Speed to Capability: Closing the Energy Gap with the Testing and Evaluation Unit

By Adam Evans

Speed to Capability: Closing the Energy Gap2025 saw a significant shift in military energy strategy that we expect to continue for the next several years. The Department of War (DoW) began a deliberate shift away from broad decarbonization goals toward an emphasis on operational energy (OE) resilience and tactical autonomy, as evidenced by its renewed interest in nuclear microreactors. This move portends a 2026 that prioritizes energy dominance and security over environmental mandates.

Simultaneously, DoW leadership initiated a radical overhaul of its acquisition policy through the memorandum “Transforming the Warfighting Acquisition System.” The reform policy emphasizes “speed to capability delivery” and more effective use of commercial solutions. Among the procedural changes aimed at improving contracting mechanisms is a directed preference for other transactional authority (OTA) vehicles for prototype and follow-on production items; notably, OTAs don’t incur traditional FAR restrictions. This reform promises to maximize contracting flexibility while significantly reducing the burden of current FAR (and DFARS) regulatory complexity.

In concert with these policy changes, CANA members examined ways to bring advanced energy technology into operators' hands faster, with greater confidence in its effectiveness, expected performance, and compatibility. The research culminated in a draft policy paper calling for the establishment of Testing and Evaluation Energy Units (TEEUs). These units would ideally work directly with the services, DoW agencies like DIU or USD (A&S), and commercial partners to select, test, and collect data on advanced energy technologies.

These units would focus on components, systems, or software that support tactical microgrids in an operational environment and help establish and validate protocols defined in the recently approved Tactical Microgrids Standards (TMS) or MIL-STD-3071. The logic behind this push is to speed up the time it takes to put the best energy technology the commercial sector has to offer into operators' hands by giving them agency in the vetting process and relying on them to provide advocacy leading up to acquisition. Additionally, this call for TEEUs addresses a critical need in the DoW's energy technology research efforts: the lack of electrical power and energy data to inform such research.

As we move into 2026, advances in energy technology and the DoW’s evolving acquisition policies can work together to accelerate the time to deliver game-changing energy technology. These energy technologies should prioritize improving mission effectiveness, not mere energy efficiency. Energy acquisition and its underlying research will need to characterize the speed and ease with which such technology facilitates tactical autonomy in an increasingly austere and dispersed operational environment. The best way to do this, we believe, is through the advocacy of those who will rely on it when it matters.