C utting-edge technologies are essential for addressing evolving threats and maintaining operational readiness. As a result, the military annually invests billions of dollars in emerging technology Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E). For instance, in its Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 base budget, the Pen- tagon requested $142 billion in RDT&E funds. When these investments translate to technological advantage in warfghting capability, the United States and its allies beneft from increased military assuredness and deterrence. But the path from an innovative idea to a felded capability is strewn with obstacles.
From Idea to Capability and the Valley of Death A critical juncture in defense tech- nology development emerges where the goal changes from demonstrating feasibility (proof of concept) to dem- onstrating producibility and mission relevance (minimum viable product/ prototype aligned to a capability need). Navigating this transition and demonstrating technological matu- rity requires DoD domain knowledge often outside the strengths of a typi- cal Science and Technology (S&T) project team (e.g., manufacturing, cost estimation, defense acquisition, requirements, and operator training). This knowledge gap creates barriers to technology adoption and increases
the risk of falling into the “valley of death.” The Operational Energy Innovation Directorate (OE-I) in the Ofce of the Under Secretary of Defense for Ac- quisition and Sustainment developed the Transition Maturity Framework, or TMaF (Figure 1), to strategically man- age technology transition. The TMaF puts the Warfghter frst. It is designed to support S&T teams and RDT&E program managers in de- livering Warfghters superior techno- logical capabilities. It helps S&T teams identify critical activities necessary to navigate their technologies past the valley of death. It provides program managers a framework for strategic project selection and execution man-
agement. Although initially developed by OE-I, the TMaF is readily tailored for use by other defense programs. Interested readers can find links to the TMaF and complementary tools
at the end of the article. OE-I’s Challenges
The OE-I Directorate was created in 2012 to transition operational en- ergy capabilities to the Warfighter and is overseen by the Ofce of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of De- fense for Energy, Resilience, and Op- timization. OE-I manages two RDT&E funds (B.A. 6.3 and B.A. 6.4): the Op- erational Energy Capability Improve- ment and Prototyping Funds (OECIF and OEPF). To mitigate transition risks, OE-I rigorously vets proposals via a Pro- posal Evaluation Board (PEB), pro- actively connects innovators with transition partners (e.g., Program Executive Ofces [PEOs], industrial base collaborators, Service energy of- fces, and combatant commands) and tracks technology maturation during project execution. By the end of 2022, however, OE-I recognized three persistent chal- lenges to managing technology tran- sition. First, OE-I found that existing “readiness levels” missed key deter- minants of transition success. For ex- ample, a technology at high TRL and MRL (technology and manufacturing readiness levels) could still lack align- ment to a funded, validated require- ment or could prove impractical for Warfghter use. In other words, a team could be developing a technology
Figure 1. Transition Maturity Framework (TMaF)
Note: MRL = Manufacturing Readiness Levels; RRL = Requirements Readiness Level; TCL = Transition Confidence Level; TRL = Technology Readiness Level; WRL = Warfighter Readiness Level Source: The MITRE Corp. Reprinted with permission.
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