Leading defense firms are fielding tools and systems designed to push more computing power, including AI, forward to the battlefield. These data-centers-in-a-box could support direct uses of AI in combat for every military branch.

“We actually see this as a modern weapon system,” Tom Keane, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering, told The Washington Times in an exclusive interview. “The bytes are the bullets.”

But not everyone is convinced that more computing power on the front lines is the answer.

New launchers were identified in satellite images at a desert location in China’s northwestern Inner Mongolia province. They were described as a significant upgrade in a major new report by the China Aerospace Studies Institute, a U.S. Air Force think tank.

“A system like this makes sense for massed missile launches, as it’s much cheaper to field a large number of missiles this way than on individual [transporter-erector launchers] or in individual silos,” said Tom Shugart, a military analyst at the Center for New American Security.

The system looks to be capable of firing an array of missiles from ground-based multi-cell vertical launch tubes. Beijing’s decision to showcase an ability to fire multiple missiles is likely aimed at influencing U.S. strategic decision-making by raising the cost of defending Taiwan against a Chinese attack, according to the report.

The Navy said a helicopter squadron commander is the sailor reported missing on July 1 when his chopper went down in the Arabian Sea.

Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, leader of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, and three other crew members on an MH60-S Seahawk helicopter assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush went down in an emergency water landing.

The Navy is continuing to search for Cmdr. Edwards after recovering the rest of the crew. The cause of the incident remains under investigation. There is no indication the emergency was caused by hostile action, Navy officials said.

Mr. Trump said Wednesday the U.S. will license the manufacture of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, a decision that offers Kyiv a much-needed opportunity to rebuild battered air defenses against a relentless barrage of incoming Russian strikes.

The Patriot, an RTX (formerly Raytheon) technology, has been Ukraine’s primary defense against Russia’s missile attacks on the capital city. The production capacity for Patriot and other defensive missiles has been a sore point for U.S. defense manufacturers as they try to replace munitions used in the U.S. war against Iran. 

“It’s a defensive situation, as opposed to an offensive,” Mr. Trump said. “Let’s say, ‘Make them yourself.’ We haven’t informed the company of that yet, but that’ll work out all right.”

As of Thursday morning, no company involved in the production of the Patriot has made any public announcement concerning the president’s comments.

Microchip production is at the heart of the AI era and a key motivator in China’s desire to take back control of Taiwan, writes Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, a Times columnist who also serves on the editorial board.

“Although China has made significant progress in manufacturing the basic semiconductors used in everyday appliances, it remains critically dependent on Taiwan for the high-end chips that drive the global AI revolution,” Mr. Shapiro argues in an op-ed for The Times. “Because China cannot yet replicate these chips domestically, Taiwan’s manufacturing dominance has transformed from a commercial asset into a primary driver of global geopolitical tension.”

Mr. Shapiro’s piece is composed of excerpts from his column published on May 20, 2026.

The op-ed is part of “Why Taiwan Matters, Now More Than Ever,” a special advertising supplement to The Times from the Taiwan Freedom Project.

• July 9 — Military Robotics and Autonomous Systems USA Conference, SAE Media Group

• July 10 — Taiwan’s Institutional Defense: Countering Chinese Communist Party Infiltration and Transnational Repression, Hudson Institute

• July 13 — Is Israel Losing America? Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• July 14 — Strategic Landpower Dialogue: A Conversation with Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano, Center for Strategic and International Studies 

• July 14-17 — Aspen Security Forum, Aspen Strategy Group

• July 21 — AI+ Discovery Summit, Special Competitive Studies Project

• Aug. 4-5 — Air and Space Force Procurement Conference, American Defense Alliance