The US must accelerate and streamline its defense research programs in order to meet the challenges posed by evolving threats, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said on Wednesday.

"But today, we have to evolve faster than the threats evolve - which means our capabilities must be designed and built to be flexible, adaptable, and interoperable from the beginning," Hicks said during remarks at a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) event. "We have to shrink that ‘lab-to-fab’ timeline from decades to years, or even months - which means we’ve got to be thinking early and often about what happens after DARPA proves a concept and prototypes a capability."

Hicks cited so-called threats from strategic competitors such as China, Russia, DPRK, and Iran as challenges met with innovation. For that reason, the Biden administration’s defense budget request for the coming fiscal year includes the largest-ever investment in research and development, Hicks said.

Interagency work and collaboration across sectors and borders will be critical to innovation within the commercial and technological ecosystems of other aligned countries, according to Hicks.

The Pentagon is in a "persistent competition for advantage," Hicks said.

Hicks’ remarks were part of a "DARPA Forward" event at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. The conference is part of a DARPA-sponsored series of conferences at universities across the country in an effort to spur innovation and help deliver US technological advantages, according to the agency.

LIVE: @DepSecDef Dr. Kathleen H. Hicks delivers keynote address for the @DARPA Forward conference at @ColoradoStateU. https://t.co/xGBSiuUOrI

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) August 31, 2022

Read more: UK official warns of higher nuclear threat than in cold war

Mounting tensions between the two blocs have been on the rise due to the Russian-Ukraine war that is further exposing the West's ambitions of establishing a unipolar world. 

This tension has likewise surfaced in a number of other issues, such as the Russian-Chinese Arctic Cooperation and the provoking visits of US officials to the island of Taiwan.

UK officials have also warned that China and Russia of weakening the global security architecture due to the use and development of space and cyber technologies and called for a need of reestablishing a balance of power so as to avoid uncontrolled conflict. 

Russian and Chinese officials have been quick to respond to the West's criticism. Recent comments delivered by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg regarding the Sino-Russian arctic cooperation were slammed as "irresponsible" by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, calling Stoltenberg out for instigating "dangerous thinking" and exporting a Cold War mentality that would recreate bloc confrontation. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also several times accused the US of irresponsible behavior and lack of remorse for misdeeds. In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Lavrov called attention to his responsibility to require the US to "behave decently" after the UNHRC attempted to suspend Russia's membership in the sub-organization per US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's request.

Lavrov also said earlier this month that attempts by the US to establish dominance in every corner of the globe are futile and reflect Washington's policy of impunity. This was made in reference to "the policy of lawlessness demonstrated by the US colleagues who are seeking to establish their dominance" on the global stage. 

He also criticized the US and its allies for providing a racist division of the world through the Western-imposed "rules-based order". 

"We categorically reject the neocolonial `rules-based order’ being imposed by the US-led West. This order provides for a racist division of the world into a privileged group of countries who a priori have the right of any action and the rest of the world, obliged to follow the tracks of this `golden billion’ and service their interests." - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Read more: Ukraine lost over 1,700 soldiers in 48 hours: Russia MoD