2019s mission to transition commercial technology for military use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The House Armed Services Committee on Monday released its version of the fiscal 2023 defense policy bill, which recommends $113.4 million for DIU. That\u2019s about $46 million more than what the Defense Department requested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposal follows calls from committee members for greater investment in commercial technology. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., urged a 10-fold increase in DIU funding at a cyber, innovative technologies and information systems subcommittee meeting last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe department has repeatedly emphasized harnessing commercial technology better,\u201d Moulton said May 12. \u201cIt\u2019s been Congress, not the department, that has repeatedly pushed investment in DIU and in innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DIU Director Mike Brown in late April announced he would resign when his four-year term ends in September, despite an option to extend his service by one year. Brown told his colleagues at the time he was leaving, in part, because of a lack of support from the Pentagon\u2019s senior leaders, Politico reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The committee\u2019s recommended increase for DIU would add $15 million for national security innovation capital, $10 million for joint programs, $5.6 million for hybrid space architecture work, $5 million for electric propulsion and $2.5 million for artificial intelligence. It also proposes $8 million for DIU prototype projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere in the bill, lawmakers called on DIU to work with the Pentagon\u2019s Strategic Capabilities Office to create a Mission-Based Rapid Acquisition Account focused on increasing the department\u2019s work with small businesses. The measure proposes $30 million for the effort in fiscal 2023 and requires regular briefings from the deputy secretary of defense on how the department is using the funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The recommended budget growth follows calls from committee members for greater DoD investment in commercial technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":39691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,33,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3468],"class_list":["post-50812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"GZDUHIZ4CVG5RKN3DAENSZDCGM","arc_canonical_url":"\/battlefield-tech\/2022\/06\/20\/house-lawmakers-eye-70-funding-boost-for-pentagons-commercial-innovation-hub\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n