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2025 was a busy year for defense tech, but this year’s most-read Cogs of War pieces have a clear throughline. Readers were most interested in whether the United States can still build things that matter at scale. From drones and shipyards to software, data centers, quantum materials, and missile defense, our writers expressed frustration with systems and processes that slow production, reward hype, and turn industrial weakness into risk. Factories, labs, infrastructure, and the laws that govern them hold power. Our readers know that confronting that reality as soon as possible is critical to the future fight.
1. Prineha Narang and Joshua Levine, “America’s Quantum Manufacturing Moment”
2. Jonathan Panter, “A Skeptic’s View of the Hype Machine and Business Model of Neo-Defense Tech”
3. Madeline Field, “The SPEED and FoRGED Acts Compared”
4. Martin C. Feldmann and Gene Keselman, “Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts”
5. Todd Harrison, “Golden Dome is a Trillion Dollar Gambit”
6. Alex Rough, “Data Centers on the 21st Century Battlefield”
7. Peter W. Singer and August Cole, “Ghost Fleet, Ten Years Later: An Interview with P.W. Singer and August Cole”
8. Austin Gray, “After the Constellation-Class: Lessons of the Navy’s Latest Shipbuilding Debacle”
9. Noah Sheinbaum, “The Air Force is Kneecapping Software Innovation”
10. Sam Slocum and Peter Devine, “America Should Build Its Own Warships While Buying Tankers”
Image: Army Spc. Breanna Bradford via the Department of Defense
