The future of Zero Trust
Zero Trust leader Randy Resnick level sets status and discusses new initiatives.
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Air Force says AI tools outperform human planners in ‘battle management’ experiment
In a complex multi-service, multi-domain scenario — not typically covered in Air Force training — the best of several AI tools generated tactical “courses of action” not only faster than military professionals but also with fewer errors.
DARPA seeks universal translator between different kinds of quantum computer
With rival tech giants building different kinds of “quantum bits,” from superconductors to photonics to trapped ions, DARPA program manager Justin Cohen worries no one approach will work for every purpose — so he wants to find a way to make them work t…
The year that was and the year that will be, according to our reporters
2025 was a year of change, both for the defense community and for Breaking Defense. Let’s catch you up.
For defense AI, bubble, bubble, toil and … bargains?: 2026 preview
“The bubble is real,” said the founder of the Pentagon’s Joint AI Center, retired Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan. “[But] for the DoD, there could be new opportunities to partner with all kinds of tech companies…if their commercial opportunities start to evapor…
Artifical intelligence is everywhere: 2025 review
From the skies over Ukraine, to Chinese cyber attacks, to bureaucratic battlefields inside the Pentagon, artificial intelligence has grown from an experiment or niche product to an increasingly routine tool of military organizations.
China military buildup leaves US ‘increasingly vulnerable’: Pentagon report
The assessment also says that in 2024 China “tested essential components” of Taiwan invasion options, “including through exercises to strike sea and land targets, strike U.S. forces in the Pacific, and block access to key ports.”
Air Force cyber resilience in focus
Cyber resilience has become a frontline mission for the US military. Breaking Defense’s new eBook rounds up key reporting from the 2025 Alamo ACE conference with the latest developments in cyber offense and defense.
CCA Round 2: Air Force picks 9 vendors for next batch of drone wingmen
The designs selected for the next group of Collaborative Combat Aircraft represent a “broad spectrum” of concepts, which will be narrowed down at a later date for prototyping, an Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense.
10 Breaking Defense op-eds that defined 2025
It’s been a whirlwind of a year — and the defense establishment has plenty of thoughts on how it’s unfolded and what might come next.