Observing the global security environment today, most would agree that we are living through the most dynamic, complex and interconnected period in our history. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine illustrates just how quickly and profoundly the effects of a regional conflict can reverberate around the world. In just seven months, the invasion has created a massive influx of refugees to Europe; reinvigorated the NATO alliance; disrupted food supply chains; created an energy crisis; and exacerbated inflation around the world. Regardless of the outcome, this event is likely to reshape our world for many years to come.

To preserve the stability and prosperity that we have enjoyed for decades, the United States and its allies must innovate and collaborate to maximize our strategic advantage. As military capabilities are developed and upgraded to maintain this advantage, there are five macro trends that should inform investment decisions.

1. Rapid advancement of near-peer adversaries requires a sense of urgency in maintaining technological superiority and accelerating technological transfer to drive higher speed processing at the edge with distributed compute architectures and more ubiquitous systems.
2. Protracted geopolitical instability and global threats require international alliances to introduce distributed compute architectures to increase and secure battlefield connectivity.
3. Growing space and cyber threats and the importance of the undersea domain demand increased investment in driving higher-speed secure processing to the edge.
4. Supply chain vulnerabilities, technology espionage and protection of mission-critical data and information require reshoring of critical technologies and deeper commitments to partnerships and open standards.
5. The macroeconomic reality of deficits and rising interest rates will constrain budgets and require a new, increasingly commercial business approach to technology procurement and insertion for existing platforms to stay relevant.

For 40 years, Mercury Systems has been working with the defense systems pioneers, avionics visionaries and new technology futurists who are focused on addressing these trends in service of national defense. We have continually made strategic investments in technologies, companies, products, services and people—what we call the Mercury Processing Platform—to connect our customers to what matters most. Our trusted, secure, end-to-end Processing Platform leapfrogs incremental gains, bending the curve to deliver the mission-critical needs of today with the technologies of tomorrow. This is the exponential power of Mercury.

I invite you to explore the Mercury Processing Platform and collaborate with us to build what’s next.