Center for Defense Concepts and Technology

In this handout released by the U.S. Navy, The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) transits the Pacific Ocean. Theodore Roosevelt is conducting routine operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. (Photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

A combined formation of aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 pass in formation above the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) (Photo by Lt. Steve Smith/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying satellites for the U.S. Air Force stands ready for launch tonight at pad 39A on June 24, 2019 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Space Test Program-2 mission will attempt to deliver 24 different payloads into thr

Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles during the main stage of the Vostok 2018 large-scale military exercise held by the Russian Armed Forces and involving troops from China and Mongolia, at the Tsugol range (Getty Images)

DoD Photo by Jonathan Koester

A microchip developed jointly by the Air Force Research Laboratory and American Semiconductor (U.S. Air Force Photo)

US Marines formed as an Electronic Warfare Support Team with 2nd Radio Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group, near Setermoen, Norway, March 14, 2020. (US Marine Corps).

US Army drones at the Al Asad Airbase in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, January 2020. (Ayman Henna/AFP via Getty Images)

A view of the Pentagon Memorial honoring the 184 lives lost during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The authors argue that more funding should be driven by combatant commanders such as U.S. Central Command's Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, seen here boarding a UH-60 Black Hawk in Saudi Arabia in 2020.