Silicon Valley's Defense Tech Boom Fuels Pentagon Push to Field New Weapons Faster – CBN.com

Silicon Valley’s Defense Tech Boom Fuels Pentagon Push to Field New Weapons Faster  CBN.com

When people think of Silicon Valley, they often think of the next big tech breakthrough. When people think of Silicon Valley, they often think of the next big tech breakthrough. Today, more of those breakthroughs are aimed at national security. And the Pentagon is taking notice. "I tried to sell to the U.S. Navy in 2013, and they literally laughed at me and said, 'How do we possibly use unmanned systems?' and I said, 'Well, believe me, one day it'll be a thing,'" said Richard Jenkins Founder and CEO of Saildrone. Twelve years later, Jenkins' company goes beyond working with the Navy, to the Coast Guard, Homeland Security, and many of America's allies.

Autonomous vessels the Navy once couldn't wrap its mind around, now assist U.S. forces by tracking ships, spotting illegal smuggling operations, and identifying threats to critical infrastructure. They can remain at sea for months at a time, carrying cameras, radar and other sensors. "All our customers that we work for, the first thing they say is we had no idea how many things were out there…You realize (the ocean is) an incredibly vast place that is both underutilized and underprotected. It's really like the wild west. No one's looking. Some very, very nefarious things happen out there," Jenkins told CBN News. In one recent case, a Saildrone