Hagel: US Needs Game-Changing Military Innovation

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is announcing a plan to inject fresh thinking and new ideas into how the U.S. can keep and extend its military superiority despite tighter budgets and military modernization by Russia, China and others.

Hagel made the announcement Saturday evening at a defense forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.

He is calling for a "game changing" strategy akin to approaches taken during the Cold War to keep America ahead of the former Soviet Union.

Hagel says he is launching a long-range research and development program to find and field breakthroughs in key technologies, including advanced manufacturing techniques such as 3-D printing. He says the Pentagon will look to the private sector and academia for help.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.