The Defense Acquisition Board is the senior advisory board for defense acquisitions in the United States Military. The board includes the Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs, the service Secretaries, and a number of Undersecretaries of Defense. The DAB plays an important role in the Defense Acquisition System. Members of this board are responsible for approving the Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) and serve as the most important executive review of expensive acquisition projects that would have potentially large impacts on how wars are fought — things like new tanks, fighter aircraft, or C3 systems. The armed forces of the United States of America consist of the United States Army United States Navy United States Air Force United States Marine Corps United States Coast Guard Note: The United States Coast Guard has both military and law enforcement functions. ... An A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-86 Sabre, P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fly in formation during an air show at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. ... C4ISTAR is an acronym used to represent the following group of related military functions that enable the coordination of operations: Command Control Communications Computers Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition Reconnaissance Many subsets of these elements are used, or have been used in the past, as acronyms. ...

See DoD Defense Acquisition Guidebook for more information on the process.