ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command and Lockheed Martin signed an agreement Oct. 12 to further innovation in support of Soldiers.

Senior leaders from the organizations entered into a master cooperative research and development agreement, known as a CRADA, with the goal of reducing time and expenses by working collaboratively.

Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins, RDECOM commanding general, said the United States must combine researchers' efforts from across the scientific spectrum to maintain the Army's technological edge.

"The Army has declared we are focused on innovation. It is a win-win situation to allow us to work closer together early on and to mature the relationship," Wins said. "We have a need to work together to develop innovative ideas quickly.

"The only way we can do that quicker is if we enter into agreements like this to tap into the talent and expertise on both sides."

RDECOM started 149 new CRADAs in 2015 and has 515 active CRADAs.

Dr. Robie Samanta Roy, vice president of technology strategy and innovation for Lockheed Martin, said the agreement will allow the company to better understand and anticipate the Army's needs in a quickly changing world.

"Working between industry, government and academia, we have to be able to accelerate the transition of technology and to be able to work as a partnership. We will have a better appreciation of the warfighter, and that can provide us feedback in terms of how we balance our portfolio between longer-term and near-term technology investments," Roy said. "We're making a push to engage with these deep, enduring relationships. It's very important that we work together as a team."

The command has initiated two joint work statements with Lockheed Martin under the master CRADA. The Army Research Laboratory is working on a porous silicon anti-tamper project. The Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center will begin work on porous silicon applications to lithium-ion batteries project.

Kendra Meggett-Carr, RDECOM technology transfer program manager, said CRADAs are one part of the command's strategy, which has the mission to provide state-of-the art technologies to the warfighter and the nation. The program accomplishes this by transferring knowledge to and from industry, academia and other government organizations, thus facilitating the use of RDECOM's intellectual and materiel assets.

The RDECOM T2 program works with many types of organizations, including large and small businesses, universities, nonprofit organizations, other government agencies and individual
inventors.

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The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command has the mission to ensure decisive overmatch for unified land operations to empower the Army, the joint warfighter and our nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.