Industry Spotlight | September 4, 2025

Shaping the future of the defense industry

By Max Hemingway and David Rimmer

The defense industry is undergoing one of the most intense transformations in decades. Rising geopolitical tensions, the shift toward multi-domain operations, and rapid advances in digital technologies are reshaping the industry’s mission readiness and operational capabilities.

Digital innovation is at the heart of this change. From artificial intelligence and cloud computing to quantum resilience and multi-domain integration, new tools and approaches are reshaping how decisions are made, how systems are secured and how operations are executed.

In defense, success increasingly depends on the ability to innovate faster, smarter and at scale.

Yet innovation in defense is complex, spanning early experimentation, targeted development and system-wide deployment, each requiring distinct capabilities, skills and cultural conditions. Legacy systems, regulatory constraints, and skills shortages further complicate this journey, making even incremental change difficult.

Defense organizations can overcome these barriers by creating integrated innovation environments where digital tools, agile methods and flexible architectures combine with a culture of experimentation. Public-private collaboration is critical, closing skills gaps and accelerating the transition from research to battlefield deployment. 

In defense environments, decision-making is often a race against time. The ability to quickly understand an evolving situation across multiple domains and sources can determine the success of a mission. As data volumes grow and threats become more complex, traditional methods of information retrieval are no longer adequate.

Agentic AI offers a promising solution by using AI to continuously monitor sources such as drone feeds, satellite imagery and intelligence reports. By integrating information in real time, agentic AI provides commanders with a unified and up-to-date operational view.

Advances in machine learning, natural language processing and edge computing are driving this shift. But success with agentic AI requires bias mitigation, data privacy and cyber resilience into deployment from the start. The goal is not to replace human judgment but to enhance it with timely, context-rich insights.

Success in modern defense relies on seamless integration across land, sea, air, space and cyber. Multi-domain integration (MDI) breaks down silos and creates interoperable digital backbones capable of supporting joint operations and allied collaboration.

Guided by NATO’s principles of agility, interconnectivity, unity and creativity, MDI goes beyond technology. It requires tackling organizational and technical debt, adopting open standards and fostering a culture of collaboration across government, industry and academia. By embedding resilience and interoperability across the entire ecosystem, defense organizations can achieve operational synergy and strategic advantage.

To realize MDI’s full potential, defense organizations should:

• Build and sustain a digital backbone supporting integration across domains and allies.
• Implement strategies to reduce technical debt and enhance agility.
• Adopt open standards to unlock integration of emerging technologies.
• Foster a culture of collaboration and innovation.
• Invest in secure communications to maintain information dominance.

Defense organizations face constant pressure to deliver new digital capabilities in fast-changing, high-risk environments. Agile and DevSecOps practices offer a solution by integrating speed, resilience and assurance into software development. Unlike traditional models, security is built in from the start through secure coding, automated compliance checks and continuous vulnerability scanning.

Paired with agile methods, DevSecOps enables teams to iterate quickly, incorporate feedback and collaborate across functions, delivering solutions that are secure by design and mission-ready from day one. Frontline units using DevSecOps-developed solutions report shorter deployment times, higher adoption and greater trust in security. 

Quantum computing is getting closer to real-world use. And when it arrives, it’s expected to push the boundaries of what’s possible in a variety of fields and industries.  But its power also exposes vulnerabilities in current cryptographic methods.

The looming arrival of Q Day, when quantum computing could render today’s cryptography obsolete, is one of the defense industry’s most pressing challenges. From battlefield communications to critical infrastructure, secure operations are at risk. Quantum resilience must now be a strategic priority.

Achieving it goes beyond technical upgrades. Organizations must map critical assets, understand system dependencies and address hidden infrastructure and process gaps. Implementing post-quantum cryptography in line with NIST standards, while ensuring interoperability with legacy systems, is a key step. Planning should also account for supply chains, data flows and mission-critical services.

By acting now, organizations can maintain trust, protect sensitive information, and stay ahead of emerging quantum-enabled threats.