DOD wants nearly $30 billion for a new AI Arsenal

The Defense Department is requesting close to $30 billion in fiscal 2027 to purchase and enable next-generation AI supercomputers and modernize the military’s computing infrastructure to power them. According to recently published budget documents, the Pentagon aims to build out its portfolio of highly secure data centers, and ultimately centralize and scale supercomputing assets across the joint force through its new “AI Arsenal initiative.” The fiscal 2027 proposal comes with a $29.5 billion spending plan. This proposed funding increase is up for consideration as DOD is hustling to integrate commercial AI models into battle management and warfare operations, threat detection and analyses, supply chain logistics and more. A Pentagon official told DefenseScoop: “The department’s AI Arsenal initiative is an investment in foundational, government-owned AI infrastructure to maximize federal buying power and build the strategic advantage we need.”

The House Small Business Committee continued its push last week to make the agency it oversees embrace artificial intelligence in its work, advancing a new AI-focused bill aimed at more transparency around those efforts. In a Wednesday markup, the committee unanimously approved the SBA Artificial Intelligence Utilization Act (H.R. 8881) from Reps. Brad Finstad, R-Minn., and George Latimer, D-N.Y. The legislation would require the Small Business Administration to provide a yearly report to Congress on its use of AI and machine learning, detailing the benefits, risks and related issues. Additional oversight on SBA’s AI program from the committee comes in the wake of a Government Accountability Office report this month that called attention to years of SBA failures to comply with federal requirements on AI use case inventories. In March, the agency publicly posted its inventory — two months past the Office of Management and Budget deadline, but for the first time in SBA history nevertheless.

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