The Department of War’s budget request is necessary to modernize defense, as most of the systems we have today were designed and built for the Cold War, Under Secretary of War Emil Michael said during the Breitbart policy event “AI is Here: What to Fear, What to Embrace.”
The Breitbart News event, in coordination with Innovation Council Action, featured Michael, the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, who discussed America’s need to modernize defense.
“I was watching an interview you did this morning. I think it was on CNBC. You were talking about the president’s request for, I think it’s 1.5 trillion dollar Pentagon budget – a very, very significant increase. … But you said that this is part of what – I think the term you used was a makeshift towards the future of AI, and that actually AI is going to help make defense more affordable down the road,” host Matthew Boyle said, noting that the annual budget is usually around a trillion dollars.
Michael said the increase is necessary because the Department of War’s technology is very outdated.
“I think it was said in the context of we’ve asked for one historic increase for one year, and the reason is that most of the systems we have today were designed and built for the Cold War,” he revealed.
“Big airplanes, big aircraft carriers, tanks – all these assets were really fantastic assets. I mean, like stealth aircraft, you name it – like really impressive things that underscored the technological might of the country,” he explained.
“Those things are not always – like if you were to fight a battle like Ukraine and Russia are fighting – not all those things would be usable in the same way. In fact, they’re using drones, so they have a robot-on-robot front line, if you will, so how do you adapt to the modern battlefield while still building the exquisite weapons?” he asked, asserting that you need a “one-time ability to invest in the new because you can’t leave the country defenseless.”
“You keep the old stuff, you build the new stuff, and then the shift, the mix of what you build in the future shifts,” he said, adding that the increase “eventually” allows one to “build your stockpile inventory, and you get to more normalized budget.”
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