Solid state: VHSIC: A status report: The first two years of the program's lifespan is viewed by some as gestation and others as incubation. When will the baby walk?

With more than $400 million pledged for research and development over six years, the Very High-Speed Integrated Circuits (VHSIC) program of the U.S. Department of Defense is certainly the most ambitious and probably the most important Federal program since the United States embarked upon space exploration a quarter of a century ago. Up to now, the DOD has relied mainly on methods developed during World War II to organize and operate its aircraft, tanks, ships, and weapons-delivery systems. The radically altered future toward which VHSIC is rapidly leading is one in which there will be a pervasive dependence on electronics, and thus on very large-scale integration (VLSI), in all defense operations. Modifications will be needed in operating systems, work-force commitments, training, logistics, and, above all, management of the military establishment.