General: Defense tech needs faster pace

WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- The weapons rapidly built by insurgents in combat have prompted the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff to call for faster software development.

Marine Gen. James Cartwright, Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman, said recently that defense software and technologies need to reach deployment readiness in a shorter amount of time.

Cartwright called the current development model that takes years for some technologies to reach soldiers in the field inadequate in combating the short time it takes for insurgents to build crude weapons that target U.S. soldiers, NextGov reported.

"We are building software code and tools based on the aircraft carrier development cycle," Cartwright said, according to a NextGov report.

Speaking recently at Naval Information Technology Day, Cartwright said warfare technologies need to be on the cutting edge of cyberspace and implemented by the U.S. armed forces to address the fast-paced world of modern combat.