The once-secretive Strategic Capabilities Office is seeking $1.1 billion -- the second largest unclassified pot of research and development funding in the Defense Department's fiscal year 2018 budget -- to develop new, and the Pentagon hopes, surprising ways of using existing systems to bolster conventional deterrence against China and Russia. The request suggests nearly $500 million worth of new projects, plus funding to extend ongoing work, and continues a trend of what amounts to exponential funding growth since the office...
