AI on the Battlefield
Drones.
Not just any drones…
Drones you can buy on Amazon.
That’s how Hamas got through one of the most sophisticated surveillance systems on Earth.
Last week, I was talking to Chris Kirchhoff on my podcast about Hamas. He’s the author of Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are Transforming the Future of War.
“These were cheap drones,” he said, “not military grade drones. Drones that you and I would use to film ourselves skateboarding or skiing.”
Last October, Hamas used them to knock out Israel’s surveillance. Then, they sent over a thousand paragliders.
I wanted to know how it happened. I also wanted to know if the US is prepared to face the new era of low-cost, high-impact warfare.
If Israel, with all its cutting-edge defense tech, can get caught off guard like this, what does that say about us? Are we really as invincible as we think, or are we just living off our reputation?
“Where is the US failing now?”
If anyone knows, it’s Chris. He spent years at the intersection of Silicon Valley and the Pentagon.
As a former senior advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he now plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between the U.S. military and the fast-paced tech industry.
(Namely through his involvement with initiatives like the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). We’ll get to that.)
His answer was clear: The metrics that used to work - more tanks, faster planes, bigger ships - don’t win wars anymore.
Our adversaries have figured out how to sidestep our strengths and exploit our weaknesses with cheap, accessible tech.
We talked about a lot of things.
We talked about AI. We talked about political challenges. We talked about military vulnerabilities. We talked about how the Pentagon isn’t on Amazon Prime.
And we talked about how the US is falling behind. And what it’s doing now to pivot.
Cracks in the Armor
I’ve always been a bit skeptical.
The US military is supposed to be the world’s most advanced fighting force.
Yet, every now and then, you hear about some obscure tech from another country, and you start to wonder—are we losing our edge?
We all know about the flashy tech—drones, AI, cyber weapons.
But here’s the thing: flashy doesn’t always mean effective.
“It’s important to step back in time and to realize that, just like anything, the technology that drives military superiority ebbs and flows,” said Chris.
Cavalry once ruled the battlefield. Then came World War I—tanks took over. Battleships dominated that war, but World War II belonged to aircraft carriers.
Another HUGE shift.
Now, our adversaries are building systems specifically designed to defeat our strengths.
“Just a few weeks ago,” said Chris, "the Ukrainians had to withdraw from the front lines all 31 of the M1A1 Abrams battle tanks that the U.S. had given the Ukrainian military because more than a quarter of them had been destroyed by Russian kamikaze drones.”
This is the most advanced tank in the US arsenal.
“In 2016, if you had gone up to any four-star general in the U.S. military and said, I would bet you a steak dinner that in 10 years drones are going to be able to defeat tanks, they would say, you're on, you know, I'll bet you 10 steak dinners.”
Today? “No four-star general would take that bet.”
Your iPhone vs. F-35s
Sure, we’ve got the F-35s, these flying supercomputers capable of taking down anything in the sky. But these planes are a product of a bygone era when big, expensive, and complex were the hallmarks of military power.
Now, we’re in a different game, one where agility and adaptability are key.
“What happens in the military-industrial complex isn't by itself crazy or without logic,” Chris explained.
It’s just that the world is flat… the microelectronics market is globally distributed. The consumer tech ecosystem is running laps around the military.
“Our adversaries are now able to buy a lot of the same technology the US military is buying.”
By the way, back during the Cold War this wasn’t true.
DARPA had in their closet technology that was six or seven generations more advanced than what people used on a daily basis.
Now? It’s the opposite: “The iPhones that we carry around in our pockets are actually far more advanced than the processor in the F-35 because the consumer technology ecosystem has grown so much larger.”
The Politics of War
That’s where Chris and his work at the Defense Innovation Unit comes in. The DIU is a Pentagon organization created to bridge the gap between the U.S. military and Silicon Valley's fast-paced tech industry.
Its primary role is to scout, vet, and bring commercial technology into the military’s operations.
Also, there’s the Pentagon’s new Replicator Initiative, which focuses on developing low-cost, autonomous weapons systems.
The goal is to create a large number of inexpensive, yet effective, systems that can be produced rapidly and in large quantities to overwhelm adversaries.
But the question remains: is it enough?
One of the most interesting parts of our conversation was the political challenge. It’s one thing to know what needs to be done, and it’s another to actually do it.
Shutting down tank factories and reallocating resources towards AI and autonomous systems isn’t just a military decision; it’s a political one.
There are entire communities dependent on these factories. You can’t just pull the plug without facing backlash.
Chris highlighted how Congress is starting to come around, slowly, but surely. They’ve even codified the Defense Innovation Unit’s mission into law, backing it with a billion-dollar budget.
But this is just the beginning.
They’re up against bureaucracy, against tradition, and against the inertia that comes with being the world’s leading superpower.
The Future of War
So, where does this leave us? Are we falling behind? Yes, in some ways, we are. But we’re also pivoting.
The future of warfare won’t be about who has the most tanks or the fastest jets; it’ll be about who can innovate the quickest, who can adapt to new threats, and who can integrate new technologies most effectively.
Chris’s perspective is clear: we’re at a crossroads.
The US can’t afford to rest on its laurels.
We’ve got the talent, the resources, and the will, but we need to align them with the realities of modern warfare.
If we don’t, we risk becoming a relic of the past, outpaced by nations willing to take risks and embrace the future.
