🔎 Defense Tech Signal — Saturday

• The Pentagon has appointed a new Chief Data Officer to accelerate AI adoption and enterprise data integration across DoD, signaling renewed top-level emphasis on operationalizing AI for warfighters.
• The Pentagon’s counter-drone task force is conducting a high-energy laser test at White Sands, marking a concrete step toward fielding directed-energy systems for scalable, low-cost drone defense.
• The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded BlackSky a contract worth up to $99 million to develop and test a large segmented optical payload, advancing next-generation space-based ISR architectures.

Sources:

1) Breaking Defense — https://breakingdefense.com/2026/03/pentagons-new-chief-data-officer-to-push-ai-capabilities-to-warfighters/
2) Defense News — https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2026/03/06/pentagon-task-force-to-conduct-laser-test-against-drones/
3) SpaceNews — https://spacenews.com/air-force-lab-awards-blacksky-contract-worth-up-to-99-million-for-large-optical-satellite-payload/

For a continuously updated feed of defense tech signals: https://natsecpulse.com

— Support —

NatSecPulse is independently curated. Occasional sponsorships help support ongoing coverage and infrastructure.