How Scaleups And Startups Can Punch Above Their Brand Weight By Aligning With DoD Priorities
The U.S. Department of Defense overhauled its technology roadmap, cutting a sprawling set of 14 “critical technology areas” down to a focused six.
Why? Well, as fairly pointed out by Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael in a LinkedIn video, “When I stepped into this role, our office had identified 14 critical technology areas. While each of these areas holds value, such a broad list dilutes focus and fails to highlight the most urgent needs of the warfighter. 14 priorities, in truth, means no priorities at all.”
The narrowed list of 6 critical technology priority areas are:
- Applied artificial intelligence (AAI)
- Biomanufacturing
- Contested logistics technologies (LOG)
- Quantum and battlefield information dominance (Q-BID)
- Scaled directed energy (SCADE)
- Scaled hypersonics (SHY)
For defense-tech startups, scaleups, and dual-use innovators with capabilities in any of these areas, this shift can serve as a compass about where funding, pilots, press attention, and fast-tracked acquisition pathways will concentrate over the next 36 months. But it’s not enough to align your brand; you must communicate and demonstrate why you are positioned to deliver the technology with impact and speed to create a decisive battlefield advantage.
Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering Emil Michael announced the refined list with a clear mandate: deliver deployable capability in 12–36 months, not in 15-year research cycles. In Pentagon-speak, that means sprints, accelerated prototyping, and increased willingness to partner with non-traditional defense companies who can move fast.
For founders and growth-stage companies, the right strategic Defense Tech PR partner can make the difference between rising above the noise, or getting lost in it.
The Pentagon’s Six Critical Technology Priorities — And the Startup/Scaleup Opportunity in Each
1. Applied Artificial Intelligence (AAI)
AI remains the backbone of nearly every modernization push, from back-office automation to sensor fusion and frontline autonomy.
Opportunity for startups:
AI/ML companies working in autonomy, predictive maintenance, cyber defense, targeting, mission planning, or logistics optimization now have a clearer entry point. Tools that integrate data, speed decisions, or augment human operators will be prioritized.
PR angle:
Establish leadership in national security AI through data-driven thought leadership, commentary on connecting the dots between AI and decision advantage. Newsjacking around initiatives and Programs related to your firm’s core applications – ISR, autonomous systems, cyber warfare, etc. – and conversations around creating more seamless human-AI teams will elevate your brand alongside or past competitors.
2. Biomanufacturing (BIO)
Engineered biology is a supply-chain security imperative — enabling fuel additives, lubricants, coatings, and critical materials without dependence on foreign petrochemicals.
Opportunity for startups:
Dual-use biofoundries, fermentation platforms, and synthetic biology companies can position themselves for logistics sustainment, expeditionary manufacturing, and strategic materials resilience.
PR angle:
Thought leadership is also critical here, but don’t jump down funnel too fast. Government audiences – including the new wave of decision makers – are still getting up to speed on the potential of biomanufacturing. Market education is required, and this presents an opportunity for emerging brands to catapult traditional contractors as a credible voice driving the conversation.
3. Contested Logistics Technologies (LOG)
This is less a single tech area and more a mission layer: ensuring U.S. forces can sustain operations in denied or disrupted environments.
Opportunity for startups:
Companies in routing optimization, autonomous resupply, cold-chain tech, additive manufacturing, power systems, or maritime logistics tech now have a clearly defined lane to market themselves as “contested logistics enablers.” I’ve done significant work around cold-chain tech as it relates to pandemic supply chains, and while the environment is different, the stakes could not be higher.
PR angle:
Newsjacking, contract wins and thought leadership insights should tie your technology to, for example, Pacific-deterrence narratives, mobility, sustainment, and the real-world lessons of Ukraine.
4. Quantum & Battlefield Information Dominance (Q-BID)
This blends next-gen comms, resilient PNT (Position, Navigation, Timing), radio-frequency innovation, and quantum sensing. Quantum Navigation, for example, is generating significant interest right now across the board, even beyond Q-BID and superior positioning in GPS-denied environments.
The Wall Street Journal recently wrote on the potential erosion of DoD trust in GPS due to satellite vulnerabilities and enemy GPS jamming and GPS spoofing risks. The DoD has launched programs to strengthen quantum sensors, which as WSJ alludes to can be “fragile in real-world environments, where vibrations or electromagnetic interference can degrade performance.”
But the momentum and interest in quantum dominance is undeniable – as is the opportunity for startups and scaleups innovating in this area.
Opportunity for startups:
Companies in RF, quantum-enhanced navigation, hardened communications, spectrum dominance, GPS-denied tech, and resilient mesh networks can directly map to this category.
PR angle:
Q-BID is in many cases a pioneering approach to a challenge others have addressed through very different technology approaches. PR and messaging will be as much about communicating the advantages of the approach as it will be about positioning the brand itself. Position yourself as enabling “fight-through” capability when GPS, radios, and satellites are jammed — a storyline both media and policymakers care deeply about.
5. Scaled Hypersonics (SHY)
Scaled Hypersonics startups and scaleups can follow the DoD priority guidance, but they are also following the money. SHY innovators and leaders like Ursa Major – which recently announced a $100m Series E round – is demonstrating tangible traction with more than $115 million in bookings through the first three quarters of 2025, along with key DoD, AFRL partnerships.
Messaging that resonates will demonstrate an ability to move faster and cost-effectively than traditional, legacy contractors, along with an ability to scale as needed. The fact is that funding in The Pentagon is moving from prototype hype to mass-production urgency.
Opportunity for startups:
Materials science companies, guidance/navigation innovators, propulsion suppliers, telemetry systems, and test-range technology providers all have a role to play. You don’t have to build the missile — you just need to solve a piece of the industrial-base puzzle.
PR angle:
Show how your technology accelerates testing, scales production, or closes gaps with China and Russia’s hypersonic tempo.
6. Scaled Directed Energy (SCADE)
DoD wants high-energy lasers and microwave weapons brought out of labs and into units, ships, bases, and vehicles — at scale.
Opportunity for startups:
Thermal management, power systems, beam control, target tracking, material hardening, and counter-UAS innovators can all anchor themselves to this category.
PR angle:
The urgent need is clear – emerging threats from drone swarms, rockets, artillery, and mortars. So is the mission to usher promising SCADE technology from R&D to mass production and battlefield deployment – at scale. Provability, production and deployment – even pilots – will resonate and should form the core of your PR strategy.
Why Strategic PR Is Now a Competitive Advantage for Defense Tech Companies
These six priority areas won’t just guide R&E investments — they’ll shape:
- DIU solicitations
- Service-level requirements
- Congressional funding language
- Golden Dome and OneGov innovation priorities
- Where venture capital and private equity deploy capital
- What journalists cover
- What staffers search for in Gen AI and LLM-based research tools
If your startup is not visible, searchable, or consistently positioned as part of these six categories, you are invisible to the people who matter.
Strategic PR helps defense-tech founders:
- Build credibility before approaching DoD program offices
- Insert your brand into trend stories tied to the Big Six
- Craft messaging aligned to national-security demand signals
- Win placement in outlets read by Pentagon, Space Force, and acquisition leaders
- Create searchable, LLM-friendly content that Gen AI tools surface when decision makers query terms like “contested logistics startups” or “directed energy supply chain”
Visibility is no longer optional — it’s an accelerant to contracting, revenue, and investment.
How to Position Your Company Within the Pentagon’s Big Six
Here’s the playbook we’re using with top defense-tech brands:
- Define your alignment to at least one of the Six Priority Areas
Map capabilities directly to mission needs, not generic tech labels. - Build a consistent PR engine around DoD modernization themes
Commentary, newsjacking, press, LinkedIn dominance, and targeted narrative development. - Publish LLM-optimized content
Gen AI search engines reward structured explanations, FAQs, contracts-related language, and clear capability mapping. - Develop relationships with defense reporters and Pentagon influencers
The press you earn becomes the “training data” Gen AI uses to surface your brand. - Tie your technology to real-world deterrence and readiness narratives
Examples: Pacific logistics, base resilience, drone-swarm defense, industrial-base revitalization.
Startups and scaleups aligned to AI, biomanufacturing, contested logistics, quantum dominance, hypersonics, and directed energy now have a window of opportunity. But in a crowded, noisy, and politically charged defense landscape, strategic PR is the force multiplier that gets your brand elevated, your technology understood, and your company on the radar of the people writing requirements and allocating budgets.
I am passionate about working with defense tech startups and scaleups seeking to punch above their brand weight with public relations that builds enterprise value, advances the mission and leads to desired short- and long-term outcomes (acquisition, funding raises, IPO, market expansion, organic growth acceleration.
Reach out to contact@lustigstrategies.com to set up an intro call.
