Lt. Elliot Reed, right, assigned to Air Department aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), signals to a Carrier Air Wing 8 F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 87, as it launches from the flight deck, July 14, 2025. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tajh Payne)
Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, claps during the 144th Commencement Exercises at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, May 21, 2025. (DHS photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Mikaela McGee.)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (May 23, 2025) The Secretary of the Navy John Phelan at the U.S. Naval Academy’s class of 2025 graduation and commissioning ceremony at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. (U.S. Navy photo by Stacy Godfrey)
Launched effects are expected to bring a critical capability to the Army with advanced teaming between crewed and uncrewed systems to detect, identify, locate, and report pacing threats in contested environments. (Photo by Shawn Nesaw)
A U.S. Marine Corps XQ-58A Valkyrie, highly autonomous, tactical unmanned air vehicle, soars overhead during its second test flight at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Feb. 23, 2023. The XQ-58A Valkyrie test flight and the data collected inform future requirements for the Marine Corps. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. John McRell)
Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii — Marines from the 3d Littoral Logistics Battalion, or LLB, engage in a Foreign Comparative Test, or FCT, of a South Korean Unmanned Ground Vehicle, or UGV, prototype. (Marine Corps Systems Command photo)
Emil Michael appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his nomination to become undersecretary of defense for research and engineering in Washington, D.C. March 27, 2025. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)
The Senate on Wednesday voted 54-43 to confirm businessman Emil Michael as undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and the Pentagon’s CTO.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) (C) talks with Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) during the confirmation hearing for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Capitol Hill on January 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)