Silicon Valley’s military start-ups are closing in on a massive Pentagon payday after spending years pushing sensational, unverified claims of foreign threats. These start-ups, which manufacture cutting-edge lethal and surveillance technology, are eyeing the billions set aside for artificial intelligence (AI) and drone investments in the Pentagon’s new, record-breaking nearly one-trillion-dollar budget.
To boost the autonomous weapons industry, the House and Senate have passed bills demanding that the Pentagon double down on AI, integrating it into routine tasks and using it to maximize “warfighter lethality.” The bills also instruct the military to treat small drones like expendable ammunition rather than reusable aircraft — potentially triggering a massive increase in spending on the vehicles.
These budget items come despite lawmakers conceding that many of these technologies lack comprehensive operating doctrines and have led to cost overruns in the past.
Many of the military technology companies that stand to gain from these provisions and their allies in Washington, DC, have spent years saber-rattling about potential foreign threats that they claim only advanced weaponry and surveillance technology can solve. But the assertions made by the military tech industry have been largely overdramatized and under-scrutinized, according to policy experts.
Now, as the government slashes spending on social programs like Medicaid and food assistance, the GOP-controlled Congress is set to spend big on their Silicon Valley benefactors with a bloated annual Pentagon budget that boosts spending on new-age military technology.
The National Defense Authorization Act for 2026, which sets annual policy for the Pentagon, recently passed the…
Auteur: Freddy Brewster
