In his April 2018 testimony to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, then-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis identified rapid technological changes, including “developments in advanced computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, autonomy, robotics, miniaturization, additive manufacturing, directed energy, and hypersonics,” as “the very technologies that ensure we will be able to fight and win wars of the future.” He warned the committee that “ultimately, these technologies will change the character of war.”
