On August 20, 2025, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued a sweeping memo that tears up and rebuilds the way the military decides what new weapons and systems it needs. The Military Services appear to be wasting no time translating the memo into action. Acquisition leaders at last week’s Association of the United States Army conference emphasized that “Transforming in Contact” will serve as the framework for redefining requirements and reprioritizing programs—demonstrating that reform is already underway. For its part, the Air Force has begun reorganizing its A5/7 directorate to assume greater responsibility for requirements generation, while the Chief of Space Operations has publicly outlined the Space Force path to driving requirements and resourcing.
This “requirements process” is the first step in acquisition—it defines the problem and tells the rest of the system what to buy, build, or develop. Change the requirements process and you change the entire defense marketplace. For decades, DoD has used a system called the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (“JCIDS”). JCIDS was paperwork-heavy and checklist-driven: the Military Services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force) would write lengthy justifications for new programs, and those proposals would wind their way through layers of approval at the Joint Staff in the Pentagon. Critics said JCIDS was too slow and too rigid for modern threats, especially as China and other adversaries innovate quickly.
The August 20 memo blows up that model. In its place, DoD is putting forward a problem-focused approach that aims to:
- Define the biggest operational challenges first(not just collect Military Service wish lists)
- Tie priorities to moneyso “important” projects actually get funded
- Bring industry into the process earlierthrough experiments, not just proposals
- Cut out layers of low value review
Below we unpack the memo and offer five practical takeaways for industry.
The Memo at a Glance: Five Pillars of Change
1. JCIDS is gone; priorities shift to ranked problems.
The memo effectively ended JCIDS, directing its immediate disestablishment. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council (“JROC”)—a body led by senior generals and admirals—will stop validating most Service-level requirements. Going forward, Military Service requirements become Military Service business. Instead, the JROC will focus only on identifying and ranking a short list of the “Key Operational Problems” (“KOPs”) facing U.S. forces, such as contested logistics, missile defense, or drone swarms. These KOPs will be updated each year, based on the national defense strategy.
The message is simple: rather than relying on JCIDS’s complex paperwork and multi-tiered approval process, DoD will identify a small number of top operational problems and expect the system—and industry—to rally around solving them.
2. A new board will link problems to dollars.
Historically, one of the biggest gaps in DoD was between what leaders said was important and what actually got money in the budget. The memo tries to close that gap by creating a Requirements and Resourcing Alignment Board (“RRAB”), co-chaired by the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Each year, the RRAB will take the top ranked KOPs and decide:
- which problems should get new money
- which existing programs should be adjusted
- in rare cases, which programs should be shut down
Those decisions will feed directly into the budget process, so that priorities and funding stay in sync.
3. A new “mission engineering” hub will connect with industry.
To tap outside innovation faster, the memo creates a Mission Engineering and Integration Activity (“MEIA”), led jointly by DoD’s research and acquisition chiefs. MEIA will work directly with companies to run experiments, test new ideas against the Department’s top KOPs, and identify the most promising solutions for rapid integration into programs. Further, MEIA isn’t just about hardware—it will also look at doctrine, tactics, and other “non-materiel” drivers of military capability.
The goal is to create an environment where companies can show what works in realistic tests, not just on PowerPoint slides, and where effective solutions can move quickly toward adoption.
4. A new reserve fund will back joint priorities.
Starting in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget cycle, DoD will withhold a portion of its topline budget to create a Joint Acceleration Reserve (“JAR”). This reserve will be controlled by the RRAB and used to fund solutions that emerge from MEIA experiments. Think of it as a bridge across the “valley of death”—the place where many promising prototypes die while waiting for DoD to fund them.
5. The Military Services must modernize their own requirements pipelines.
The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force have 90 days to start overhauling their internal requirements processes. The memo tells them to:
- engage industry earlier
- experiment before committing to large purchases
- prioritize interoperability across the joint force
- eliminate unnecessary reviews
- share data more openly
Meanwhile, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment (“USD(A&S)”) will revise the DoD phalanx of acquisition directives, instructions, and manuals. Initial findings are due in six months, with detailed reform plans shortly after.
Bottom Line: The memo ends with a blunt warning: DoD is not adding new bureaucracy—every organization must prove it is delivering integrated capabilities to the warfighter faster, on the most urgent problems. Organizations that can’t meet the mark will be realigned.
Five Practical Takeaways for Industry
1. The demand signal has shifted—from documents to problems.
DoD no longer wants long, bespoke requirements documents. The new process starts with clearly defined KOPs—the handful of operational challenges that matter most. These KOPs are ranked each year by the JROC and resourced by the new RRAB.
Under this system, requirements are framed as mission problems to be solved, not as procedural checklists. The emphasis shifts from paperwork and compliance to outcomes—how well a solution performs in realistic conditions and how easily it integrates with other systems.
DoD wants systems that meet broad, portfolio-level goals, respond to operational realities, and can evolve iteratively through experimentation and feedback. Companies that can deliver adaptable, cross program solutions will have the advantage.
For industry, this means:
- Follow the KOP development process closely and look for chances to provide input.
- Build a KOP crosswalk—map your products to likely problem sets such as contested logistics, maritime kill webs, or integrated air and missile defense, and be ready to demonstrate measurable mission effects for MEIA.
- Position your offerings as modular, interoperable capabilities that can be scaled or upgraded across multiple programs without rebaselining.
2. Budget priorities will converge on the RRAB—and the JAR.
In the past, what was “important” in strategy often wasn’t what got funded in the budget. The new process closes that gap. The RRAB is designed to connect the dots between priority and payment—turning top ranked KOPs into program starts, realignments, or—when necessary—terminations.
A companion funding pool—the JAR—sets aside money at the start of the budget cycle to move high impact solutions across the “valley of death” between prototype and program. Because the RRAB will modify or terminate Service programs only in rare cases, those Service-level decisions will carry more weight than ever.
For industry, this means:
- Learn the rhythm of DoD’s budget cycle and sync your business development roadmaps to it.
- Track Military Service budget decisions carefully—they will increasingly determine where money actually flows.
- Focus engagement on programs that align to KOP priorities and are positioned to attract RRAB or JAR support.
3. Experimentation is now the funding onramp.
The new MEIA will serve as DoD’s “front door” to industry. MEIA’s job is to translate top KOPs into concrete problem statements, run experiments, and evaluate potential solutions. Those results will then inform RRAB and JAR funding decisions.
This means DoD wants companies to show, not tell—to bring deployable prototypes, modular payloads, and open interfaces that can be tested in live environments, not just pitched in slides.
For industry, this means:
- Design Independent Research and Development (“IRAD”) projects to culminate in experiments that can be presented to MEIA and teed up for RRAB or JAR decisions.
- Link experimentation results to clear transition and sustainment plans showing how a capability moves from demo to deployment.
- Treat integration as a deliverable: document interfaces, align data strategies with joint interoperability goals, and form teaming arrangements early to demonstrate system-of-systems effects.
- Remain vigilant about conflicts of interest. The memo is explicit: industry participation in experimentation must comply with all procurement integrity and ethics rules.
4. The Military Services will move faster—and differently.
With JCIDS gone, most requirement decisions now rest with the individual Military Services. Joint Staff review will be limited, and the 90-day Service reviews will push faster, experimentation-led approaches and “buy-before-build” practices.
Each Service will move at its own pace and in its own style, emphasizing agility, earlier industry dialogue, and fewer redundant reviews. Parallel reforms to urgent operational needs processes (like JUONs and JEONs) are also expected.
For industry, this means:
- Update account plans around each Service’s acquisition portfolios and experimentation agenda.
- Expect shorter timelines from requirement to solicitation—an opportunity for the ready and a risk for the unprepared.
- Identify a Service-specific need that aligns to a top ranked KOP and propose a joint integration concept through MEIA channels.
5. Policy cleanup and portfolio governance will ripple through contracts.
DoD’s acquisition rulebook is being rewritten to reflect this new model. USD(A&S) will revise key directives and instructions to eliminate JCIDS references and provide new guidance for managing capability portfolios.
During the transition, interim rules will apply for any requirement that still requires joint validation. These cases will follow a streamlined 15-day adjudication process.
For industry, this means:
- Expect updates to solicitation language, evaluation criteria, and milestone documentation—particularly around how “requirement compliance” is demonstrated.
- Adjust internal proposal templates and gate reviews to account for portfolio-level decision making rather than fixed program baselines.
- Monitor the interim joint requirement pathway and plan schedules accordingly as the new processes take full effect.
Bottom Line
This reform closes two long standing gaps: first, the divide between joint priority and funded program, bridged through the new RRAB and JAR; and second, the gap between requirements on paper and capabilities in the field, addressed through MEIA-led mission engineering and experimentation.
The Military Services are being directed to move faster, engage industry earlier, and cut low value processes, while DoD restructures joint governance around problem-driven priorities and portfolio agility.
One caution remains: this model is tailored for companies that deliver frontline warfighting capabilities. How far it will extend to firms developing essential but less kinetic systems—such as enterprise resource planning or personnel management platforms—remains uncertain. For industry, the message is unmistakable. The process is being rebuilt to reward companies that arrive with solutions ready to solve KOPs, integrate cleanly across systems, and produce verifiable results in experimentation—all timed to the rhythm of the DoD budget.