The federal government has unveiled a 10-year defence innovation blueprint with a focus on rapidly adopting artificial intelligence and quantum computing to give Australia a strategic advantage.

Defence Minister Richard Marles on Tuesday morning released the 2026 Defence Innovation, Science and Technology Strategy, an update to an innovation strategy released just two years ago.

The strategy outlines how the Australian Defence Force (ADF) will "accelerate the delivery of innovative solutions and new technologies for Defence and strengthen Australia’s sovereign industrial base”.

Marles said it “sets clear direction for Defence, industry, academics and researchers to work together on the technologies that will define the future of modern warfare”.

“Technology is reshaping warfare at a pace we have never seen before,” Marles said in a statement.

“The lessons from conflicts around the world are clear: nations that can innovate faster and adopt new technologies more effectively will have a decisive advantage.”

The six priorities

The new strategy is based around six key capability priorities:

· Long-range fires and hypersonic weapons

· High-energy lasers

· Autonomous systems

· Quantum technology

· Artificial intelligence

· Undersea warfare

Chief of the Defence Force Admiral Mark Hammond said the strategy is a “blueprint for providing the capability our warfighters need”.

“The strategy will enable us to transition new technologies to our people sooner through a balanced approach to risk, deeper partnerships with industry, academia and international allies, and a culture of rapid experimentation that allows us to fail fast, learn faster and adapt quickly,” Hammond said in a statement.

The strategy centres on aligning the efforts of government, industry and academia around these Defence priorities and coordinating collaboration and partnerships.

Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro said it is a step towards “deeper co-design and co-development with industry and academia, ensuring research programs are shaped from the outside by shared priorities and real capability challenges, while strengthening research security across the innovation ecosystem”.

Rapidly adopting new tech

The 86-page strategy states a key feature of the new global strategic environment is the “rapid adoption of emerging and disruptive technologies”.

“These technologies are reshaping conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, while also highlighting the fragility of global supply chains,” the strategy said.

“The technological innovation that delivers these strategic effects is driven by civil-military partnerships, highlighting the compounding interconnectedness and integration of civil society into military planning and preparedness.”

For autonomous systems, the strategy outlines how the ADF is looking for “sophisticated and trusted autonomy” into decision-making systems and uncrewed devices, through partnerships and collaborations with the private sector and universities.

“This integration underpins the realisation of a crewed-uncrewed integrated force, where humans and autonomous systems deliver complementary strengths and enhanced operational effectiveness,” it said.

This focus will include dual-use systems that can efficiently process and transmit large datasets, the certification of AI tool chains and software, and AI / ML models for controllers and autonomous devices.

For quantum technologies, ADF will be looking specifically at the use of timing services in locations without reliable GPS, something which will enable it to “deploy military capabilities by denying potential adversaries’ access to space-based time services in contested environments".

On the AI front, the strategy said this technology will become prominent across all ADF domains, offering “increased operational speed and enhanced decision-making”.

“Defence seeks to leverage AI to enhance and optimise its ability to synthesise, coordinate and use information adaptively, at scale and at speed,” the strategy said.

Additionally, ADF “must be prepared” to adopt and integrate AI into command and control, targeting systems and to counter threats from cyber warfare and misinformation.

Targeted actions include training, professional development and targeted horizon-scanning research programs on these emerging and disruptive technologies, and support for a sustained program of longer-term research and development.

There will also be a focus on experimentation, with the government to provide low-cost opportunities to private companies and academia to experiment and demonstrate in ADF-realistic scenarios, and “sandboxes”.

It will also look to “grow and nurture” the STEM talent pool through internships, career pathway programs, placements and secondments, and to invest in “low-maturity technologies with high potential for accelerated pathways to operational testing”.