Offset strategy

Secretary of Defense Harold Brown therefore sought technological means to “offset” the numerical advantages held by U.S. adversaries and restore deterrence stability in Europe.

[1] Secretary Brown's “Offset Strategy” emphasized new intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, improvements in precision-guided weapons, stealth technology, and space-based military communications and navigation.

The Defense Department's Third Offset Strategy, which seeks to outmaneuver advantages made by top adversaries primarily through technology, is at heart based on the time-honored military concepts of being able to win a war if necessary but also having enough capability to deter one.

[7][8] A core component of the initiative is the formation of a Long-Range Research and Development Planning Program that will purportedly target several promising technology areas, including robotics and system autonomy, miniaturization, big data, and advanced manufacturing, while also seeking to improve the U.S. military's collaboration with innovative private sector enterprises.

[9] The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments released a report outlining the potential components of a Third Offset Strategy in October 2014, shortly before Secretary Hagel's announcement.