Inside DARPA RIDE: How AI Is Transforming the Chemistry Behind Modern Warfare

Introduction For over a century, the destructive power underpinning modern warfare has relied on a surprisingly static foundation: energetic materials whose core chemistries date back to the early twentieth century. While weapons systems have evolved into highly networked, precision-guided, and AI-enabled platforms, the propellants and explosives that power them remain constrained by legacy molecular architectures—often…