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The People's Liberation Army Navy recently introduced two domestically designed and built guided missile destroyers that include Aegis-type radars and related technologies. Known as Project 052C guided missile destroyers (DDGs), the ships feature Aegis-type phased array panels, vertical launch systems, long-range missiles and considerable command and control. These capabilities were not found on any previous Chinese-built DDGs.

The combatant command in charge of U.S. homeland defense is in the midst of creating a one-stop cyber shop for information. The initiative supports a trusted information exchange by laying the foundation of an emergency event management framework. Developers contend that the tool will proffer the data and knowledge that commanders, agency leaders and law enforcement personnel need to make appropriate decisions during a crisis, and it ultimately will capture the decision-making process so it can be reviewed after the event has ended.

If his eyesight had not failed him, Scott Dixon Smith might never have embarked on a career in technology, let alone one supplying visualization software to corporations and federal agencies. In fact, even before he entered college on a tennis scholarship, Smith already had charted a completely different course.

A high-resolution global elevation map soon will allow warfighters to develop and use a variety of navigation, communications and engineering applications. Twice as accurate as previous geographic data systems, it can generate detailed topographies of 80 percent of the planet's surface, government scientists say.

The emerging technology that will have the greatest impact on Sandia National Laboratories, a National Nuclear Security Administration lab, reflects the shift toward an increased reliance on supercomputers and their validated numerical simulations to model the nuclear stockpile. Computer simulations will revolutionize the laboratories' microelectronic and nanoscale contributions to engineering and national security. Simulations help researchers work faster and more accurately.

When people look at the ongoing force transformation, they probably see investments in technology changing the way that the military services are equipped. The goal is for the military to be better prepared to fight the nation's wars in the foreseeable future. This visage might translate to lighter, more agile forces; a more ground-centric military; or more automated and unmanned platforms-depending on the viewer's perspective.

The U.S. Navy is laying the keel of a human capital strategy that ultimately will make the service more robust and agile while simultaneously offering career opportunities unlike any seen in the past. Success of the initiative depends on the Navy's ability to integrate its active duty, reserve and civilian components; to create and catalog job descriptions; and to match sailors' knowledge, skills and abilities to the tasks at hand. The transformation is putting the Navy in a state of constant readiness to fight the war on terrorism, provide humanitarian aid, defend the homeland and support stability operations.

Operational demands are motivating the U.S. Army to shift troops from low-demand occupations such as field artillery and air defense so it can field more military police, civil affairs and transportation units. These changes are part of an ambitious effort to transform the service from a division-based force to a more mobile one built around brigade-size combat units. Integral to these efforts are programs designed to reset units to the new requirements, to maintain unit cohesion by letting troops spend more time in one unit and to create a stable, predictable rotation and maintenance cycle for active duty, reserve and National Guard forces.

The ongoing defense transformation is making the U.S. Air Force a much more expeditionary force than it was during the Cold War. Increasingly, interoperation with the other services is having a greater effect on defining Air Force missions than on its traditional personnel roles.

Changes in the U.S. armed services' force structures and acquisition processes are causing a ripple effect that is rolling into the commercial sector. Company officials are finding that business as usual can't be business as usual anymore if they want to satisfy today's requirements, capture a share of a burgeoning defense budget or expand into the relatively new but potentially lucrative homeland security market. Firms must be as agile and responsive as the new military they are vying to support.