1 April 2025

Experts warn Pentagon to embrace software-defined warfare to counter China’s military advantage

Carley Welch

If the US wants to win a war against its adversaries, namely China, the Pentagon must get serious about implementing software-defined warfare, experts from the Atlantic Council said Wednesday.

The Atlantic Council’s new report “Commission on Software-defined Warfare” outlines recommendations for developing a military that pivots from the sole use of legacy hardware and processes to software-defined warfare — a software-centric, hardware-enabled approach that focuses on the continuous integration of cutting-edge, interoperable tech.

When asked what would happen if the Pentagon did not implement software-defined warfare sooner rather than later, Commission Director of the report Stephen Rodriguez told reporters at a Defense Writers Group event, “we lose to China.” Therefore, he said, the recommendations focus on the “near term” before 2027, when several defense leaders theorize that ​​China will invade Taiwan.

“China’s outproducing us in ships, munitions and other systems,” Peter Modigliani, one of the authors of the report and a senior advisor at Govini, added. “So that’s where software is going to be the differentiator. Harnessing America’s commercial advantage in a military standpoint, to then have that so we can rapidly upgrade legacy systems, design new weapon systems, and then have the rapid decision support from C2 [command and control] to logistics, and have that rapid iterative cycle. That’s going to be an advantage.”

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