Potomac Officers Club, the national capital region’s premier GovCon events, networking and media organization, is ecstatic to announce that Thomas Rondeau, the Department of War’s principal director for FutureG, will give a keynote address at the 2026 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 29 at the Hilton McLean in northern Virginia.
The 2026 Defense R&D Summit is POC’s top venue for examining business opportunities in the well-resourced, emerging defense technology field. The DOW requested an astonishing $179 billion for research, development, test and evaluation funding in FY 2026, that’s 27 percent more than the $141 billion provided in FY 2025!
Why Is the 2026 Defense R&D Summit a Must-Attend for GovCon Executives?
The event brings together leading technology professionals from the Pentagon and industry to examine the emerging technologies vowing to transform tomorrow’s warfare. Hear directly from the nation’s top defense officials, researchers and innovators, and gain actionable intelligence from expert-led discussions and insights.
Take advantage of this rare opportunity to engage with key decision-makers shaping the future defense landscape. Tickets are almost sold out—secure yours today!
Who Is Thomas Rondeau?
As DoW principal director for FutureG, Rondeau guides the Pentagon on funding, research and execution of programs investigating future generation wireless technologies in combat. Rondeau has extensive experience in wireless networking and communications in combat having spent more than six years as a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program manager.
Some programs Rondeau has managed include:
- Arrays at Commercial Timescales – Integration & Validation (ACT-IV), building software-defined arrays
- Hedgehog – advancing capability in software-defined radio
- Domain-Specific Systems on Chips (DSSoC) – researching new edge and embedded processor architectures
- Data Protection in Virtual Environments (DPRIVE) – facilitating computing on encrypted data
Rondeau’s expertise and leadership in wireless communications make him a highly sought-after expert on helping warfighters communicate effectively and reliably during combat. He facilitated a series of hackfests on software radio and has contributed as a subject matter expert to numerous programs for the DOW and the intelligence community. Rondeau earned the Distinguished Public Service Medal for his work at DARPA.
GovCons will benefit from hearing Rondeau’s budget priorities for FutureG and 5G, emerging requirements in wireless communications and partnership opportunities with industry during his keynote at the 2026 Defense R&D Summit.
What Has Thomas Rondeau’s Career Focused On?
Rondeau has over 15 years of experience working on the hardest challenges in wireless communications. He’s spent almost 10 years with the Pentagon, first as a DARPA program manager from 2016 to 2022. Rondeau in 2022 became principal director in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, or OUSD(R&E).
Rondeau spent nearly five years as a visiting researcher at the University of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2016. Here he worked on physical layer research issues around software radio and cognitive radio. Rondeau spent five years starting in 2010 as the owner of Rondeau Research LLC, where he consulted on wireless communications and signal process. He also led the GNU Radio project, a free and open-source software development toolbox providing signal processing blocks to implement software radios.
What Rondeau Will Address in His Keynote
Rondeau’s keynote at the 2026 Defense R&D Summit will give GovCon technology executives a special opportunity to hear directly from the Pentagon’s top expert on 5G, FutureG and wireless communications.
Some possible topics include:
- Developments in providing open software code to break down barriers in wireless communications innovation
- Lessons learned from the Pentagon’s largest-ever spectrum sharing demonstration
- The importance of FutureG and wireless communications to Golden Dome missile defense
- 6G research updates
Why Rondeau’s Keynote Is Essential for GovCons
Rondeau’s keynote at the 2026 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 29 is an unmissable opportunity for GovCon executives to hear directly from the Pentagon’s top wireless research official. Attendees can look forward to:
- Spending insights. Hear directly from Rondeau about investment priorities and future research goals in 2026
- Q&A session. Get your burning questions answered by Rondeau after his keynote.
- Networking. Have the priceless face-to-face conversation with other GovCon leaders that only happens in live venue settings
Why Should I Attend the 2026 Defense R&D Summit?
The 2026 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 29 at the Hilton McLean in northern Virginia is the leading GovCon forum for technology professionals. It will gather leading federal officials and GovCon executives under one roof to discuss the most critical issues in defense technology contracting.
Don’t just take our word for it. Take it from Gabe Camarillo, KBR senior vice president of defense technology solutions, 4×24 Leadership Series member and former Army under secretary, about why FutureG is a critical component to future U.S. success in combat.
Camarillo said owning the data on the battlefield of future information is absolutely vital to success. The backbone of DOW communications systems, he said, particularly in austere environments, has been one of its most difficult challenges over the last 25 years.
The advent of low Earth orbit satellite constellations that can provide communications or 5G wireless capabilities to meet the DOW’s needs is critical for advancing AI use in combat.
“As we increasingly turn towards AI-enabled capabilities on the battlespace, part of what you have to do in order to employ those AI algorithms is to train them, feed them data and ensure that they are learning essentially what they’re seeing on the battlefield,” Camarillo said. “The ability to have the bandwidth to do that and support it is why capability like 5G is so important for us to have.”
What’s the Agenda for the 2026 Defense R&D Summit?
The agenda includes:
- Keynotes by Rondeau and (just announced!) Emil Michael, under secretary of war for research and engineering and acting director of the Defense Innovation Unit
- Panels on cutting-edge topics:
- Advice on getting emerging technologies into the hands of warfighters at the Crossing the Valley of Death and Ready to Fight on the Far Side panel discussion, featuring three leading Pentagon officials
- Cmdr. Jeremiah Daley, PACFLT N9WAR military director
- Lt. Col. Charles Osterhout, Air Force division chief for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and combat applications
- Lt. Col. Gregory Haverkorn, Air Force Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities battlespace awareness division chief
- Securing the future of defense innovation, featuring Air Force Chief AI Officer for Intelligence Col. Daniel May and Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Logistics Leigh Method.
- The latest business opportunities in AI and quantum computing at our Powering AI at Mission Scale: Energy, Compute and Infrastructure for Defense Innovation and Securing the Quantum Edge: Advancing U.S. Leadership as a National Security Imperative panel discussions
- Advice on getting emerging technologies into the hands of warfighters at the Crossing the Valley of Death and Ready to Fight on the Far Side panel discussion, featuring three leading Pentagon officials
The 2026 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 29 is the can’t-miss GovCon conference for professionals interested in emerging defense technologies. Take advantage of this opportunity to discover new business opportunities and get a head start on your competition in 2026. Sign up now!
