“Our adversaries are moving fast, but we will move faster,” said Emil Michael, undersecretary of war for research and engineering. “The warfighter is not asking for results tomorrow; they need them today. These six critical technology areas are not just priorities; they are imperatives. The American warfighter will wield the most advanced technology to maximize lethality.”
The six areas include applied AI, biomanufacturing, contested logistics technology, quantum battlefield information dominance, scaled directed energy and scaled hypersonics. The department said each field is central to strengthening battlefield readiness.
President Donald J. Trump’s Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan, released on 23 July, directed the department to accelerate the adoption of AI. “When adopted rapidly, AI will fundamentally transform the department from the enterprise level to intelligence synthesis and to warfighting,” Michael said.
Michael described biomanufacturing as a means to produce needed materials using engineered living organisms. “[Biomanufacturing] harnesses living systems to produce capabilities at scale,” he said. “[This effort] will accelerate the development and deployment of biomanufacturing solutions to support critical missions of the department.”
He said this work is expected to provide bio based alternatives for chemicals, minerals and energetics needed in military systems. The department believes this will support long term supply security.
Michael said the directed energy focus is designed to scale high energy lasers and high power microwave systems with low cost responses. He added that the hypersonics effort will concentrate on production, cost reduction and wide fielding across the force.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said narrowing the focus strengthens the technological edge of US forces. “Our nation’s military has always been the tip of the spear,” Hegseth said.
He added that the new priorities will help maintain battlefield dominance. “Undersecretary Emil Michael’s six critical technology areas will ensure that our warriors never enter a fair fight and have the best systems in their hands for maximum lethality. The War Department is committed to remaining the most deadly fighting force on planet Earth.”
