This Week in DOW: Sharpened Tech Focus; Marines Train in Puerto Rico; DARPA Dominance

View Online This Week in DOW: Sharpened Tech Focus; Marines Train in Puerto Rico; DARPA Dominance Nov. 21, 2025 |  By C. Todd Lopez In the last week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency impressed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth with a demonstration of new technology and the promise of even more, when he visited the agency's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.  " visited ... DARPA, to meet with executives and industry experts," said Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson during the War Department's Weekly Sitrep video. "He also remotely flew a Black Hawk helicopter, which was sitting on a runway more than 250 miles away."    The secretary was able to remotely pilot the helicopter using the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System, or "ALIAS," developed by DARPA and a commercial partner. The system will eventually enable nonpilots to fly similarly equipped aviation platforms, both rotary and fixed wing, without having to be on board or attend flight school.  The secretary also met with DARPA Director Stephen Winchell and program managers to learn how agency efforts underway now are aligned with his priorities for the department.   "This kind of stuff is the heart of our advantage," Hegseth said. "The best and brightest ... come and choose to serve their country and just push the envelope ... to solve big problems. They give the boss more options — that's the idea: more options that hopefully keep us out of conflict, deter our adversaries and keep the American people safe. And what I saw today was the bleeding edge of new options and of new capabilities."  Also, this week on the technology front, Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael unveiled six critical technology areas expected to define the future of American military superiority, Wilson said.  "These areas represent the cutting edge of research and engineering, designed to deliver immediate and tangible results to the warfighter and to ensure the United States remains the most lethal fighting force in the world," she said.   Among those areas are applied artificial intelligence, biomanufacturing, contested logistics technology, quantum battlefield information dominance, scaled directed energy and scaled hypersonic weapons.  "Our nation's military has always been the tip of the spear," Hegseth said. "Undersecretary Emil Michael's six critical technology areas will ensure that our warriors never enter a fair fight and have the best systems in their hands for maximum lethality. The War Department is committed to remaining the most deadly fighting force on planet Earth."  In the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility, Wilson said the Marine Corps is actively training to be ready for any kind of conflict that comes its way.   "Our Marines, assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, conducted a reconnaissance and surveillance exercise in Puerto Rico while deployed in the Caribbean in support of Southcom, to stay ready and dominate in any terrain," Wilson said.  The secretary this week also sat for a one-on-one television interview in the Pentagon to provide more details on the culture shift at the department and U.S. military actions underway to stymie narcotics terrorists in the Southcom area of responsibility, in particular efforts related to Venezuela's state-embedded criminal network Cartel de los Soles.  The cartel, whose name translates to "Cartel of the Suns" and is alleged to be headed by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, is set to be designated as a terror organization by the State Department Nov. 24.  " gives more tools to our Department to give options to to ultimately say our hemisphere will not be controlled by narco-terrorists, it will not be controlled by cartels, it will not be controlled by what illegitimate regimes try to push toward the American people. So, it's just about options, and we plan better than any organization in the world here," Hegseth said.   Finally this week, the War Department took a moment to recognize fallen Marine veteran and coal miner Steve Lipscomb.  " lost his life earlier this month while looking after the safety of his crew at the Rolling Thunder coal mine in West Virginia," Wilson said. "Lipscomb joined the Marines shortly after the September 11th attack and was part of the first wave of Marines to take part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lipscomb was also a Purple Heart recipient. He is a hero, and we will never forget him."  As a Marine, Lipscomb participated in the First Battle of Fallujah in Iraq, which began April 4, 2004. He was wounded in Iraq seven days later, when his Humvee hit a roadside bomb. He was medically discharged May 2005 and returned home to Elkview, West Virginia. Back home, he began a mining career in 2006.  "Retired Marine Steve Lipscomb represents the best of our American military and embodies the hero spirit," Hegseth said. "This Purple Heart recipient and Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran protected his nation and community until the very last day."

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