If your DIU strategy is built on the old portfolio map — AI/ML, Autonomy, Cyber, Human Systems, Energy, Space — update it. In 2026, under new director Owen West, DIU narrowed its priorities and reorganized around a blunt idea: reduce the military's cost per kill. Founders who speak that language get read; founders pitching a generic technology category get filtered.
Crucially, AI is now embedded horizontally across all three rather than living in its own box. DIU assumes modern systems use AI; it does not fund “AI” as an end in itself. This is a real break from the previous structure, which prioritized as many as seven standalone portfolios covering AI, autonomy, cyber, energy, human systems, space, and emerging technology. Consolidating them signals what leadership cares about now: fielded combat effect at scale and at low cost, not breadth of technology categories.
Positioning tip: the fastest way to be ignored is to pitch “AI” as your category. In 2026 AI is horizontal — assumed, not a portfolio. Pitch the mission outcome (cheaper kills, faster kill webs, autonomous mass) and let the AI be the how, not the what.
See if you qualify for an Ansys eval The MVP playbook →Open the live portfolio page and the current open solicitations, then do three things. First, pick one portfolio and one Area of Interest — a brief that spans three portfolios reads as unfocused. Second, translate your product into a mission outcome: not “our sensor fuses multi-modal data,” but “our sensor cuts the cost of detecting a Group 1 drone by 60%.” Third, quantify the 10x — whatever your axis is (unit cost, decision latency, magazine depth, sorties per dollar), name the multiple.
The cost-per-kill framing rewards affordability and scale over exquisite performance. A $30,000 effector that is 80% as good as a $2M missile is a better DIU story than the reverse. Bring the economics, not just the capability.
Claims about price, speed, or capability are only as good as your evidence. Simulation and modeling let you demonstrate cost-per-kill and kill-web latency improvements across realistic scenarios before a live demonstration — exactly the proof a portfolio lead needs to advance you from brief to pitch. Position against one portfolio, lead with the mission math, and back it with data.
Official sources: DIU — Portfolio · DefenseScoop — DIU reshaping priorities under Owen West · DefenseScoop — DIU aims to reduce 'cost per kill'. Figures change; confirm on the official page before relying on them.
