{"id":108742,"date":"2026-07-16T21:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/108742\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T21:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:11:09","slug":"secnav-hung-cao-unveils-plan-for-navy-to-out-learn-and-out-fight-any-adversary-with-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/108742\/","title":{"rendered":"SECNAV Hung Cao unveils plan for Navy to \u2018out-learn and out-fight any adversary\u2019 with AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao recently signed off on a new Strategy to Weaponize Data and Artificial Intelligence<\/a> that introduces more than a dozen instructions to integrate and deploy data and algorithms across the sea service \u2014 including by standing up a new AI War Council.<\/p>\n

The seven-page blueprint, publicly released on Tuesday, frames data and AI as core warfighting assets that are as integral to modern U.S. combat operations as personnel, weapon systems and munitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis strategy positions the Department of the Navy to out-learn and out-fight any adversary by rapidly deploying data and artificial intelligence,\u201d Cao said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cIt is our roadmap to building an \u2018AI-first\u2019 Fleet, one that turns information into warfighting advantage and enables faster, better decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Navy has been bullish about incorporating<\/a> data, advanced analytics and AI into its warfighting<\/a>, supply chain, intelligence and other operations<\/a> under the second Trump administration. Leadership considers the technologies vital to their ambitious vision<\/a> for a next-generation \u201chybrid\u201d fleet of versatile manned and unmanned systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis strategy demonstrates our commitment and capability to rapidly leverage data and AI to maximize warfighter effectiveness at scale,\u201d Navy spokesperson Lt. Jake Ryan told DefenseScoop on Wednesday. \u201cThe department continuously learns and adapts to changes in the information technology environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

A team led by the DON\u2019s Chief Data and AI Officer (CDAO) produced the new plan after more than a year of preparation and engagements with stakeholders in Navy and Marine Corps AI communities. The CDAO is charged with developing and maintaining a department-wide \u201cdata and Al roadmap\u201d to drive transparency, accountability, collaboration, and resourcing across the service in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

Ryan confirmed that Dr. Ciro Lopez is currently serving as the department\u2019s acting CDAO.<\/p>\n

In the strategy\u2019s foreword, Cao wrote that U.S. naval forces \u201chave defeated hundreds of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles from Iran and its proxies\u201d this year\u00a0and are \u201cnavigating the most compressed period of active learning and adaptation for combat operations at sea in recent memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new strategy therefore aims to set conditions that will \u201cequip and empower all DON missions with the data and [AI] capabilities necessary to rapidly learn and adapt to fight better tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the heart of the new plan is a digital adaptation framework \u2014 dubbed the Bits2Effects Cycle \u2014 that\u2019s designed to help the Navy speedily transform the overwhelming amount of raw information (bits) it captures into meaningful battlefield outcomes (effects), through a streamlined five-step process.<\/p>\n

The strategy also lays out a variety of directions, with deadlines, to bolster artificial intelligence integration through six overarching goals that broadly cover accelerating operational AI; improving data readiness; optimizing data and AI infrastructure; streamlining data and AI governance; building a data- and AI-ready workforce; and strengthening associated partnerships and collaboration.<\/p>\n

Notably, among the underpinning instructions, Cao directs the department to \u201cestablish an Al War Council to prioritize use cases, align resources, and pre-authorize wartime modifications to data sharing, classification, and Al deployment authorities\u201d by the first quarter of fiscal 2027.<\/p>\n

Officials are also tasked to produce \u201ca training and billet build plan\u201d by that quarter, which will be designed to double the number of qualified data engineers, data scientists, and AI and machine learning engineers by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2029.<\/p>\n

The Navy must additionally create and maintain an authoritative inventory of mission-aligned Al use cases that will be prioritized based on their feasibility, impact and alignment \u2014 and ultimately help scale adoption.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimilar to traditional assets such as personnel, weapons systems, and munitions, our data and Al must be deliberately integrated and employed across the fabric of operations to realize the exponential warfighting advantage of the digital age,\u201d Cao wrote.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Brandi<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWritten by Brandi Vincent
\n\t\t\tBrandi Vincent is a Senior Reporter at DefenseScoop, where she reports on disruptive technologies and associated policies impacting Pentagon and military personnel. Prior to joining SNG, she produced a documentary and worked as a journalist at Nextgov, Snapchat and NBC Network. Brandi grew up in Louisiana and received a master\u2019s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. She was named Best New Journalist at the 2024 Defence Media Awards.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao recently signed off on a new Strategy to Weaponize Data and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,56143,25,111,203,56028,50,7486,6424,56144,1138],"class_list":["post-108742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-ai-war-council","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-data","tag-hung-cao","tag-machine-learning","tag-marine-corps","tag-navy","tag-unmanned-vessel","tag-workforce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}