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Scaled Directed Energy

Applied Artificial Intelligence

Applied Artificial Intelligence

Senior DOW Tech Official Says Department AI Use Up 1,775% in Past Year

During a panel today on the lethality of artificial intelligence as it relates to special operations forces, Emil Michael, undersecretary of war for research and engineering and War Department chief technology officer, said that AI use across the department is up by roughly 1,420,000 users, a 1,775% increase over the past calendar year.

He noted that before he took the job nearly a year ago, the department had an average of about 80,000 AI-users across its more than 3 million personnel. Today, it has about 1.5 million users out of the 3 million



https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4497743/senior-dow-tech-official-says-department-ai-use-up-1775-in-past-year/

Hidden beneath AI chips, Chinese-made circuit boards raise national security concerns in U.S.

Printed circuit boards sit underneath almost every chip, a necessity in nearly every electronic. They make up a quiet but crucial piece of the booming artificial intelligence market, and represent a growing problem for the U.S., because nearly all AI circuit boards, for Nvidia and others, are made in China.

Circuit boards present all sorts of opportunities for adversaries to sneak through malicious components. That vulnerability has created national security concerns so significant that the U.S. Defense Department is requiring most of its purchases to come from the dwindling number of domestic factories.

See: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/03/beneath-nvidia-ai-chips-chinese-pcbs-raise-security-concerns-in-us.html

SEI and Accenture Release AI Adoption Maturity Model to Help Organizations Scale AI with Predictable Outcomes

PITTSBURGH, June 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and Accenture today released the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Adoption Maturity Model, an empirically validated framework designed to help organizations move beyond AI experimentation and scale artificial intelligence with measurable, repeatable outcomes.

The model, available to download from the SEI Digital Library, provides a field-tested, structured approach for government and commercial enterprises to assess their current AI capabilities, identify gaps and build a clear roadmap for responsible, value-driven AI adoption.

Bridging the Gap from Strategy to Practice

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sei-and-accenture-release-ai-adoption-maturity-model-to-help-organizations-scale-ai-with-predictable-outcomes-302793088.html

Biomanufacturing

Bioprinting Cartilage, Producing Stem Cells Fill Thursday’s Research Schedule

3D bioprinting and stem cell research were the main research topics aboard the International Space Station on Thursday. The Expedition 74 crew members also photographed growing plants and lab windows for inspection while continuing to pack a U.S. cargo spacecraft.

Flight engineers Jessica Meir of NASA and Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) joined each other at the beginning of their shift and tested the operation of a 3D bioprinter inside the Kibo laboratory module. Adenot first mixed cartilage cell samples with bio-ink then handed them to over Meir for insertion inside a bioprinter cartridge to print human tissue. The biotechnology device may advance regenerative medicine leading to on-demand, personalized medical implants using the patient’s own cells.

https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/06/04/bioprinting-cartilage-producing-stem-cells-fill-thursdays-research-schedule/

Turning microbes into meals: The Pentagon seeks alternative proteins to feed troops in the field

The Pentagon is on a futuristic quest to develop alternative proteins, with goals that include eventually giving troops on the front lines the ability make their own food using a biomanufacturing process.

The work is potentially crucial given that modern combat can mean hunkering down for days without a way to sneak conventional food shipments past swarms of enemy attack drones or precision-guided long-range missiles.

The Army, which is leading the effort, recently put out a call for proposals for ways to make alternative proteins.

https://www.tpr.org/military-veterans-issues/2026-06-11/turning-microbes-into-meals-the-pentagon-seeks-alternative-proteins-to-feed-troops-in-the-field

The article mentions recently posted notices. The following is a SAM URL for a Sources Sought Notice – titled: Alternative Protein Technologies for Military Field Feeding, the RFI response date is past but information related to the areas of interest and capabilities sought may be garnered from the notice.

Link to the SAM SSN: https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/f0c0f9d216704ee48d1cbc548e7ee91b/view

Contested Logistics

Retiring Army General Shares Thoughts on Contested Logistics

… I worry less about the security and the encryption of the data that’s coming. I worry more about the integrity of that data as it comes in to support a decision, if that makes sense. So, it’s one thing to protect it — to get it there — but the accuracy and the hybrid warfare that’s being instituted is to make sure that the accuracy of that data that’s going to lead to those decisions.

And then the second piece is data security, the hardening of that data. But now let’s talk about the source or the power behind it, and getting into the layers behind it to make sure that that is secure too. It’s not one problem in terms of data security. It’s much bigger than that.

https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2026/5/15/retiring-army-general-shares-thoughts-on-contested-logistics

Pentagon looks to AI, other tech to help tackle contested logistics challenges

“How we're going to win in sort of a contested logistics fight is having access to data," said Brent Ingraham, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.

With U.S. military supply chains facing a growing risk of adversary attack, senior defense officials are keen on using AI and other advanced technologies to address the challenges associated with contested logistics.

Supply chains face a variety of potential threats, including kinetic strikes, cyberattacks, geopolitical instability and infrastructure vulnerabilities.

https://defensescoop.com/2026/06/03/military-technology-contested-logistics/

A Navy carrier is about to deploy with a robot ship. Could it change the service forever?

When asked about an unmanned strategy at the Sea Air Space Exposition in April, Caudle pointed to the Seahawk’s upcoming deployment with the Theodore Roosevelt. He also said the Navy is eying establishing a Warfighting Development Center (WDC) for RAS like the Navy already has for areas like aviation, and surface and mine warfighting.

“We need to move these capabilities from individual units into composite mission sets, including contested logistics,” Caudle told reporters in April. “Using USVs to move food and parts — replenishing underways without risking humans — is a major use case.”

https://breakingdefense.com/2026/06/navy-carrier-theodore-roosevelt-drone-seahawk-deployment

Pentagon Sprints to Field Systems to Sustain Troops in Denied Environments

The Pentagon has set up five “sprints” to field a variety of systems relevant to contested logistics, and “my charter is to try and push those across the finish line so that those capabilities are available for the warfighter in three years,” Robert Mantz, senior official for the contested logistics technologies critical technology area, said during a panel at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Pacific Operational Science and Technology Conference.

The focus areas for the sprints include unmanned delivery systems; in-theater deployment of small modular reactors; advanced power solutions; an enterprise-scale, artificial intelligence-enabled logistics planning tool; and technologies to increase warfighter self-sufficiency.

JP-8 — the primary jet fuel used by the U.S. military and NATO — provides 40 kilowatt-hours per gallon. Batteries oftentimes have at least an order of magnitude, if not lower, energy capacity, he said. – This leads to the question, can small nuclear reactors fill the need.

https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2026/5/11/pentagon-sprints-to-field-systems-to-sustain-troops-in-denied-environments

Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance

PRESS RELEASE — The Department of Commerce today announced the signing of 9 letters of intent to provide $2.013 billion in federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act.

These funds will support a portfolio of quantum companies, including two domestic quantum foundry companies and 7 quantum computing companies to accelerate solving the most critical technology challenges in the race to develop utility scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers.

The Department of Commerce’s quantum incentives are designed to strengthen America’s position in this critical frontier technology. Quantum computing has significant implications for national defense, advanced materials and biopharmaceutical discovery, financial modeling, and energy systems.

https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/05/21/u-s-department-of-commerce-announces-letters-of-intent-with-9-companies-for-2-billion/

The Conversation: Quantum Computers Could Expose Our Digital Secrets – But there are Much Better Reasons to Build them

Quantum computers are coming. Or, at least, that’s what current predictions say. These machines harness the power of quantum mechanics, the set of rules governing how physics operates at atomic and sub-atomic scales.

Because of this, they operate in radically different ways to current machines. Tasks requiring trillions of years on existing supercomputers might be reduced to days on future quantum computers. They could tackle a range of challenges that are out of reach for existing technology.

https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/06/02/the-conversation-quantum-computers-could-expose-our-digital-secrets-but-there-are-much-better-reasons-to-build-them/

From Trenches to Algorithms: Integrating Unmanned Ground Vehicles into NATO’s Cyber-Resilient Structure



Modern warfare between nations continues to rapidly evolve due to advancements in autonomous technology that change how militaries operate on the battlefield and in intelligence gathering. In the Russo-Ukrainian War, Kyiv’s innovations in the use of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) have shaped the war into a cyber-physical battlefield. On this battlefront, land-based robotic vehicles operated by artificial intelligence (AI) enhance efficiency and reduce risks by conducting reconnaissance missions and related activities, transporting supplies, and providing combat support alongside soldiers or in solo operations. UGVs are a ground-level extension of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVS), driving a broader shift toward a networked, attritable, and cyber-dependent battlefield.



https://natoassociation.ca/from-trenches-to-algorithms-integrating-unmanned-ground-vehicles-into-natos-cyber-resilient-structure/

Scaled Hypersonics

The United States Department of War, in partnership with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division has released SHY Sprints 2026: Scalable Production of Hypersonic Glide Vehicles and Advanced Manufacturing of Solid Rocket Motors | Project No. 26-04

The SHY CTA seeks innovative and cost-effective solutions for hypersonic weapons. The goal is to deliver unmatched speed, precision, and survivability at scale in order to strengthen America’s lethal Arsenal of Freedom. Current systems face significant production bottlenecks due to specialized manufacturing, difficult-to-manufacture materials, manual processing, fragile supply chains, and complex assembly, integration, and testing obstacles.

See: https://nstxl.org/opportunity/shy-sprints-2026-scalable-production-of-hypersonic-glide-vehicles-and-advanced-manufacturing-of-solid-rocket-motors-project-no-26-04/ Request form and CUI access required

China’s hypersonic aircraft carrier-killer flies at Mach 10 and changes course mid-flight — and the US Navy is scrambling to stop it

When China rolled the DF-17 through Beijing, it was unveiling a weapon built for one purpose: to sink American carriers before they get close. It flies too fast and turns too sharply for the defenses that stopped an earlier generation of missiles, and its reach covers nearly every U.S. base that matters in the Pacific. But the carrier-killer has a hidden weakness — and the Navy has built its defense around exploiting it. Whether that's enough is the open question.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-s-hypersonic-aircraft-carrier-killer-flies-at-mach-10-and-changes-course-mid-flight-and-the-us-navy-is-scrambling-to-stop-it/ar-AA24DCJJ

Scaled Directed Energy

How to Counter a Laser Weapon

High-energy laser weapons are spreading across the world. The US military is developing a playbook to fight back.

The US military has spent billions of dollars over decades building high-energy laser weapons capable of burning drones out of the sky, but it has spent considerably less money and time exploring what happens when an adversary does the same thing. With China fielding a growing arsenal of laser weapons capable of killing drones at ranges up to 25 kilometers, Russia’s Peresvet reportedly in active service, and various laser systems now spreading across the world through indigenous development, proliferation, and a burgeoning export market, that oversight is becoming harder to ignore.

https://www.laserwars.net/p/counter-directed-energy-weapon-solutions

Adaptive Intelligence Meets Power Beaming to Eliminate Drone Endurance Limits

A US Air Force-backed project is developing drone swarms that autonomously route to airborne wireless charging points mid-mission.

Can drone swarms manage power and plan recharging routes entirely on their own? Two California-based companies are working to test that idea.

The SWARM project combines adaptive intelligence with wireless power beaming in an effort to remove the operational bottlenecks created by limited battery life in autonomous missions.

It centers around Reach Power’s proprietary targeted radio frequency power-beaming technology, which enables drones to navigate to designated waypoints and recharge mid-air without landing or human intervention.

https://nextgendefense.com/adaptive-intelligence-power-beaming/

If your organization needs assistance meeting Federal or Department of Defense cyber security requirements, contact Marc Violante, Director of Federal Market Strategies at marcv@wispro.org

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