The world’s most-talked-about missile defense project has a new challenge to overcome as Pentagon officials acknowledge the fast-evolving Golden Dome missile shield is “power hungry” from tip to tail and will require massive amounts of electricity to operate. Space-based interceptors, directed energy weapons, high-energy microwaves and advanced radar systems all have serious energy appetites. 

“Energy is the lifeblood of the entire Golden Dome kill chain,” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment Dale R. Marks said during remarks this week at an “Energy Expo” inside the Pentagon. “It goes from space-based early warning sensors to ground-based radar and kinetic and nonkinetic interceptors.”

Current U.S. military infrastructure may not be able to sustain the futuristic missile shield, especially in light of competition for resources with advanced AI models and data centers that the military is also interested in fielding. Officials point to advances in microgrids and large backup power systems, but the final architecture and cost of the Golden Dome energy support structure remain unknown.

U.S. defense technology companies designing their own entries for the Pentagon’s Combat Collaborative Aircraft program are taking drastically different approaches to the new AI-piloted fighter jet and are publicly disagreeing over how the program will ultimately play out over the coming months and years.

Threat Status covered the Pentagon’s announcement last week that the U.S. Air Force intends to purchase at least 500 CCA jets by 2032. Mr. Seward also conducted exclusive video interviews with Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, Anduril and General Atomics on the floor of the recent Air, Space and Cyber conference at National Harbor in Maryland.

Jason Levin, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering, pushed back against other companies’ designs, saying they are geared toward creating a “larger aircraft” that would “probably be more expensive” and not “as fast.” Mr. Levin previously worked on small, uncrewed aircraft for competitor and fellow contract winner General Atomics. Our exclusive video shows all the CCA models on display during the Air, Space and Cyber conference.

A small group of manufacturers builds all of the solid rocket motors for the U.S. military, the key component of nearly every critical missile and rocket munition. But the Pentagon-fueled race to produce those motors faster is triggering a rebuild of the decades-old supply chain.

In an exclusive interview on the latest Threat Status podcast, Ursa Major CEO Chris Spagnoletti lays out the honest truth of the matter — that supply chain revamping isn’t something that happens overnight. “When the theater changes and they say, ‘Hey, can we get a smaller size, or a size that’s slightly different?’ — you’re now adding years to the process,” Mr. Spagnoletti said on the podcast.

The Chinese are rapidly preparing the capabilities to attack underwater cables using dual-use military-civil fusion technology that will allow their forces to access and target the lines in offensive military attacks, according to a new report published by the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission.

The tools range from submersibles capable of diving 6,200 feet to swarming underwater drones. The report says China regards undersea cables as vulnerable to offensive action both above and below the level of kinetic military action.

Pacific cable connections among the U.S. and allies Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines are often located in shallow or contested waters and in busy shipping lanes, meaning those cables are among the most vulnerable in the Pacific, the report said. The authors added that attacks on cables near Taiwan by China could impact U.S. efforts to defend the island from an attack.

There is “nothing we can do to stop the AI race,” according to Jed Babbin, who writes in his regular national security and foreign affairs column for The Washington Times that “we must go ahead with the development of AI to defend our nation’s security, which includes our economy.

“The stakes could not be higher,” writes Mr. Babbin, who asserts that while Mr. Trump “plans to raise the subject of AI” at the summit Thursday with Mr. Xi, the U.S. president “can rely on the fact that whatever Mr. Xi agrees to will not affect China’s race to AI — or Russia’s, North Korea’s or even the Houthis’.” 

At the same time, Mr. Trump, who is “opposed to regulating the AI industry, may try to impose his own regulatory proposals by executive order,” writes Mr. Babbin. “His ‘AI czar’ may propose regulations, but they will come too late to address other nations’ AI efforts.”

• Sept. 24 — Ending Self-Imposed Scarcity: Expanding Defense Production with New Technology and Techniques, Hudson Institute

• Sept. 24 — 2026 Intel Summit, Potomac Officers Club

• Sept. 24-28 — U.N. General Assembly General Debate, United Nations

• Sept. 28 — Takeaways from the Trump-Xi Summit: The Economic Security Angles, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Oct. 12-14 — AUSA Annual Meeting and Expo, Association of the U.S. Army

• Oct. 15 — The Rise and Fall of the U.S.–Pakistan Relationship After 9/11, Stimson Center

• Nov. 20-22 — Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, HFX