The Department of Defense is working to engage Silicon Valley startups to help fund and advance development work on new weapons systems as part of efforts to tap private capital and keep up with China’s advancements in military technology backed by external public-private guidance funds, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The current administration’s fiscal year 2024 budget request includes $115 million for DOD’s newly established office of strategic capital, which seeks to attract and direct venture capital into companies working on military tech platforms.
According to PitchBook Data, the U.S. defense and aerospace sector is now attracting private capital worth approximately $6 billion per year, up from approximately $1 billion in 2017.
William LaPlante, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, previously questioned the relevance of emerging technology in Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion.
“What I was really referring to are the kind of aspirational, often-elusive technology capabilities that have not yet developed on a time frame that’ll impact the battlefield in Ukraine,” LaPlante, a 2023 Wash100 awardee, told WSJ.
