Emil Michael, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, drives the Pentagon’s most significant restructuring in over a decade. He formally streamlined the Department of Defense (DOD)’s sprawling list of 14 critical technology areas down to six focused priorities, a move designed to accelerate delivery and concentrate resources. Michael stated that the prior list had become too broad to guide investment, noting that “Fourteen priorities in truth means no priorities at all.” This decisive shift, highlighted by the integration of the Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO) under R&E, directly shapes the emerging DOD AI Strategy for future warfighting and corporate workloads.
The Six Critical Technology Areas
The consolidation focuses R&E efforts on capabilities deliverable within 36 months. Michael asserts that a reduced list avoids “diluted” efforts, ensuring the fastest results and most decisive advantage on the battlefield. The six critical areas now commanding the department’s attention are:
- Applied Artificial Intelligence
- Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance (Q-BID)
- Biomanufacturing
- Contested Logistics Tech
- Scaled Hypersonics
- Scaled Directed Energy
Elevating Applied AI
Michael considers Applied Artificial Intelligence the department’s largest single opportunity, absorbing previous portfolios like human-machine interfaces and advanced computing. He pushes for rapid, widespread adoption, planning to deploy AI tools on all 3 million Pentagon desktops for corporate workload and intelligence analysis.
Michael dedicates a substantial portion of his time to rethinking and executing the DOD AI Strategy, unifying research and deployment by aligning the CDAO with core innovation bodies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This organizational shift empowers the CDAO with more “muscle” to drive mission-critical adoption.
A Clear Roadmap for Industry
For the contracting community, these “big six” priorities serve as a clear roadmap and investment signal. Michael’s leadership emphasizes speed, scaling, and leveraging the immense private industry investment in technology. The Department of Defense intends to partner closely with the private sector, sharing risk to accelerate delivery and move innovations like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from concept to prototype rapidly.
Industry must prepare for milestone-based sprints, faster adoption cycles, and increased demand signals across AI, directed energy, and hypersonics to align with the evolving DOD AI Strategy. These priorities are not theoretical; they are a practical signal of what the Department of Defense wants to buy, test, and scale now.
