Christmas came early for the defense tech world.
On Monday, Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering (USW(R&E)), Emil Michael, unveiled the six Critical Technology Areas (CTAs) that made the cut on the Pentagon’s pared-down list of priorities, a key signal of where the Department intends to direct R&D resources.
Hope y’all aren’t too bummed out by what Mr. Michael left under the tree.
Out with the old: Michael—the Pentagon’s CTO and acting DIU director—has been talking about trimming down the 14 Biden-era CTAs since August. Back then (when it was warm and the days were long), he promised to “change the roadmaps into sprints” and “concentrate back to a number that we really believe is critical.”
For what it’s worth, the 14 previous CTAs were: Trusted AI and autonomy, space, integrated sensing and cyber, integrated network systems of systems, microelectronics, human-machine interfaces, advanced materials, directed energy, advanced computing and software, hypersonics, biotech, quantum, FutureG wireless tech, and energy resilience.
Say that five times fast.
In with the new: “Fourteen priorities in truth means no priorities at all,” Michael said in a video announcing the new CTAs yesterday. “These six critical technology areas represent the priorities that will deliver the greatest impact, the fastest results, and the most decisive advantage on the battlefield.”
Here’s what made the cut:
- Applied Artificial Intelligence (AAI): A broader list of AI applications aimed at turning the DoD into an “AI-First” organization, encompassing everything from administrative functions to frontline sustainment, decisionmaking, and warfighting.
- Biomanufacturing (BIO): A category that the DoD says is focused on “harnessing living systems to produce critical capabilities and substances at scale, eliminating supply chain vulnerabilities and enhancing resilience.”
- Contested Logistics Technologies (LOG): The use of technology (including AI) to overcome “the challenges of disrupted or denied logistics to ensure seamless resupply and operational continuity in contested environments.”
- Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance (Q-BID): The use of advanced computing and resilient communications systems to maintain comms, navigation, and electromagnetic spectrum maneuverability in degraded or denied environments.
- Scaled Directed Energy (SCADE): The scaling-up of high-energy lasers and microwave-beam systems from prototypes and demonstrations into mass production.
- Scaled Hypersonics (SHY): A more clear-cut category focused on “fielding Mach 5+ hypersonic weapons en masse to strike targets with unmatched speed, precision, and survivability.”
Hyped up: Naturally, the startups working on those six new CTAs were pretty fired up about their tech staying in the Pentagon’s good graces.
“We’re excited but not surprised,” Sean Pitt, the COO of hypersonic missile startup Castelion, told Tectonic. “This confirms to us that this is a critical national capability that we are working with. This is something we have been working towards for a long time, and 100% agree that this is a priority for the nation.”
Major laser: Aurelius Systems, a startup laser-focused on frying drones with lasers, is also pretty fired up about directed energy making the cut.
“It’s massive,” Aurelius founder and CEO Michael LaFramboise told Tectonic. “The big thing for us right now is going out on the edge and deploying counter-Group 1 and Group 2 solutions that are going to give us the breathing room, defensive systems, and the next expeditionary systems so we can project force again.”
“People have been burned spending hundreds of millions of dollars on directed energy since the ‘80s,” he added. “But the investment continues to happen every single year, and it’s gone up pretty aggressively in the last five years, and the reason why we need to get this across the board is because when it works, the return is so massive.”
Unsexy is the new sexy: The CEO of military logistics and sustainment software startup Rune, David Tuttle, has historically called contested logistics the “unsexy” part of defense tech. Well, call this a glow up.
“We’re excited to see validation today from the highest levels of the DoW of what we’ve always known here at Rune: logistics wins wars,” Tuttle told Tectonic. “We have built Rune, and our TyrOS platform, specifically focused on operating in contested environments where compute resources are finite and communications will be disrupted and degraded.”
Hang in there: For the startups focused on areas that didn’t make the cut, hope is not lost.
“[This] doesn’t mean the things that are not on that list are not important [and] are not going to have effort and budget behind them,” Michael said back in August. It just means this is actually important…and these others have other pathways to success.”