What the Navy needs, the admiral suggested, is not Street Fighter but DD-21. I'm a little concerned about Adm. Cebrowski. It is a wild idea. There is nothing behind it. There is no analysis.
Scientists employ the methods of scientific inquiry to develop a body of knowledge or theory.
Applied research, on the other hand, applies knowledge to a problem of practical significance, perhaps developing new knowledge along the way. As I understand it, this describes much of what is done in the military acquisition process. Ship building and tactical air acquisition programs now represent decades of effort. This wasn't always the case. Fortunately the folks in Newport now have a bureaucratic toe-hold with the recent changes within the Naval War College which included making the president's job a three star billet.