Pentagon orders department-wide buying strategy for AI military wargaming

The Pentagon has ordered a department-wide strategy for buying AI-enabled simulations and military wargaming tools for its professional military education institutions. A November 9, 2026, memorandum from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth assigns the work to the department’s chief information officer, with a review deadline of 180 days, according to OrangeSlices AI.

The assignment is part of a memorandum containing 33 military-education reforms. It puts AI acquisition alongside changes to instruction, technical participation in wargames and access to classified learning environments. The stated aim is to accelerate deployment of simulation and operational wargaming capabilities across the department’s education institutions.

A buying strategy with a named example

The chief information officer must coordinate with the Under Secretary for Research and Engineering on the acquisition strategy. Its scope covers multi-domain AI simulations—simulations spanning military domains—and suites of tools for operational wargaming. The directive specifically cites Palantir Maven integration as an example relevant to that work.

The memo also directs the Army to bring more commercial technical talent into major joint strategic wargames. That participation is to incorporate AI, autonomous systems, cyber defense capabilities and next-generation communications. This is a separate task within the same education-reform directive, alongside the department-wide acquisition assignment.

120 daysCloud sandbox status report

The CIO must report on the secure cloud sandboxes within 120 days.

180 daysAcquisition strategy review

The CIO must submit the strategy to the Deputy Secretary of War within 180 days.

Protected spaces for AI experimentation

The CIO must also provide Senior Service Colleges with enterprise-approved cloud sandboxes: environments for experimenting with emerging AI tools. Those environments must include data-loss protections. The requirement addresses where experimentation can take place, while the acquisition strategy addresses how simulation and wargaming capabilities will be obtained.

Other requirements reach beyond the tools themselves. Military departments must establish department-wide AI competencies and learning objectives for Senior Service College graduates. They must also develop infrastructure strategies and funding requirements to broaden access to classified instruction, seminars and wargames.

The purchasing route remains open

For suppliers, the immediate action is acquisition planning rather than an announced competition. The memorandum contains no solicitation, contract value or specific acquisition vehicle. The next required acquisition step is submission of the strategy for senior review; the directive does not itself set out the route vendors would use to compete for this work.