Pentagon CTO Emil Michael: We helped Ukrainians a ton fighting Russia, but they invented the technology they actually needed because we didn’t have it and it is ...

The Pentagon’s technology chief Emil Michael has said the United States was unprepared for the rise of modern drone warfare and admitted that Ukraine had to develop some of the battlefield technologies it needed because the US could not provide them. Speaking at the WSJ Tech Conference, Michael said the conflict between Ukraine and Russia exposed significant gaps in America's military preparedness and accelerated efforts to expand the country's drone capabilities.Pentagon CTO: We were caught flat-footedAddressing the conference in Napa, California, Michael said the Pentagon had not anticipated how central drones would become to modern warfare. "We were caught flat-footed by the drone warfare in Ukraine and Russia," he said, adding that the US was not prepared because it "just didn't imagine it." He said the Defence Department is now focused on preparing for future conflicts and anticipating how warfare could evolve.Michael acknowledged that while the United States provided substantial support to Ukraine during its war with Russia, Ukrainian forces often had to create their own solutions on the battlefield. "We helped the Ukrainians a ton, but they invented what they actually needed because we didn't have it," he said.Stockpile growth, but Ukraine far aheadMichael said the US built about 1,000 drones under the previous administration, while its stockpile is now around 500,000. That is still a small fraction of the eight million to 10 million drones Ukraine estimates it will build this year, as its war with Russia nears a fifth year. Michael said the US helped Ukraine a great deal, but Ukrainian forces invented the technology they needed because the US did not have it.Pentagon studying future battlefieldsMichael said the Defence Department's Project Meridian has been tasked with examining what future warfare could look like, including potential conflicts underground and in space. The initiative includes participation from industry figures such as Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, and Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril IndustriesCautious on AI targetingEven as the Pentagon pushes into cheap, autonomous systems, Michael said the military remains conservative about using artificial intelligence in combat. Developing targets still depends more on intelligence reports, satellite imagery and other human-led investigation than on AI, he said, adding that the US is not very sophisticated at AI-generated targeting.Michael declined to comment on the US strike in Iran last February that hit a girls’ school the US had mistaken for a military target. More than 100 people were killed, including dozens of children. The US has not released the findings of its investigation, and planning for the strike involved an AI targeting system. Michael said there must be appropriate human judgment at every level.Reiterates criticism of AnthropicMichael also reiterated his criticism of AI company Anthropic, which the Defence Department earlier designated as a national security threat. He said it was not difficult for the Pentagon to stop using Anthropic's models and noted that the department continues to use AI models from Google, OpenAI and Grok on its networks.US still ahead of China in AIOn the global AI race, Michael argued that the United States maintains an advantage over China thanks to its access to advanced semiconductors and greater data-centre capacity.According to Michael, Beijing remains approximately six months to a year behind the United States in AI development, although he indicated that competition between the two countries remains intense.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.