Defense logistics need a strategic upgrade – from localized 3D printing on the front line to counter-drone defense and expanding defense manufacturing to integrating artificial intelligence (AI) beyond the battlefield.

The SOSA Technical Standard is just that, a technical standard, written by technical people for a technical audience. 

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day.

Most defense electronics programs don’t fail because the processor is too slow or the sensor isn’t accurate enough. They fail when the system can’t be packaged, powered, cooled, routed, and serviced inside the real-world envelope it has to live in. When that happens, the interconnect and wireharness is often where the physics shows up first.

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day.

WARFARE EVOLUTIONS BLOG. Now is a good time to add some new words to your vocabulary: Launched Effects (LE). The war in Ukraine started in February 2022 and has developed into a new form of warfare with drones. Ukraine has launched as many as 9,000 drones at Russian positions in one day, and Russia has launched as many as 6,400 drones in one day at Ukrainian positions. About 75% of the casualties and equipment destroyed in Ukraine have been attributed to drones. Ukrainian drones have flown as far as 1,500 miles to hit targets inside Russia. Russian drones have traveled as far as 1,000 miles to hit targets inside Ukraine.

In today’s defense and aerospace systems, the software stack is rapidly becoming as complex and as critical as the hardware it runs on. Modern edge platforms increasingly support multithreaded real-time applications, machine learning (ML) inference, over-the-air (OTA) updates, and third-party integrations. In these environments, deterministic behavior, system robustness, and security are not optional – they are mission requirements.

I’ve been into modular since I was a kid. I didn’t know it, but I was. Think Legos and Lincoln Logs. If you don’t know the latter, just Google it.

Across today’s operational theaters, from crowded urban corridors to contested border zones, the battlespace is shaped as much by electronic pressures as by the terrain underfoot.

For decades, militaries have pursued a single idea, connecting every sensor, platform, and soldier into a unified web of intelligence. From the U.S. military’s network-centric warfare initiatives of the 1990s to the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) program launched in the late 2010s, this vision has steadily evolved.

Federal teams spent the past year testing artificial intelligence (AI) applications, measuring return on investment, and separating hype from reality. These teams identified where AI delivers results and where it falls short, gaining the experience needed to drive real transformation. Earlier this year, the White House AI Action Plan called on the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to aggressively adopt AI across functions from the battlefield to back-office operations, thereby signaling the government's commitment to moving beyond experimentation.

The mid-2025 assertion from U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) chief technology officer Emil Michael that artificial intelligence (AI) will “transform future warfighting” is echoing across the entire defense industry. It’s clear that AI has rapidly become a non-negotiable technology for the DoD, particularly in warfighting environments.

The U.S. is underprepared for the urgent and serious threat that unmanned aerial systems (UASs), also known as drones, pose to our nation.

The insertion of commercial products into military acquisitions is critical for the future strategic advantage of the U.S. and allied nations; the recent acquisition reforms put forward by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Secretary Hegseth put this certainty front and center. The reasons are obvious: The continued conflict in Ukraine, the rapid increase in Chinese production capability, and technological advancement in artificial intelligence (AI).

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day.