Defense contractors must adapt to survive

"A big problem for the Defense Department has been these large, five- to eight-year programs -- big-ticket items that take forever to develop" and test, said Keith Alphonso, chief technology officer at Geocent LLC, of Metairie, La., which provides network and software engineering support to defense and aerospace customers. "So they're trying to figure a way to get more agile, and there's a movement going right now: agile development."

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