🔎 Defense Tech Signal — Tuesday

• Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman is directing acquisition teams to prioritize “minimum viable capabilities,” signaling a shift toward faster, iterative delivery of operational space systems.
• The U.S. military is developing a joint 150-kilowatt, containerized high-energy laser with the Army and Navy to counter cruise missiles, pointing to more deployable directed-energy air defense architectures.
• Hundreds of Google employees petitioned leadership to refuse classified Pentagon AI work, underscoring ongoing workforce and governance friction around defense AI partnerships.

Sources:

1) Breaking Defense — https://breakingdefense.com/2026/04/cso-saltzman-focus-space-acquisition-on-minimum-viable-capabilities/
2) Defense News — https://www.defensenews.com/newsletters/daily-news-roundup/2026/04/28/what-we-know-about-the-us-militarys-new-joint-laser-weapon-system/
3) Washington Post — https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/04/27/google-employees-letter-ai-pentagon/

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