{"id":12656,"date":"2026-06-16T16:19:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/shaped-charges-from-coffee-grounds-pentagon-science-chief-describes-future-of-war\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:19:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:19:02","slug":"shaped-charges-from-coffee-grounds-pentagon-science-chief-describes-future-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/shaped-charges-from-coffee-grounds-pentagon-science-chief-describes-future-of-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaped charges from coffee grounds? Pentagon science chief describes future of war"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When the Pentagon\u2019s science and technology chief looks at Ukraine, he sees a war fought with weapons invented, produced, and fielded since the conflict erupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that you can bring relevant capability to the fight, as the Ukrainians and allies have done in the conflict with Russia, that essentially didn’t exist at the beginning of the fight,\u201d Joseph Jewell, assistant defense secretary for science and technology, said Tuesday at the Defense One <\/em>Tech Summit in Arlington, Virginia. \u201cThat’s the new thing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a thing the United States must learn to do, Jewell said.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s homegrown drone industry \u201cto a large extent, sprung up almost overnight because of urgency. I think with our industrial resources, we certainly could do things at that scale and even in a more sophisticated way. And we need to do it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jewell noted that Ukraine has taken the Russian Navy out of the fight without much of a navy of its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way they were able to do that, well, there are several things. First of all, their weapon systems were small, relatively undetectable. Second of all, they had a lot of them,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is still a need for expensive, highly capable weapons, Jewell said,\u00a0\u201cBut the exquisite effect may be helped along by leveraging a hundred or a thousand drones controlled by AI. And I think that’s what we’re starting to see modern warfare evolve into. Now, of course, the model is a lot of people in Ukraine who are actually manually controlling these first-person drones. I think the natural evolution of that is AI-controlled or AI-enabled.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patent holiday<\/strong><\/p>\n

One way the Pentagon is trying to speed up innovation is by making it easier for defense companies to use government-held technological patents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Defense Department holds tens of thousands of patents, but only takes in about $20 million a year from them. In January, Jewell\u2019s boss, Defense Undersecretary for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, announced a \u201cpatent holiday\u201d under which private companies can license some of those patents\u2014about 500, Jewell said\u2014free of charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the first no-fee patent license was granted last month. As of mid-June, 14 patents have been \u201csigned out\u201d for commercial use, one has been licensed for a fee by a company that wanted exclusivity, 36 more are pending, and 145 more applications have come in, he said.<\/p>\n

Biotech<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jewell lauded the promise of biotech combined with AI. He cited a new bioengineered thermal coating that may help drones obscure their heat signatures, developed through BioMADE, a DOD-sponsored Manufacturing Innovation Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also described an experiment in which Marines in the Pacific used 3D printers and other tools to field-produce shaped charges with local materials: plastic water bottles, crushed volcanic rock, coconut husks, and coffee grounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all detonated, actually; the volcanic rocks were most effective,\u201d he said. \u201cThe thing that’s amazing to me is this was 3D-printed. You effectively have 99% reduced the time to point-of-use, because you could make it in the field from materials that are endemic in the Indo-Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the Marines\u2019 shaped charge \u201chad 25% better focusing characteristics than conventionally manufactured high explosives,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we envision a future where you have a containerized production facility for potentially the ingredients for that, potentially including the 3D printer to pump out the shaped charges. And then you can drop, say, a CONEX box in the field where you need, so it can produce biodiesel, it can produce jet fuel.\u201d\n\n<\/svg><\/p>\n<\/div>\n