Study On U.S.Government Funding Universities National Defense R&D

American leading military technology and advanced weaponry are closely related to universities’participation in national defense R&D. Thus it is necessary to study U.S. government funding universities national defense R&D, particularly how and how much to fund, both of which will influence funding effects.This paper is based on the statistical data U.S. government funding universities national defense R&D, which come from National Science Foundation and USASpending.gov. Scientometric methods are used to explore the funding chain, including main funding agencies, funding paths, funding forms, key projects types and key research fields and key universities funded by DOD and funding results.Study results show that:(1) As the core agency funding universities national defense R&D, DOD sets up diversified organizations and funding paths to support universities national defense R&D, and there lie many differences among funding agencies, and also among the funding paths. Different funding agencies bear different responsibilities, and different funding paths own different funding forms. (2) The key project types funded by DOD are distributed among mid-and-long term projects, emerging fields and significant military fields. The key research fields funded by DOD are distributed among basic research fields, or research fields with larger military potential and broader application prospect. The key universities funded by DOD are distributed among universities with national defense R&D experience during war, the stronger defense abilities, or military laboratories. (3) According to the scale of the published papers, universities national defense R&D funded by DOD has achieved good effects.This paper can help the world get a better knowledge about the current situation and development trends of U.S. government funding universities national defense R&D, and also provide reference for Chinese government about how to enhance universities’national defense R&D abilities.