Raytheon’s Todd Probert: Commercial Software Dev’t Processes Could Help Accelerate Defense Tech Deployment

Todd Probert, vice president of mission support and modernization at Raytheon’s intelligence, information and services business, has said the military should work with Congress and industry to establish a funding and acquisition framework designed to speed up the delivery of defense capabilities to warfighters by leveraging commercial software development methods.

Probert wrote in an article posted Monday on Fifth Domain that the combination of defense engineering and procurement methods with commercial software processes of Silicon Valley-based firms has helped the U.S. Air Force rapidly build and field command-and-control applications.

He cited the Air Force’s use of DevOps and Agile methods in software development initiatives and how such processes allow operators and developers to jointly examine and refine code prior to deployment.

“These development methods also cut out the middleman so developers and end users can communicate directly without playing the information translation game,” Probert noted.

“This process means our airmen are getting new capabilities when they need them, and Air Force command and control systems are constantly being upgraded and secured to stay ahead of the threat,” he added.