FORT LAUDERDALE — Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula warned in a Washington Post op-ed that the United States must prioritize data infrastructure to maintain military dominance in future conflicts. He argued that connecting advanced weapons systems—including long-range munitions, combat aircraft, space assets, missile defenses, and drones—depends on robust data capabilities.
"Data is no longer merely a tool of commerce. It is a strategic asset," Deptula wrote. "Nearly every function in the military depends on the ability to store, move, process, secure and exploit vast quantities of data at speed and scale."
Deptula, who serves as dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, emphasized that success in future warfare hinges on outpacing adversaries in sensing, decision-making, and action. "Success in future warfare will depend on whether a belligerent has the capability to sense, decide and act faster than an adversary. That requires enormous quantities of intelligence and reconnaissance, cyber, logistics, targeting and operational data. It requires computing capacity to train AI on all of it," he said.
He pointed to Ukraine’s increasing use of drones with autonomous technology as evidence of AI’s growing role in modern combat. Deptula also cited hypothetical scenarios involving AI-enabled operations, noting that a shortfall in data storage and computing capacity "could be catastrophic." He stated that China is quickly catching up to the U.S. in data center infrastructure and has demonstrated the ability to mobilize its industrial might to build it up.
Emil Michael, the Defense Department’s under secretary for research and engineering, expressed alarm in a podcast interview in March about reliance on commercial AI systems. "I’m like, holy s–t, what if this software went down, some guardrail picked up, some refusal happened for the next fight like this one and we left our people at risk?" he recalled.
Meanwhile, domestic opposition to new AI data centers is growing, with some Americans citing rising electricity costs they attribute to the energy demands of these facilities. Despite these challenges, Deptula insists that building secure, scalable data infrastructure remains essential to national defense.