Forbes
As some of the market’s biggest tech names lose steam, investors are turning to less crowded corners of the high-tech sector where growth and disruption remain alive and well. Global defense stocks have rocketed higher in 2025, particularly those focusing on AI applications and other cutting-edge defense technology. These weapons are changing the way wars are fought and are having an equally significant impact on the way the Defense Department spends its enormous budget. The implications are both exciting and frightening.
Rising global defense budgets have contributed to renewed demand for traditional defense assets, such as fighter jets, ballistic missiles, and armored vehicles and tanks, made by industry’s incumbents such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing. However, innovation in many weapons technologies, led by relative newcomers such as Anduril and Shield AI, will see a growing share of funds to promote development of futuristic weapons such as autonomous drone swarms, lasers that can shoot down small aircraft, and hypersonic missiles that glide undetected through the atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound.
Here are a few of the latest technologies and their impact on modern warfare.
