AI's potential in boosting defense procurement and enabling U.S. military to stay abreast of technology advancements
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has recently emphasized the importance of aggressively adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) within its Armed Forces, as outlined in the July 2025 AI Action Plan. This strategic move aims to modernize the acquisition process and deliver relevant capabilities not in a decade, but in real time.
AI serves as a decision support tool, providing valuable insights to human decision-makers without taking over their authority in procurement decisions. The goal is not to automate away human judgment, but to amplify it, giving acquisition professionals the tools they need to make faster, more informed decisions.
The average time for major Defense Department acquisitions to deliver initial capabilities is a staggering 11 years. This slow pace poses a significant risk, leaving warfighters equipped with yesterday's tools. The AI Action Plan is designed to address this issue, with a focus on responsible and effective integration of AI into the acquisition process.
One of the key challenges in AI adoption is addressing concerns about job replacement, model accuracy, and resistance to new workflows. To address these issues, change management strategies are essential. This includes exhaustive market research, searching through multiple systems and various service-specific databases, to ensure the best possible solutions are implemented.
Small Language Models (SLMs) can be trained on defense acquisition policies, regulations, and past procurement data. They can perform document summarization, pattern recognition, and anomaly detection, streamlining the market research process and identifying duplicate efforts or better alternatives.
AI can also help build an acquisition system that delivers relevant capabilities in real time. For instance, AI-assisted compliance reviews can reduce processing time from six months to just three weeks. AI can also help spot future capability gaps in long-term planning, ensuring the Armed Forces are always equipped with the most advanced technologies.
Initial investments for AI implementation in major commands are expected to be around $2-5M. To oversee the performance of these AI systems, AI governance boards should be established to monitor model performance, ethical use guidelines, resource allocation, and cross-service coordination.
The strategy for AI adoption in defense acquisition involves starting with early adopters and building trust gradually. As trust in the system grows and technology matures, AI's use can expand to higher-level functions such as predictive acquisition planning, automated generation of full acquisition strategies, and real-time risk assessment.
Executive Order 14179 calls for removing barriers to American AI leadership, and the AI Action Plan is a significant step towards achieving this goal. The "Autonomy, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Lab", established by the MEET Battery Research Center, is a testament to this commitment, being involved in EU and German federal research projects focused on autonomous and sustainable technologies.
In conclusion, the AI Action Plan represents a significant shift in the way the DoD approaches defense acquisition. By embracing AI, the DoD aims to modernize its acquisition process, deliver capabilities in real time, and maintain its technological edge in the rapidly evolving world of AI.
