Exclusive: The Pentagon's software-hardware tug of war
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
There's a balance to be struck between defense software and hardware; without one, your targeting's bricked, and without the other, you're not seizing airfields.
- The problem is the Pentagon has yet to find the sweet spot.
Why it matters: In a world of robots, autonomous weapons and global supply chains, conflicts will be swayed by the team that refreshes its code quicker and shares its information more accurately.
- A hypothetical war with China in 2027 will be fought with what the U.S. military has in hand right now.
Driving the news: An Atlantic Council report — the product of more than a year of work and 60-plus interviews, first shared with Axios — sheds light on this era of "software-defined warfare."
- Such a dynamic "is about ensuring we have sufficient numbers of systems, as technologically advanced as possible, at the moment of need," Stephen Rodriguez, the commission director, told me.
What's inside: Here are some of the commission's conclusions:
- The U.S. military is still moored to an acquisition system "ill-suited to the rapid tempo of modern technological innovation." This status quo puts the country "at significant risk."
- The Defense Department lacks "sufficient software expertise," hamstringing capabilities that harness "critical technology areas including AI, autonomy, and cyber." Training is needed all the way up the chain. Academia can help.
- While long-term reform is necessary, what's needed today is "near-term, high-impact initiatives to bridge" the gap and "reestablish an advantage." Beijing, meanwhile, is aligning industrial policies and resources to the digital domain.
- Stateside service chiefs should identify a program executive office to oversee how — and ensure that — disparate tech can communicate. This is Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control in action.
- The Defense Department should, by default, purchase software, not build it. When the department "decides to develop custom software, this often results in higher costs, longer schedules, and increased risks."
- It also needs a software cadre, and that requires recruiting dozens of specialists to be spread far and wide, including at operational commands and in budget offices.
What they're saying: "DoD has made some decent progress on software adoption, but we're still doing it in siloed fiefdoms and not always with broader, more strategic outcomes in mind," Whitney McNamara, one of the report's authors, told Axios.
- "Our software-enabled capabilities won't move the mark on the battlefield if they can't talk to one another."
Inside the room: The commissioners, contributors and staff are a who's who of industry, government and financiers. The roster includes:
- Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet
- Helsing cofounder Gundbert Scherf
- Trae Stephens of Founders Fund and Anduril Industries fame
- Saab executive and former Task Force 59 commodore Michael Brasseur
- Adam Hammer at Roadrunner Venture Studios
- Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper
- Former Pentagon weapons buyer Ellen Lord
- Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan
- Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Clinton Hinote
The bottom line: The Pentagon "buys metal well, because buying metal is an Industrial Age process. They perfectly define a requirement, then they spend years building the thing," Second Front CEO Tyler Sweatt, also a study commissioner, said in an interview.
- "That is in no way shape or form a Knowledge Age approach to buying or building — you can't do software like that."
