The goal of the software renewal is to bring the US military in line with industry best practices

The US military is rethinking the way it develops and adopts software, the bloodstream of high-tech weapons, vehicles and the exchange of information from the battlefield.

On March 9, the service published a policy, called Enabling Modern Software Development and Procurement Practices, that contains the changes. Officials said the measure brings them closer to the expectations of the private sector, making doing business simpler and more inclusive.

“We thought it was important to do this now and issue this policy now, because of how critical the software is now to combat,” Margaret Boatner, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for strategy reform and acquisition, told reporters at the Pentagon. “More than ever before, software is really a national security imperative.”

Policy implications include: changing the way requirements are written, favoring high-level need statements and brevity over hyper-specific instructions; use of alternative acquisition and contracting strategies; reducing duplicate tests and simplifying cybersecurity processes; adopting a sustainability model that recognizes that programs can and should be updated; and establishing expert cohorts, such as a potential Center of Excellence for Digital Capabilities Contracting at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

While the policy takes effect immediately, different reforms will take varying amounts of time to implement. The contact center, for example, has several months to launch. According to Boatner, no additional appropriations are needed to implement the transition.

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“All our weapons systems, our missiles, our radars, our helicopters, our tanks? They are working on the software,” she said. “The ability to rapidly develop, upgrade and improve these capabilities is critical to ensuring we can maintain that competitive advantage over our adversaries.”

The US’s competition with Russia and China – the world powers seen as the biggest threats to national security – is increasingly digital. The growing demand for seamless connectivity, lightning-fast decision-making and advanced robotics has thrust software into the limelight.

Chief Information Officer Leonel Garciga said the new directive puts the military in a more dynamic position.

“While our partners were coming to compete for jobs within the military, we were almost holding back because we didn’t have some of these things and we missed some opportunities,” he told reporters. “In a way, this is entering the second phase of our digital transformation as a service.”

The military sees digital transformation, or the gradual introduction of new technologies and virtual practices, as key to its larger modernization goals. Previous budget drafts have included billions of dollars for cyber and information technology.