# Twenty-Year Procurement Cycle **Entity class:** Procurement concept **Domain:** Defense / Acquisition **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition A twenty-year procurement cycle develops and fields major capabilities through long planning, contracting, testing, and production timelines. ## Mechanism and significance The cycle can manage complex physical systems but becomes strategically dangerous when relevant software, sensors, and autonomous methods change several times before the platform arrives. ## Relationships - **Research dossier:** [[research/ASI and RSI Timeline Research Moonshots|ASI and RSI Timeline Research Moonshots]] - **Ontology route:** [[ASI and RSI Timeline Ontology#Autonomous Warfare and Strategic Systems|Autonomous Warfare and Strategic Systems]] - **Primary fields:** [[Autonomous Weapons]] · [[AI Superpower]] · [[Machine Succession]] - **Adjacent concepts:** [[Functional Combatant Command]] · [[Ninety-Day Technology Cycle]] · [[Linear Procurement]] · [[Exponential Technology]] ## Sources and provenance - [[research/ASI and RSI Timeline Research Moonshots|ASI and RSI Timeline Research Moonshots]] — immediate source for this node's role in the broadcast research map. ## Evidence boundary The research dossier establishes why this entity or concept belongs in the Moonshots ontology. Time-sensitive organizational, product, policy, and performance claims should be checked against the linked primary source or a current authoritative source before reuse as settled fact.