War Department’s Science Enterprise Maintains Tight Focus on Half-Dozen Key Areas > U.S. Department of War > Defense Department News
Publish Date: 2026-05-20 15:14:00
Source Domain: www.war.gov
Last year at this time, the War Department identified 14 technology areas as priorities. Since then, that list has been pared down to a more realistic, warfighter-focused set of goals, the department’s chief technology officer said.
On Capitol Hill yesterday, Emil G. Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and War Department chief technology officer, outlined his vision for ensuring America’s warfighters always have the tools they need to fight and win before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“My mandate as the department’s chief technology officer is to ensure delivery of tangible, decisive and battlefield-ready technology to our military, and to do it at velocity and scale,” Michael said.
If the U.S. doesn’t maintain technological dominance, Michael said, American service members could pay the price with their lives. U.S. adversaries are investing heavily in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and munitions production, and the U.S. will do the same. But he also said the U.S. has an advantage that adversaries don’t.
“We have a dynamic innovation ecosystem comprised of unmatched talent and unlimited creativity, and lots of capital markets to support those industries,” he said. “My office remains focused on harnessing the full potential of our innovation ecosystem to serve the American warfighter.”
At the start of 2025, the War Department’s research and engineering apparatus had prioritized more than a dozen areas of development, from wireless technology to renewable energy generation and storage — too many to pursue effectively, Michael said.
“My first order of business was [to] restore focus on technologies that we need to maintain dominance on the battlefield,” Michael said. “I inherited a list of 14 critical technology areas, which really didn’t prioritize anything. They were a laundry list that diluted our resources and inevitably…
