The memo, signed by Chief Information Officer Jane Rathbun and acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Brett Seidle, established a new DON-wide policy for “containerization technology usage.”

Containerization is a software deployment process that “bundles an application’s code with all the files and libraries it needs to run on any infrastructure,” according to an AWS description of the concept.

Navy officials see major benefits in adopting that capability for the department.

“Software containerization offers transformative advantages for the DON’s IT infrastructure and software deployment capabilities. This technology enables the Department to deploy applications consistently across highly varied environments while enhancing security, reducing computing resource overhead, and accelerating development cycles. Prioritizing containerization technology aligns with the Department’s software modernization goals and supports mission-critical operations with greater reliability and efficiency,” the memo states.

The new directive, publicly released Wednesday, applies to all new software development efforts across the department’s commands and programs enabled by cloud services and deployment models where enterprise container platforms and DevSecOps pipelines exist or are in development. It comes as the Navy and Marine Corps are pursuing wide-ranging software and IT modernization initiatives, including cloud adoption and migration.

“In the drive to increase operational agility, resiliency, optimization of our investments, and to achieve an organically digital state; we must advance to modem, proven software development and delivery practices. Securely accessing and transporting data across boundaries at the speed of relevance requires operating in a cloud-enabled ecosystem and software must be designed to effectively maneuver within it,” Rathbun and Seidle stated. “Effective immediately, all software development activities transitioning to the cloud and/or upgrades that are hosted in a cloud as outlined above must utilize containerization technology to the greatest extent practical.”

Seidle signed the directive July 17. Rathbun had previously signed it.

Officials can request exemptions to the policy, but they must provide the designated cybersecurity technical authority with a detailed justification.

“Exceptions will be granted where the risk of not leveraging containerization technology is deemed acceptable or the implementation would be prohibitively expensive. Potential exceptions may include production representative digital twins (where production cannot be or is not containerized), alternative cloud scaling capabilities like serverless technologies, or virtualization technologies for hardware in the loop. An itemized bulk exception can be granted,” per the memo.

The policy will be reviewed and updated annually, according to the directive.

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Nearly $20 million would go to air vehicle development and about $15 million to mission systems development and integration. The rest of the funding would be allotted for systems engineering, control segment development and integration, and development support.

Officials noted that the spending plan for 2026 increased since the last budget submission.

The project, known as MUX TACAIR increment 1, will leverage previous work that the Corps has done for its Penetrating Affordable Autonomous Collaborative Killer-Portfolio (PAACK-P), which received funding in previous years under the Pentagon’s Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve initiative.

“We are experimenting with unmanned aircraft like the XQ-58 Valkyrie working alongside crewed platforms such as the F-35. Recent tests validated their ability to conduct electronic warfare, execute autonomous tasks, and support Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) missions — all of which improve the survivability and effectiveness of manned Marine aviation in high-threat environments,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith told members of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee in written testimony last month, adding that investments in collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs) and other technologies will reduce risk to personnel and increase the speed and accuracy of decision making.

The Marines want highly autonomous next-generation drones to serve as robotic wingmen that could take on high-tech foes such as China in places like the Indo-Pacific.

MUX TACAIR, or Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) unmanned aerial system expeditionary tactical aircraft, would be expected to support “mass buildup of a Joint Force against a peer/near-peer adversary,” according to budget documents, which noted that they could play a significant role in electronic warfare and reconnaissance missions.

“Project efforts focus on operations from austere Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations (EABO) airfields in support of Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) and/or Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) operations serving as the Stand in Force (SiF) for a Joint Force, providing lethal and flexible support to support from the land and sea. This project increases MAGTF lethality, capacity and interoperability in the reconnaissance and electronic warfare mission areas, complementing existing and future TACAIR capabilities and enhancing combat reach into the INDOPACOM Area of Responsibility (AoR), or wherever enhanced, stand-off lethality is needed by the Joint Force,” officials wrote in budget justification documents to support the fiscal 2026 funding request for research, development, test and evaluation.

The Marines plan to award up to three other transaction authority agreements to contractors before the start of the next fiscal year to support the program.

Prototyping and experimentation efforts slated for 2026 include expeditionary air vehicle components and subsystems focused on launch and recovery, conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) capability, electronic warfare subsystem and payload enhancements, interoperability via communications and datalinks, mission systems computing, command and control (C2) integration architecture interoperability, and open architecture applications, according to officials.

Demonstration of prototyping activities, including mission system integration and minimum viable product (MVP) flight tests teamed with crewed aircraft, “will maximize collaborative evaluation environments, which enable developmental and operational evaluation of prototypes and tactics development” by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Four (UX-24) and Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1)) during fleet exercises as well as weapons and tactics instructor courses hosted by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1), according to budget documents.

Officials noted that the Corps plans to use a “spiral approach” to capability insertion for the program.

“MUX TACAIR Increment I will rapidly accelerate the time between development and fielding, ensuring rapid and relevant capability delivery of a Minimum Viable Product … to the warfighter,” per the budget documents. “Each spiral will have an associated MVP that is operationally relevant and balances schedule and technical complexity. The requirements within each MVP spiral will detail a minimum set of threshold capabilities required for training and tactics development with a unit of employment (e.g., fleet squadron).”

Development spirals will include enhancements in areas such as command and control, electronic warfare, mission computers and datalinks, according to officials.

Efforts in fiscal 2026 are expected to support an acquisition decision memorandum for Middle Tier of Acquisition rapid prototyping entry.

The Marines aren’t the only U.S. military service pursuing CCAs. The Air Force plans to spend $807 million in fiscal 2026 on its program.

Budget documents noted that the Marines will be “maximizing alignment” with Air Force and Department of the Navy CCA efforts “to reduce duplication and enhance interoperability through the use of compatible C2 implementations, mission systems, and common control architecture.”

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The document, dated June 17 and signed by acting CTO Justin Fanelli, noted the need to “accelerate the adoption of game changing commercial technology.”

The list of priorities “can help shape resource allocation decisions across the enterprise,” he wrote, adding that it should serve as a “signaling tool” to industry partners and private capital to inform how they allocate their resources and focus their efforts.

Artificial intelligence and autonomy top the list of “Level 1” technologies in the hierarchy.

“AI and autonomy play a vital role in information warfare by enabling decision advantage and enhancing the ability of human-machine teaming. The DON seeks AI-driven solutions for real-time data analysis and automated decision-making to enhance operational effectiveness,” Fanelli wrote.

Level 2 technologies under this category include capabilities like applied machine learning and natural language processing; model verification and AI risk governance; mission platforms and human-machine interfaces; and edge AI infrastructure and DevSecOps pipelines.

Next on the list is quantum tech, which Fanelli said will transform secure communications, computing and sensing for information warfare. He noted that quantum encryption could protect the department’s networks from adversaries, and quantum computing would boost data processing and cryptographic resilience.

Level 2 technologies in this area include tools such as post-quantum cryptography and quantum-enhanced communication; hybrid quantum-classical architectures; quantum gravimetry and inertial navigation; and “quantum interconnects and cryogenic systems.”

“Transport and connectivity” are third on the list. According to Fanelli’s memo, the Navy is prioritizing advanced networking, secure communications, 5G and FutureG tech to enable real-time data sharing and command and control.

Level 2 technologies under this category include things like 5G and FutureG nodes and mesh architectures; dynamic spectrum sharing and anti-jamming techniques; datalinks and “ship-to-X” mesh networks; and cloudlets and intelligent routing.

Fourth on the list is command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — also known as C5ISR — as well as counter-C5ISR and space capabilities.

“The DON seeks to integrate advanced sensor networks, improve automated data fusion, and develop resilient space-based architectures to support real-time intelligence gathering,” Fanelli wrote.

Level 2 technologies in this area include capabilities such as multi-INT engines and automated targeting; operational pictures and targeting algorithms; hybrid constellations and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) from space; and open architectures and multi-coalition information sharing.

Fifth on the list is tech related to cyberspace operations and zero trust.

“Cyber threats are evolving rapidly, making Zero Trust Architecture essential for securing DON information networks. Priorities include advanced cyber defense frameworks, threat intelligence automation, and proactive security measures to counter adversarial cyber operations,” per the memo.

Level 2 capabilities under this category include things like identity and access management — such as attribute-based access control and federated identity systems — micro segmentation and risk-adaptive controls for zero trust, cyber threat hunting and deception, and operational technology (OT) security — such as industrial control system and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) protection and remote access.

The complete list of tech priorities for Levels 1, 2 and 3 can be found here.

“A lot of these areas are mainly being driven by commercial tech,” Deputy CTO Michael Frank said in an interview. “It’s going to be a mix of … traditional defense vendors, traditional primes. But you know, we are really focused on getting some new entrants in, right? So, expanding the defense industrial base, getting some new players on the field. And this is a signal to them. This memo is meant to be a signal to them and what we’re focused on, what our priorities areas are, so they can better make decisions … If you’re an entrepreneur in this area or if you’re a VC who’s looking to invest, you know these are the general areas that we’re looking at.”

The Navy is looking to cast a wide net for new capabilities.

“We’re going to be looking at emerging tech from anybody and everyone who is operating in these areas and developing things in these areas, to include the other players in the defense innovation ecosystem. So, you know, looking at what DIU is doing, partnering with In-Q-Tel and what they are doing, because we want to make sure that we have awareness of all the various efforts across government to reduce waste, to reduce redundant spend, reduce redundant efforts, given the fact that we are operating in a resource-constrained environment, both with money and with people and time and effort and all of that,” Frank said.

The CTO’s office is aiming to accelerate the transition of key capabilities to the Navy and Marine Corps.

“We are absolutely more interested in higher [technology readiness levels],” Frank said. “We are more focused on things that we can start testing, validating and transitioning to the warfighter now.”

The list of priority technology areas is meant to be updated over time, he noted.

“This is a living list, it’s an evolving list. You know these technology areas are not going to be static. I mean, Level 1 will probably not change for a while, but the Level 2 and Level 3 … will and should be regularly updated in order for it to be useful to industry partners,” Frank said.

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The role is currently held by Navy Adm. Christopher Grady, who is nearing the end of his scheduled term in that position.

Trump submitted Mahoney’s nomination for the role to the Senate on June 17, and it’s been referred to the Armed Services Committee for consideration, according to a notice posted on Congress.gov.

The vice chairman of the JCS plays a key role in the Defense Department as chair of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and a senior adviser on technology-related initiatives.

Mahoney is currently serving as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, a role he’s held since November 2023. For several months, he also performed the duties of commandant while Gen. Eric Smith was recovering from a cardiac arrest episode and open-heart surgery. The Marine Corps commandant is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He previously served as deputy commander of U.S. Marine Forces Pacific; director of strategy and Plans at HQMC; deputy commander of U.S. Forces, Japan; commanding general of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing; and deputy commandant for programs and resources, HQMC, among other assignments.

Mahoney, a TOPGUN graduate, rose through the ranks of the Corps’ aviation community and has over 5,000 hours of flight time in the A-6, F-5, F-18 and F-35. He’s held command at the squadron, group and wing levels, and is also a qualified forward air controller and parachutist, according to his official bio.

He has noted the importance of the U.S. military improving its networking capabilities and focusing on software-driven technologies.

“There are more networks out there than probably a Cray computer can count. There needs to be unification of a network concept. And there needs to be a change in the way we think about hardware so that … it’s the software that drives the hardware, not the hardware that drives the software,” Mahoney said last year at a Hudson Institute event.

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In an unclassified memo viewed by DefenseScoop this week, the Navy’s Chief Information Officer Jane Rathbun unveiled this policy change and overarching plan to overhaul networks and their respective infrastructure into an integrated system that leverages enterprise IT services. 

“All shore legacy and excepted networks must transition to designated enterprise networks no later than December 31, 2027,” she wrote.

In response to questions Thursday, Rathbun said her team decided to set an absolute deadline in that timeframe because they recognize that migration can be hard, but they’re “looking for mavericks to figure out a better way to approved paths like Naval Enterprise Network (NEN) and Marine Corps Enterprise Network (MCEN) soonest.”

The CIO will process waivers on a case-by-case basis for the networks that officials determine cannot move into a designated enterprise environment due to their unique mission requirements. 

“Change is hard and not everyone will be happy that we are turning off their legacy and exception-based networks, but operational resilience is better, it’s more secure, more adaptable and users are happier and more effective — it’s time to move,” she said.

To enable the transition, network owners are directed in the memo to carry out a list of activities, including but not limited to: reviewing and updating the Pentagon’s Information Technology Portfolio Repository for the Department of the Navy’s registered networks to reflect those documented in this revamp process; completing a network assessment to map network requirements to the enterprise IT services catalog; developing a transition plan and timeline for transitioning legacy assets; and supplying a detailed breakdown for funding and resourcing their elements of the consolidation effort.

Resource-informed transition proposals for each legacy network will be evaluated by senior officials in the Navy and Marine Corps’ CIO offices to determine resource adequacy and certify the DON IT and Cyber Activity (IT/CA) budget for fiscal 2027.

“Failure to submit an executable transition plan with documentation of resources per above will result in decertification of the IT/CA budget under the cognizance of the applicable Budget Submitting Office,” Rathbun wrote in the memo.

This new policy builds on some modernization initiatives launched by the Navy during the Biden administration, and also aligns with President Donald Trump’s key priorities in his second term associated with eliminating government waste and accelerating tech-driven innovation. 

“One of the benefits of making use of world class commercial capabilities, is that we don’t need to carry around hundreds of inferior capabilities that were developed before the enterprise service existed,” Rathbun said Thursday.

She pointed to the Navy’s cloud-based office suite of tools known as FlankSpeed, and the Marine Corps’ unclassified M365 cloud environment called Hyperion, which were both recently designated as official DON enterprise IT services for messaging and collaboration.

After that, “the doors for divestment have swung wide open,” she explained.

“We now have an award-winning capability that Sailors and Marines tell us is better than their out-of-work experience for the first time in their careers. Our warfighters deserve this and more — it’s so good that they want it,” Rathbun said. “And with that, the other side of the coin is that there are a lot of old or bespoke networks that have to go.”

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The Marine Corps — which is part of the Department of the Navy — has a requirement for “multi-purpose” UGVs, Lt. Col. Scott Humr, deputy director for intelligent robotics and autonomous systems (IRAS) at the Capabilities Development Directorate, noted during a presentation at the Modern Day Marine conference last month.

“I think those are going to be very critical for logistics, for sensing, for communications, ISR, etc.,” he said, using an acronym that stands for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The request for quotes released Wednesday appears to be geared toward laying the groundwork for that type of capability.

“The Government is seeking to acquire services for the development of an open-source
architecture for Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) systems equipped with advanced
sensor fusion and control algorithms to allow for modularity with different sensors and
payloads,” officials wrote.

Contract items for the solicitation include those types of algorithms as well as their integration onto small and medium-sized surrogate UGVs for testing.

The Defense Department intends to award a firm fixed price contract, with an anticipated period of performance from date of award to Dec. 31, 2027. The estimated award date is June 1, according to the solicitation.

“We are pursuing a requirement for a multi-purpose unmanned ground vehicle to provide capability across the [Marine Air-Ground Task Force],” Humr told members of industry at the Modern Day Marine conference. “We see this as important piece of how we envision robots working with robots. We have many pieces of the puzzle, as it were, but we need other enablers within that system to eliminate the Marine from doing the drudgery work and putting them where we need them the most. And so most of all, really, what we want is technologies to free Marines to fight.”

In today’s defense tech ecosystem, software is even more critical than hardware, he noted.

“Modern platforms, whether UGVs, [unmanned surface vessels], aircraft, or autonomous systems in general, are increasingly software-driven with upgrades, mission configurations and even survivability enhancements … coming from lines of code. They aren’t coming from physically redesigning the systems. So in an era where threats evolve daily, it’s the agility and intelligence of our software that turns the steel and silicone into decisive, lethal assets. So what do we need from industry? We need open standards, modular design, cybersecurity baked in from the beginning, from design and rapid prototyping, so we can get capabilities in the hands of Marines faster,” Humr said.

Systems need to be built from the get-go to collect, process and share data, he suggested.

Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific is involved in the architecture effort that the new solicitation is for, according to the request for quotes.

Unmanned platforms are seen by military officials as tools that can perform a variety of missions and help keep troops out of harm’s way as much as possible.

“The idea that Marines must be the first to make contact with the enemy is increasingly becoming outdated and precarious. However, as Marines, we will always pride ourselves on taking risks and be ready to put ourselves in danger when the time calls, but now we can do it through the sequencing of first using robots … in our echelon of forces,” Humr said.

For the multi-purpose UGV, the Corps needs a platform that “can do a lot of things” but “not to try to do everything really well,” he noted.

“We know that [when] we get into the point of trying to make one system that does everything well, we end up with some Frankenstein that does nothing well. And so I think a very basic system is kind of where we want to start. They already exist,” he said.

Humr suggested the Corps was still contemplating its acquisition strategy for the multi-purpose UGV platforms.

“We don’t know exactly what strategy we will approach, but I think we want to approach it with the most maximum amount of flexibility. We know that we can’t buy [or] order 1,000 of these machines and think that they’re going to be the solution. I see us buying … in small increments, testing, getting feedback and improving those on version 1.2, 2.0., etc.,” he said.

“We need to develop the requirement a little bit more and ensure that we get it out there quickly, and make sure we have the funding to support that as well,” Humr said. “I think we’ll get there. I think there’s a lot of energy and a lot of interest in it now. We’ve seen some of the autonomy that’s on some of these systems now.”

He noted that organizations working with Defense Department tech hubs like DARPA, have been demonstrating AI technologies that could be integrated onto vehicles.

“They’re taking that autonomy and putting it on their systems, multiple different systems, in fact. And so, I see that’s where we’re going to be able to make the most money and real quickly buy what’s already there, and taking the best of breed from what industry [and] our labs are doing,” Humr said.

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A recent test of the technology came at the Army’s Project Convergence Capstone 5 event in March at Fort Irwin, California, a joint experimentation venue for the services to test concepts for interoperability in the vein of the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept, which envisions how systems across the entire battlespace could be more effectively and holistically networked to provide the right data to commanders, faster. The word “combined” in the parlance of the framework, refers to bringing foreign partners into the mix.

The Marine Corps Software Factory, located in Austin, Texas with the Army’s Software Factory, developed what it dubbed Crusader software to see if it was a viable alternative to the current commercial middleware used by a lot of units to control these radars, such as Furuno and eventually Simrad, which was not tested at Project Convergence.

While the government and Department of Defense have been pushing the use of commercial-off-the-shelf capabilities as much as possible, the Corps noted several benefits of developing government-built software in this context.

First, radar systems can be complicated and not necessarily geared toward the way troops must employ them. By developing their own software, the Marines at the Software Factory can build tools specifically for Marines at the tactical edge and more easily interface with them as well as other joint service members.

Second, creating government-off-the-shelf software can be cheaper than relying on commercial products.

“It doesn’t cost the government anything more than our salaries to develop it. Whether I develop eight applications in a year or one, we pay you the same,” Capt. Brian Atkinson, a full-stack engineer at the factory, said in an interview.

Moreover, that means there aren’t licensing fees associated with the software, which can not only be costly, but if not managed properly, can expire at the worst possible times.

Atkinson noted he’s experienced licenses expiring in the middle of exercises and been unable to reach out to the vendor to renew it — an untenable situation in real-world operations. Solely relying on vendor support while troops are forward-deployed isn’t always the best option.

The Crusader software, which has been in development for about four months, was an improvement to the existing system, officials said, noting the old software was difficult to use and didn’t fit the plans the Marine Corps had.

The concept behind the new software is that stand-in forces — units based in close proximity to the enemy — need to be able to remote into commercial radar systems such as the Furuno. Those capabilities provide sonar, collision detection and navigation, which overall will give those stand-in forces the ability to extend maritime domain awareness.

Those commercially available radars fit well into the commandant’s Force Design vision because the radars are relatively inexpensive and readily available when compared to traditionally fielded systems, Sgt. Max Idler, a coder and developer, said. Thus, they provide an attractive option when the service can rapidly procure a capability and repurpose it for the joint fight.   

At Project Convergence, categorized as a big success, Crusader and the radars it controlled provided the maritime situational awareness data for the Southern California area for the experiment, which benefited all the joint partners participating. Officials said they processed Furuno radar data, produced tracks and targets off of it, and fed that data through the Secure But Unclassified-Encrypted network.

Officials noted there were tweaks that they needed to make in order for the software to be more user friendly.

Following Project Convergence and working with the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, the Marines plan to include Crusader on a commercial-off-the-shelf radar kit that will be distributed to the Fleet Marine Force sometime in the next year. If that field user evaluation goes well, Crusader will be the centerpiece of radar processing software on the kit.

The Software Factory is also discovering that there is wider interest and larger demand for Crusader. Given it is government developed, it can be applicable to all elements of the joint team members and potentially coalition partners that wish to use commercial-off-the-shelf radars for situational awareness.

The demand comes from wider DOD interest in using different maritime surveillance capabilities for various mission sets, such as special operations forces.

Officials from Marine Forces Special Operations Command have voiced their desire to use Crusader given it doesn’t require licensing to the radars themselves.

“That is a strategic add to how MARSOC likes to operate,” Idler said, noting they’re looking to test Crusader with them off a tech stack they developed using Raspberry Pi’s.

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The cyber mission force began building in 2012, and the initial 133 teams reached full operational capability in 2018. In DOD’s fiscal 2022 budget request, U.S. Cyber Command proposed and was eventually approved for a phased approach to add 14 additional cyber mission force teams beyond the original 133. That request and authorization in 2021 was the first substantial effort to grow that force since it was designed almost a decade ago, long before modern and advanced threats had surfaced.

“In 2021, the Secretary of Defense directed the creation of 14 New cyber teams by September 2028. Of the 14 teams, 12 have been established. These teams are spread across Army, Air Force, and Navy Commands,” a Cybercom spokesperson said.

They declined to offer specifics regarding how many additional teams each service received or what types of teams those additional builds provided to each service — such as offensive, defensive or support teams — citing operational security.

The original 133-team cyber mission force included 41 Army teams, 40 Navy teams, 39 Air Force teams and 13 Marine Corps teams.

Those teams included 68 cyber protection teams, defensive teams focused on hunting threats on the DOD’s network; 27 combat mission teams that conduct cyber operations on behalf of combatant commands, mostly in the offensive sphere; 13 national mission teams that belong to the high-end Cyber National Mission Force, charged with defending the homeland from cyber threats; and 25 support teams that provide intelligence, mission planning and other necessary support work for combat and national mission teams.

For its part, the Space Force has noted that eventually, it plans to create a component to Cybercom, with mission analysis teams being established. However, a Space Force spokesperson said there’s no definite timeline associated with the standup of other service components, including the Space Force service component to Cybercom. The service will continue to identify requirements to meet the growing demands of combatant commanders’ space needs, they added.

The Air Force was slated to receive the bulk of the new cyber mission force teams as part of the buildup, with a total of six: two cyber protection teams, two combat mission teams and two combat support teams.

Late last year, officials noted they were ready to begin calculating the readiness for three of the new teams.

The Air Force supports cyber operations for European Command, Space Command and Strategic Command, under its Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber. Each service cyber component commander is also the commander of respective Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber organizations that provide cyber support, planning and operations to assigned combatant commands.

The Army was expected to receive four new teams, with two of them supporting the cyber mission force as of late last year.

The Army supports and conducts cyber operations for Northern Command, Africa Command and Central Command.

The Navy, for its part, was slated to receive four new teams as well: two combat mission teams and two combat support teams, according to a source.

The Navy supports and conducts cyber operations for Southern Command, Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Forces Korea.

The Marine Corps, for its part, supports Special Operations Command and Joint Task Force-Ares, which used to be the counter-ISIS cyber mission but now is focused on nation-state activity, primarily China.

Transportation Command is supported by Joint Force Headquarters-DOD Information Network.

The Cybercom spokesperson also noted that cyber mission force teams can provide operational value before reaching full capacity as their mission elements can function during the “build-up” phase.

Those mission elements break the larger teams up into smaller portions, allowing some elements to be available for tasking and others for training and reconstitution. For example, a 68-person cyber protection team has three elements, allowing them to rotate rather than employing or deploying all personnel.

As new teams are being built, the mission elements could be in different stages, allowing a team to contribute while it’s still holistically being built.

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Lt. Gen. Melvin “Jerry” Carter, deputy commandant for information, approved the 57-page document April 23 and it was recently published. The plan was developed following last year’s release of the Corps’ AI strategy.

The service sees artificial intelligence capabilities as transformative technologies to “enhance decision advantage in the evolving landscape of modern warfare,” officials noted.

The AI implementation plan includes objectives and tasks related to five strategic goals.

Tactical innovation is one of the main objectives related to achieving the goal of “mission alignment.”

No later than March 2026, the implementation plan directs the deputy commandant for information (DC I) in coordination with the deputy commandant for combat development and integration, to “develop a use case process that captures, assesses, and prioritizes concepts for the application of AI from across the warfighting functions, and at all echelons, to implement targeted actions” as well as “identify major roadblocks in policy, workforce, and infrastructure that have a large impact on innovation and acceleration of AI implementation to mitigate through change.”

The DC I must also oversee a digital transformation pilot project, which will include the deployment of “digital transformation teams” to support commanders with incorporating new tools across their commands. The pilot will focus on delivering digital, data, analytics and AI solutions; process optimizations; and advising on opportunities and risk of digital, data, and AI employment, among others. The Corps has already begun deployment of the digital transformation teams, according to Marine Corps AI lead Capt. Christopher Clark, who helped prepare the implementation plan.

Another strategic goal is to develop what the Corps calls an “AI competent workforce.”

The implementation plan directs the commanding general of Training and Education Command — no later than March 2026 — to identify available learning tools and resources across the Defense Department and industry and centralize them in a repository to enhance “proactive learning.”

The TECOM commander must also identify costs and requirements for licensing external training resources outside of the Marine Corps, while aligning with Fleet Marine Force capabilities and existing programs of records “to enable shared funding and rapid acquisition to determine long term viability and funding.”

Meanwhile, no later than November 2025, the deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs will “analyze career retention compensation opportunities, to include, at a minimum, monetary, billet preference, established career-progression opportunities that support the development and retention of the AI workforce,” per the implementation plan.

That official must also analyze how to maximize return on investment in the civilian information-related workforce segment; methods to standardize the prediction of future civilian workforce needs; and how to improve position descriptions, speed up hiring and make civilian workforce data more accessible for talent management initiatives.

Another strategic aim is to enable AI deployment at scale.

No later than April 2026, the DC I must “incorporate data-centricity into all levels of inspection programs to be inspected annually, and establish a baseline for the data culture to measure progress against. This includes, but is not limited to, the Commanding General’s Inspection Program and other Service and Marine Expeditionary Force-level inspection programs,” per the implementation plan.

The DC I is also tasked with updating Marine Corps Tactical Publication 3-30B Information Management to incorporate “the changing dynamics of data-centricity and AI technologies on information management.”

In coordination with the deputy commandant for combat development and integration and the commander of Marine Corps Systems Command, the DC I is directed to “establish a data architectural framework that informs the requirements development and procurement process for establishing an enterprise data solution that employs data standards, application programming interface- (API-) based services, and AI solutions.”

A new AI infrastructure operations planning team will also be set up to identify and accelerate immediate infrastructure requirements for cloud, on premises, and tactical applications, as well as identify legacy systems for divestment. The effort is expected to yield recommendations on storage and compute, development environment, resource management and machine learning platforms to enable ML operations.

To enhance cybersecurity, no later than September 2027, the DC I is tasked with reforming the Risk Management Framework to “embrace automation and reduce administrative overhead” and “provide data security posture management solution to enable data-centric security and Zero Trust.”

Meanwhile, the commanding general of Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command is expected to coordinate defensive cyber operations and cybersecurity functions to defend AI-enabled systems.

AI governance is another strategic focus area.

No later than September 2025, the DC I must incorporate applicable AI governance requirements “into the Commanding General’s Readiness Inspection for enforcement and oversight,” as well as conduct a policy analysis to “identify gaps, inefficiencies, and where current policy does not align with strategic goals,” according to the implementation plan.

To advance the strategic goal of boosting partnerships and collaboration with industry and academia, the commander of Marine Corps Systems Command — no later than December 2025 — must establish cooperative agreements and contracting vehicles for AI development and adoption and coordinate “regular industry-focused events for info sharing and capability demonstrations that contribute to awareness and adoption of relevant technologies.”

No later than April 2026, the DC I, deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs and commanding general of TECOM must evaluate and move to expand organizational relationships with university-affiliated research centers, academic institutions and federally funded research-and-development centers to tackle “AI problem sets.”

Meanwhile, the DC I is tasked with conducting an assessment on the feasibility of establishing a new Center for Digital Transformation. The initiative would be expected to “provide digital, data, and AI knowledge-based products designed to support and grow a healthy ecosystem, developer community, and user base” and “accelerate the fielding of emerging technologies, including AI, across the Service via strong connections with industry and academia,” according to the implementation plan.

The Corps aims to have a plan in place for a three-year Center for Digital Transformation pilot no later than September 2026.

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The Marine Corps Software Factory was launched in 2023 as a three-year pilot in Austin, Texas. The aim was to demonstrate a scalable software development capability led by servicemembers. Personnel there have been training others and building apps and other tools for different elements of the force.

“Our ultimate goal is to provide commanders with the organic software development capability to rapidly research problems and deliver scalable solutions into the hands of warfighters. After going through our training pipeline, these Marines will return to the [Fleet Marine Force] with the critical skills they need in order to provide this service to their units. And that’s something that they can do in perpetuity, that just would become essentially their new job, a new role in life,” Capt. Brian Atkinson, a full-stack engineer at the factory, said during a presentation Thursday at the Modern Day Marine conference.

There are several different types of jobs at the software factory, including product manager, software engineer, “user interface” Marine, platform engineer and AI engineer, he noted.

About 15 Marines are working there now.

Officials are pondering what comes next and how to move forward once the pilot program ends and the software factory becomes a more permanent organization.

“Right now, we’re going through the DOTMILPF [doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, and personnel] working groups to actually figure out what the lifecycle would be, because, unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just … ‘go forth and do great things.’ You have to figure out what the career progression would be, because you’re essentially creating an entirely new MOS,” Atkinson told DefenseScoop, using an acronym to refer to military occupational specialty.

“Without trying to speak out of turn, the general idea is that once we become a real unit, this becomes its own MOS, we would grow in size from the 15 that we’re at now to about 50 or 60 — and that’s again subject to the Marine Corps’ approval. And then from there we would have the potential to either start recruiting people before they even show up to boot camp, get them to sign up to be a software engineer as their actual primary MOS, or we would open it up to the rest of the Marine Corps for [lateral] moves just the way that we’ve done now. Like, I’m an infantry officer who came over here to do this. So we’re not really sure yet, subject to the DOTMILPF working group, but the idea would be that we would be about triple in size. And that would be just one cohort of students per year producing about 20 new Marines … to go out to the fleet,” Atkinson added.

Marine Corps leadership hasn’t signed off on the idea yet, he noted.

“But how we envision it would be, you would have a software engineering MOS. And … kind of the analogy I would draw is, so we have the 03XX occupational field, right? So infantrymen. And there are subsets of the infantry field where you have a rifleman, a mortarman, a machine gunner. Something that we’re toying around with as well is maybe having kind of a similar spin where you have a guy who’s a product manager and he trains to the product manager job. You have a UX guy, you have a software engineer, software development engineer, an AI specialist. There’s a lot of different directions that we’re looking at going,” Atkinson said.

After Marines finish their time at the software factory in Austin, they could undergo a permanent change of station and join a team working with a larger unit, such as a Marine Expeditionary Force.

“Our vision — and something that the Marine Corps is figuring out right now — is you would then PCS to like a software development platoon, if you will, that’s co-located with the MEFs … with the ability to generate capacity for the commanders, co-located with the commanders. And how the commanders use them is totally up to them at that point. But the idea would be you have a different software development unit that is organic to … all the large-scale units within the Marine Corps,” Atkinson explained.

Those experts could solve problems for the units they’re assigned to work with.

“We’ll stick with the MEF, because that’s kind of where we’re thinking right now,” Atkinson told DefenseScoop. There could be “a group of software engineers at the MEF who can answer problems for the MEF specifically. So if the MEF has a unique data requirement that they just need, they need something while they wait for a lasting solution from the acquisitions community, or there is nothing coming [and] they just need something on their own, like a TAK plugin — these would be the guys that would handle that stuff. So it’s not so much that they’re like software techs to help with like IT problems. It would be building solutions for the MEFs specifically.”

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