Navy releases AI strategy with War Council, workforce targets

The U.S. Navy has released a comprehensive strategy for integrating artificial intelligence and data analytics across its operations, complete with specific deadlines and a mandate to create a new AI War Council by early fiscal 2027.

Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao signed the seven-page "Strategy to Weaponize Data and Artificial Intelligence" this week, positioning data and AI as core warfighting assets on par with personnel, weapons systems, and munitions, according to DefenseScoop, which first reported the details.

"This strategy positions the Department of the Navy to out-learn and out-fight any adversary by rapidly deploying data and artificial intelligence," Cao said in a statement. "It is our roadmap to building an 'AI-first' Fleet, one that turns information into warfighting advantage and enables faster, better decisions."

Why it matters

The Navy's explicit framing of data and AI as warfighting assets—not just support tools—signals a fundamental shift in how the service approaches technology integration. With concrete workforce targets and governance structures, the strategy moves beyond aspiration to accountability, setting measurable benchmarks for an AI-enabled fleet that combines manned and unmanned systems.

War Council and workforce expansion

The strategy directs the department to establish an AI War Council by the first quarter of fiscal 2027. The council will prioritize AI use cases, align resources, and pre-authorize wartime modifications to data sharing, classification, and AI deployment authorities.

On the personnel front, officials must produce a training and staffing plan by that same quarter designed to double the number of qualified data engineers, data scientists, and AI and machine learning engineers by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2029.

Dr. Ciro Lopez is currently serving as the department's acting Chief Data and AI Officer, the role responsible for developing and maintaining the department-wide data and AI roadmap.

Operational framework and governance

At the center of the strategy is the Bits2Effects Cycle, a digital adaptation framework designed to transform raw information into battlefield outcomes through a five-step process. The Navy must also create and maintain an authoritative inventory of mission-aligned AI use cases, prioritized by feasibility, impact, and alignment to help scale adoption.

The plan outlines six overarching goals: accelerating operational AI, improving data readiness, optimizing data and AI infrastructure, streamlining governance, building a data- and AI-ready workforce, and strengthening partnerships.

A team led by the Navy's Chief Data and AI Officer developed the strategy after more than a year of preparation and engagement with stakeholders across Navy and Marine Corps AI communities.

Combat learning context

In the strategy's foreword, Cao noted that U.S. naval forces "have defeated hundreds of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles from Iran and its proxies" this year and are "navigating the most compressed period of active learning and adaptation for combat operations at sea in recent memory."

The Navy has prioritized incorporating data, advanced analytics, and AI into warfighting, supply chain, intelligence, and other operations under the second Trump administration. Leadership views these technologies as vital to their vision for a next-generation hybrid fleet of manned and unmanned systems.

DefenseScoop first reported the strategy's release and obtained details from Navy spokesperson Lt. Jake Ryan, who said the plan "demonstrates our commitment and capability to rapidly leverage data and AI to maximize warfighter effectiveness at scale."