National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Brandon Williams tells Fox News Digital there is "no question" the United States is in an "AI capabilities race with China."
FIRST ON FOX:The Trump administration announced that it has successfully developed. tested a new nuclear-weapons-related flight vehicle usingartificial intelligence,advanced supercomputing and 3D printing technology, marking a milestone National Nuclear Security Administrator Brandon Williams compared to the Manhattan Project.
As theGreat American State Fairkicks off on the National Mall, one of the most consequential exhibits on display may be an 11-foot-tall flight vehicle built not for a museum,. as a test of how AI could transform America's nuclear deterrent. The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) says the project. known as Aires Tide, could dramatically compress the timeline for developing future national security capabilities.
The unveiling comes as U.S. officials warn that America is locked in a high-stakes race with China to harness artificial intelligence for military. strategic advantage.
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The NNSA is displaying Aires Tide on the National Mall this week.(NNSA)
"There's no question that we're in anAI capabilities race with China.The power of artificial intelligence just to be able to bring together so many kinds of data. different computational models together in one place and to streamline that is incredibly powerful and will continue to be powerful going forward," Williams told Fox News Digital. "And so part of that is applied to national security. Part of that's applied to our nuclear deterrence."
Williams said Aires Tide was started by the NNSA to demonstrate "how we would use artificial intelligence to move faster in terms of how we produce nuclear weapons, how we maintain our nuclear weapons stockpile."The flight test vehicle was designed to simulate the extreme heat. vibration a nuclear weapon would encounter during a nuclear weapon's flight.
The project serves as the first public demonstration of theadministration's Genesis Mission initiative,an effort signed by President Donald Trump last year to connect the Department of Energy's national laboratories. apply artificial intelligence to some of the government's most complex national security challenges.
The Aires Tide unveiling on the National Mall comes amid a broader push by the administration to strengthen U.S. leadership in strategically important technologies. This week, Trump signed two separate executive orders focused onquantum computingand cybersecurity, seeking to accelerate development of a research-grade quantum computer. protect federal systems against future quantum-enabled cyber threats.
Aires Tide is an AI-designed flight test vehicle developed by the National Nuclear Security Administration to simulate the extreme conditions a nuclear weapon experiences during flight, including intense heat. vibration.(NNSA)
The NNSA said two of its supercomputers — Venado. El Capitan -— were used to enable the design of Aires Tide. El Capitan until recently was considered the fastest in the world. On Tuesday. however, China's LineShine system surpassed El Capitan atop the latest TOP500 rankings, the first time a Chinese supercomputer has held the No. 1 position since 2017.
For Williams, the value of that computing power is measured not by rankings alone,. by how quickly it can translate into real-world capabilities.
Williams told Fox News Digital that Aires Tide moved from concept to flight-ready hardware in a matter of months, with officials using AI to generate a design by November, produce a plastic model by December. complete multiple full-scale prototypes by March. According to Williams, the accelerated process allowed the agency to develop Aires Tide seven times faster. 15 times cheaper than it could have using traditional methods, providing what he described as a critical advantage as theU.S. seeks to stay aheadof emerging threats and competitors.
"That's the power of AI,. it really gave us incredible confidence that we're going to be able to move fast.. to stay ahead of our adversaries, and the threats that face us," Williams said.
Williams likened the emergence of artificial intelligenceto the Manhattan Project,describing both as technological breakthroughs capable of fundamentally altering the balance of power. Just as President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized the military implications of harnessing atomic energy during World War II, Williams argued that Trump. his administration are embracing AI to ensure the United States maintains its strategic advantage.
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"We have all this fantastic test data going back really to the Manhattan Project. And we're able to tap into these very powerful resources that we have, test data, computational capabilities, using agentic workflows, which is just a way of leveraging AI models to go out. solve these very complex problems very, very quickly and very, very iteratively that allows us to move quickly," he said. "So yes, we are absolutely in a competition with China. It has very seriousnational security implications.And we're certain that we're going to position ourselves to win."
Williams said that rapid advances in drone warfare, missile technology. AI are changing the nature of warfare in real time, making it critical for the U.S. to deploy new tools faster than its adversaries. The Genesis initiative, he told Fox News Digital, is intended to position America at the forefront of that effort.
The Manhattan Project factory at Clinton Engineer Works in Tennessee produced atomic bombs used against Japan during World War II.(Getty Images)
"We're in a period of unprecedented change in technology. In fact. just in the last five years, I think we'd all agree that the nature of warfare is changing in front of us," Williams told Fox News Digital."Because of all of this technological revolution that we're facing, it's as important as it ever has been that we use all the tools available to keep America out front. We've enjoyed an unprecedented 40 years of superiority from our conventional forces, really since the first Gulf War."
"Butbecause warfare is changing, we have to change with it. artificial intelligence is one of the most important tools to keep us ahead," he added.
Williams told Fox News Digital that AI advancements are not about replacing workers, but making them more productive. He argued that artificial intelligence can help compress design andmanufacturing timelinesfrom 10 to 15 years down to five years or less, allowing the same scientists, engineers. technicians to develop new capabilities faster and more efficiently while helping the U.S. stay ahead of its competitors.
"AiresTide allowed us to bring so many disciplines together of material science. of design, of being able to iterate very quick," Williams said. "Quickly and to optimize our whole process. And it just gave us tremendous confidence that we're going to meet the challenges that, frankly, our adversaries put in front of us. that we are going to be able to use these tools to succeed and to keep America safe."
Danielle Wallace is a Breaking News Editor for Fox News Digital, serving as a critical newsroom playmaker at the intersection of major historic political events. the age of AI.
Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X:@danimwallace.
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