When the world's at stake,
go beyond the headlines.

A lot happens every day. Alliances shift, leaders change, and conflicts erupt. With In Brief, we’ll help you make sense of it all. Each week, experts will dig deep on a single issue happening in the world to help you better understand it.***In 2015, the Department of Defense launched the Defense Innovation Unit, which aimed to help the department and the U.S. military adopt commercial technology and spur innovation in the U.S. defense industry. The years since have seen the rise of “non-traditional” defense and aerospace companies, including Anduril, Palantir, SpaceX, and ShieldAI, which bring the innovation possible in commercial technology companies to the battlefield. The Department of Defense has signaled its commitment to adopting new and improved technologies – most recently, they increased the Defense Innovation Unit’s budget from $70 million in 2023 to $983 million in 2024 – and has signed contracts worth hundreds of millions with these new primes, but many barriers to entry remain. We asked six experts to tell us more about the successes these companies have had, the obstacles they still face, and what the future of defense innovation looks like.Read more below:Jacqueline Tame Operating Partner, Playground Global & Acting Executive Director, Silicon Valley Defense GroupThe Department of Defense is making significant strides to deepen its collaboration with nontraditional defense companies and change the techno-security ecosystem, including through initiatives such as the realignment of Defense Innovation Unit to the Secretary of Defense, the creation of the Office of Strategic Capital, the expansion of APFIT, and the release of the first-ever Industrial Base Strategy. However, despite these positive indicators, systemic challenges remain.SpaceX, Anduril, and Palantir – affectionately dubbed “new primes” –have achieved remarkable success, with SpaceX capturing 65 percent of total Department of Defense contracts awarded to nontraditional companies, according to the latest NATSEC100 report. These companies thrive due to their innovative technologies,