WorldPosted at: Oct 2 2026 7:32PM


Pentagon partners with In-Q-Tel to fast-track critical technologies to warfighters

Washington, Oct 2 (UNI) The Pentagon has partnered with In-Q-Tel (IQT), a strategic investment firm serving the national security community, to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced commercial technologies for military use, with a focus on artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, hypersonics and directed energy.
The agreement was announced by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (R&E), through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Critical Technologies (CT), in partnership with the Central Intelligence Agency and In-Q-Tel.
Under the partnership, IQT will provide the Department's research and engineering enterprise access to its global technology-scouting platform and portfolio of early-stage companies, with the aim of shortening the time required to move commercially developed technologies from non-traditional defence contractors into operational military use.
"In a contested global threat environment, technological superiority will not be determined by who invents a capability first, but by who delivers it to the warfighter fastest," Assistant Secretary of War for Critical Technologies Michael Dodd said.
"The Department is fundamentally shifting its posture: we are moving from acting solely as a long-cycle technology developer to operating as an agile, credible, and rapid customer for America's most innovative non-traditional performers," Dodd said.
The Department has identified six Critical Technology Areas (CTAs) as priorities for investment and technology transition: Applied Artificial Intelligence, Biomanufacturing, Contested Logistics Technologies, Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance, Scaled Directed Energy, and Scaled Hypersonics.
Under the agreement, IQT will conduct technology scouting and technical due diligence across all six areas, as well as related enabling technologies. The Department will identify potential sponsors and transition pathways for technologies that meet military requirements.
Dodd said the partnership with IQT would help reduce bureaucratic delays in moving promising technologies toward operational deployment.
"Our partnership with In-Q-Tel eliminates bureaucratic friction across our six CTAs," he said.
"Over the next 12 months, our benchmark for success is simple and unambiguous: moving validated commercial prototypes out of the lab and into active operational field evaluations with our combatant commands," Dodd added.
The initiative will use In-Q-Tel's venture-investment and technology-assessment model to identify and evaluate early-stage commercial technologies that could address urgent national security requirements.
The Department of war said the combination of its strategic transition mechanisms and IQT's technology-scouting capabilities would help reduce the risks involved in adapting commercial hardware and software for national security applications.
The partnership also seeks to encourage technology companies outside the traditional defence sector to develop solutions for military requirements, signalling that the Department is seeking greater access to commercial innovation.
Joint pilot programmes are expected to begin in the coming weeks, initially focusing on what the Department described as immediate battlefield bottlenecks.
The initiative is intended to establish a long-term mechanism for moving promising commercial technologies from development and testing into deployed military capabilities more rapidly.UNI AAB
Tags: #Pentagon partners with In-Q-Tel to fast-track critical technologies to warfighters
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