Edge AI for Maritime and National Security Superiority: Turning Data into Decision Advantage

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

9:45 AM - 10:45 AM PT

Location: Excellence in Warfighting Stage - Sails Pavilion

Confirmed Moderator(s)

Kaly McKenna

Vice President
Beacon Global Strategies

Confirmed Speaker(s)

Justin Fanelli

Chief Technology Officer
United States Department of the Navy
ADM Christopher W. Grady, USN (Ret.)

Former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
U.S. Navy

As the Navy advances maritime domain awareness, strengthens distributed operations, and pushes capability to the tactical edge, Edge AI is becoming essential to decision superiority. This session will examine how AI, autonomy, and mission-ready MLOps accelerate operational advantage across dispersed and contested environments.

Discussion topics include:
Decision Superiority at the Edge: How mission-proven pipelines like the Navy’s Project AMMO deliver rapid, trusted insights to operators and commanders.

Turning Data into Maritime Advantage: Leveraging sensor, platform, and operational data to enable real-time situational awareness and faster, more confident decision-making.

Scaling Beyond Pilots: Why Edge AI must move from isolated pilots to fielded, repeatable, and interoperable capabilities across the Fleet and joint force.

Transformational Impact: How a 360 degree approach to adopting AI from back office use cases to operational planning and decision support brings more transformational and enduring operational advantages

Learning Objectives:

Articulate how Edge AI and mission-ready MLOps pipelines, like Navy’s Project AMMO, accelerate decision cycles by delivering rapid, reliable, and context-aware insights directly to operators and commanders in contested environments.
Evaluate how multi-modal maritime data streams (sensor, platform, and operational) can be harnessed to strengthen domain awareness, improve threat detection, and support faster, more confident operational decision-making at sea.
Assess the organizational, technical, and interoperability requirements needed to move from small-scale AI pilots to fielded, repeatable, and fleet-wide capabilities that deliver enduring maritime and national security advantage.