The Golden Fleet, a US Navy initiative introduced by the administration in December of 2025, aims to revitalize the US shipbuilding industry, develop and sustain a new class of naval fleet and change how it does business to rapidly address maritime threats, particularly from China, in the Indo-Pacific region. The first frigate is planned for full operation in 2028.

If you’ve been part of the defense industrial base (DIB) or are looking to support the DoW, it should come as no surprise that AI is now seeing actionable impact in day-to-day operations. Strategically, AI is essential in warfighting decision-making, analyzing data and enhancing operational logistics. The Army in particular has started incorporating AI solutions across a number of elements outlined below, on the heels of several new strategy announcements and initiatives.

At WEST this year, Department of the Navy leaders signaled a clear shift in modernization priorities: the debate is no longer about adopting emerging technology or drafting strategy documents. Instead, we’re seeing operational speed, how quickly the Navy can field capability, integrate systems and make decisions, become the objective. Across sessions on shipbuilding, acquisition transformation, AI, Zero Trust and maritime force design, the recurring theme was speed matters most.

Aging infrastructure, outdated hardware and overall modernization needs have been a mission-critical challenge for the DoD. It’s not just about IT headaches; there are real obstacles to modernization for the Department. Let’s look at what’s driving the urgency to update in multiple ways and how IT companies can position themselves to help modernize the nation’s defense backbone.

As the U.S. marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a critical pillar of the nation’s digital defense has expired. On September 30th, Congress failed to pass a continuing resolution, furloughing many federal cybersecurity staff and allowing the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) of 2015 to lapse as cyber threats are reaching unprecedented levels. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which spearheaded much of the law’s implementation, has also furloughed nearly two-thirds of its workforce.

At this point, anyone keenly watching the budget process every year can tell you the likelihood of a continuing resolution (CR) being passed as opposed to a new budget by Oct 1st is all but guaranteed. CRs act as a temporary stopgap designed to avoid a government shutdown. However, it also locks funding to the previous fiscal year’s level and prevents new projects from getting started. Projects then remain under operations and maintenance until a new budget, with new requirements, is passed.

The Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) recently introduced the Digital OnRamp Platform, designed to connect private sector organizations with DoD opportunities. It’s scheduled for release in the fall of 2025, and leverages advanced AI and large language model (LLM) technologies to simplify and enhance the process of matching private sector capabilities with defense needs

The DoD is rolling out aggressive updates to its supply chain cybersecurity framework. If you sell software, services or infrastructure into the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), expect tighter requirements, faster timelines and zero tolerance for compliance gaps. These changes affect your ability to win and keep DoD contracts—especially with new programs like:

In the administration’s first 100 days in office, multiple executive orders (EO) were signed to update federal procurement. Several initiatives released across the federal market include the OneGov Strategy, procurement consolidation and the Army Transformation Initiative.