States government, which then provides the equipment to Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine has become a test bed for the new technology, with the Pentagon and other government agencies watching closely to see how it performs.
The Pentagon has provided some of the start-ups with grants and contracts, but the amounts are often too small to keep the companies afloat.
The challenge for the Pentagon is to figure out how to bring a Silicon Valley ethos to the lumbering military-industrial complex.
The war in Ukraine is providing a real-world testing ground for a new generation of American-made military systems. Small, fast-moving U.S. tech firms are using the conflict to demonstrate their products, but face the challenge of selling them to a risk-averse Defense Department. From drones and satellites to artificial intelligence and other fields, start-ups frequently offer the Pentagon cheaper, faster and more flexible options than the weapons systems produced by the handful of giant contractors the Pentagon normally relies on. But the Pentagon’s slow-moving, risk-averse military procurement bureaucracy can make it difficult for start-ups to stay afloat. As the U.S. seeks to maintain its national security advantage over China, Russia and other rivals, Pentagon leaders are only now beginning to figure out how to bring a Silicon Valley ethos to the military-industrial complex.