Chapter 1

3 initiatives, 1 hardware problem

Hegseth's State of the Force address announced the Autonomous Warfare Command, Project Meridian, FORTRESS America, a new Corps of Cadets, the Next Great American Base, and the Office of Religious Affairs. Paragon Micro has published a guide to each of the 3 that depend on IT. This chapter sets out what each asks of hardware, so the rest of the guide can show where Dell products and Paragon Micro services answer it.

1. FORTRESS America

   Installations that generate their own power and hold up against cyberattacks, sabotage, and drones

   Established as a Department of War program by memo on September 30, 2026, with a program office due within 30 days, on October 30, 2026. Its 5 pillars are energy independence, supply chain and defense industrial base resilience, a strategic defense reserve, installation hardening and cyber resilience, and resilience in space and spectrum. Hardware need: base data centers, control system networks, cameras and sensors, and edge compute that keep running on backup power.

2. Project Meridian

   A 120 day study of future warfare, with findings due January 28, 2027

   Commissioned the same day, codirected by Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich, and charged with identifying capability gaps and proposing actionable solutions to start developing, testing, and fielding new capabilities. Hardware need: training compute for AI, test environments, and edge systems for whatever the department decides to field.

3. Autonomous Warfare Command

   A four star command for autonomous and robotic systems, targeted for October 1, 2027

   Hegseth described its job as scaling autonomous and robotic capabilities across the military, and Congress has to act before it stands up. Hardware need: forward edge nodes, operator endpoints, contested spectrum links, and a data path from the edge back to the people retraining models.

The common thread is that drones, AI models, and microgrids all depend on commercial hardware that someone has to source, configure, secure, and deliver under federal rules. That is the work Dell and Paragon Micro would divide between them on a Dell based program, as the next 19 chapters show. For the detail on each initiative, see FORTRESS America: What Independent Bases Need From Their IT and Security Systems, What Project Meridian Means for DoW Programs, and Ready for the Autonomous Warfare Command.

Chapter 2

The rules every build has to meet

Before any product discussion, 6 rules shape what a DoW buyer can accept. Each shows up again in the chapters that follow.

Installations face 2 more. UFC 4-010-06 sets cybersecurity requirements for facility related control systems, which include building control systems, utility control systems, electronic security systems, and fire and life safety systems. And the Trade Agreements Act governs country of origin for products sold on federal vehicles, which is why Paragon Micro enforces it on every piece of hardware it receives and ships.

Chapter 3

What Dell Technologies Federal is

Dell Technologies Federal is the part of Dell that sells to and supports U.S. federal agencies. Dell's federal page says the company helps federal agencies modernize legacy environments, protect their data, and "deploy AI capabilities on infrastructure built for federal compliance standards," and describes a supply chain built for government accountability and a decades long record of federal deployment.

The page groups Dell's federal work into 4 areas: AI for federal agencies, technology for the federal workforce, data center and multicloud, and cyber resiliency and security. It names the Dell AI Factory and the AI Data Platform as "a trusted, governed AI environment built for security and compliance," points to the Dell Pro Precision with GB300 for secure, data intensive federal workloads, and describes Dell Rugged devices as built for "military and field workers".

What Dell says about compliance and delivery

Dell's federal page gives 3 answers that matter for DoW buyers. On compliance, Dell says its solutions "can help agencies address federal cybersecurity and compliance requirements, including applicable FedRAMP and NIST frameworks, depending on the solution, configuration and deployment environment." On its supply chain, Dell says its direct selling model "provides visibility into how systems are configured and delivered." On security, Dell says systems can include hardware based protections, secure firmware features, Secure BIOS and Secure Boot, and "delivery processes designed to support supply chain integrity," such as tamper evident packaging and controlled chain of custody practices "where applicable".

Those are Dell's own statements. The qualifiers, "depending on the solution" and "where applicable," are the reason a partner has to confirm each against the specific configuration a program buys. That confirmation is part of what Paragon Micro does in chapters 11 and 12.

Contract vehicles Dell lists

Dell's federal page lists 4 vehicles: Army ITES-4H, NASA SEWP V, NASA SEWP VI, and CIO-CS. Paragon Micro holds ITES-4H, SEWP V, and SEWP VI, which puts the 2 companies on the same paper for most DoW hardware orders. Chapter 19 covers each vehicle.

On September 30, 2026, the day of the Quantico address, Dell also announced that it had joined the Alliance for Critical Infrastructure "alongside leaders from across the nation's lifeline sectors," saying that national security depends on resilient critical infrastructure. The 2 announcements were separate, but the overlap in subject is the reason chapter 15 treats installation resilience as a Dell question as much as a base question.

Chapter 4

Supply chain security built into the product

FORTRESS America's second pillar is supply chain and defense industrial base resilience. For IT hardware, that starts with how the manufacturer controls its own supply chain. Dell publishes the detail.

From supplier to factory to truck

Dell's supply chain white paper describes supplier onboarding that ends in an on site quality process audit with a security assessment, a secure development lifecycle that follows NIST SP 800-218, and factories that must meet physical security standards including TAPA. Dell says it directly manages about half of its global manufacturing sites, procures parts directly from the original design or component manufacturer, and holds Tier 3 status with U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism.

In transit, Dell describes tamper evident packaging, cargo locks and seals, pallet loads secured with a serial numbered bolt seal that the customer verifies on arrival, GPS and other tracking devices, and logistics providers that must conform to TAPA freight security requirements.

Secured Component Verification

Dell's Secured Component Verification, or SCV, is the control a receiving site can run itself. For PowerEdge servers, Dell's technical note describes the process: at manufacture, each critical part is analyzed and a unique identifier recorded, the as built configuration is captured in a cryptographic certificate bound to that server, and the certificate is signed by a Dell Certificate Authority and stored in iDRAC. When the server arrives, the customer runs the SCV validation application, which compares the current hardware against the factory record and reports "either a perfect match, or a list of components not in compliance with those used at time of build".

The same note lists the broader measures behind Dell's secure supply chain for servers: chain of custody tracking and anti tamper packaging, third party access restrictions and staff checks at the point of manufacture, code signing, chain of trust for critical components, and hardware intrusion detection that records enclosure breaches during shipment. Dell says these measures matter "especially in the Federal" sector, among others.

For client systems, Dell sells SafeSupply Chain as a set of paid options: SCV platform certificates for PCs, tamper evident seals on the system, tape on the box, and pallet seals, and device sanitization to NIST SP 800-88 with reimaging to contract specifications. Tamper evidence and sanitization are available only in North America.

Chapter 5

Zero trust: Project Fort Zero and the department's validation

On April 2, 2025, Dell announced that Project Fort Zero had achieved the Department of Defense's validation for replicating the department's zero trust architecture. The department has since been renamed the Department of War. Dell said the solution completed all the security controls required for the department's Target Level validation as a sovereign, on premises private cloud, after an assessment in which it "was tested to withstand sophisticated cyberattacks".

Dell's framing is that the architecture is complex enough that someone has to do the integration work up front. Herb Kelsey, Dell's industry chief technology officer for government, said Dell had brought together a group of partners and taken on "the technology integration of this complex architecture".

A caution: the release said "Availability to be announced." We did not find a later availability announcement in Dell's newsroom as of October 21, 2026, so ask Dell or Paragon Micro for the current status before you plan around it.

Why the validation matters to the 3 initiatives

• FORTRESS America's fourth pillar is installation hardening and cyber resilience. A validated zero trust private cloud is a reference design for a base that has to keep its own data center running during an attack.
• The department's target level deadline is September 30, 2027, 1 day before the Autonomous Warfare Command's target date. Edge nodes and ground control stations bought now will have to fit a zero trust architecture.
• Paragon Micro's zero trust and cyber resilience work covers microsegmentation to limit lateral movement, multifactor authentication with device trust validation, and backup, failover, and recovery planning. On Dell programs, its Dell Federal page adds zero trust design, authority to operate documentation, and control mapping.

Chapter 6

PowerEdge servers for data centers and AI

Dell PowerEdge is the server line Paragon Micro would propose for the base data centers, training clusters, and virtual desktop systems in all 3 initiatives. Paragon Micro's Dell Federal page shows the PowerEdge R760xa as its example of a GPU server, so this chapter uses Dell's specification sheet for that model.

Data center example

Dell PowerEdge R760xa

Form factor

2U rack server, dual socket, air cooled

Processors

Up to 2 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors with up to 64 cores each

GPUs

Up to 4 double width 400 W cards, or up to 12 single width 75 W cards

Memory

32 DDR5 DIMM slots, up to 8 TB

Security

Silicon root of trust, Secure Boot, TPM 2.0 FIPS, Secure Erase, System Lockdown

Workloads Dell names

AI training and inference, digital twins and rendering, virtualization and VDI graphics

System Lockdown requires iDRAC9 Enterprise or Datacenter.

The Dell AI Factory

Dell's AI infrastructure is sold as the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA. On October 16, 2026, Dell said more than 6,500 customers had adopted it, up from 5,000 the quarter before, by Dell's own count of customer order data. The same announcement covered 4 pieces of hardware that bear on DoW programs:

• The Dell Modular Data Center with NVIDIA DSX POD, a containerized AI factory with compute, storage, networking, rack level power, and liquid cooling, built to connect to prepared power, with a reference design due in early 2027.
• The PowerEdge R8822, an air cooled 2 socket NVIDIA Vera CPU server for standard 19 inch racks with support for up to 4 double width GPUs, available this month.
• The PowerEdge XE9810, a rack scale inference system with 16 liquid cooled compute trays, due in Q1 CY27.
• Dell Pro Precision with GB10 in a 64 GB unified memory configuration, available October 23, and Pro Precision with GB300 on Windows, with up to 748 GB of coherent memory, coming soon.

The release also described a security architecture for AI agents built on the AI Factory that covers the runtime, network, data, and infrastructure. For a program office, the practical point is that a containerized AI factory that plugs into prepared power is a different buying decision from a rack of servers, and chapter 16 returns to it for Project Meridian.

What Paragon Micro adds on PowerEdge

Paragon Micro's Dell Federal page lists 4 services for PowerEdge deployments: sizing systems to mission demand, mapping configurations to federal security controls for audits and approvals, checking bills of materials for accuracy, compatibility, contract compliance, and lifecycle sustainability, and planning deployments to limit downtime. On the Tinker Air Force Base project in chapter 13, that meant more than 25 design revisions before the order was placed.

Chapter 7

PowerEdge XR servers for the edge

The PowerEdge XR series is Dell's rugged, short depth server line, and it is the family a FORTRESS sensor site, a Meridian test range, or an AutoWarCom forward node could draw on. Dell's XR series specification sheet, revised in January 2026, describes the line as "MIL-STD tested and NEBS Level 3 and IEC 61850-3 certified for durability," with a standard operating range of minus 5 to 55 degrees Celsius and extended ranges from minus 20 to 65 degrees Celsius on select XR8000 configurations.

Modular, up to 4 nodes

PowerEdge XR8000

Chassis87.05 mm tall, 430 mm deep, with 1U and 2U sleds

Processors4th or 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable per sled, or Intel Xeon 6 with up to 72 cores in the XR8720t sled

PowerAC, 240 V HVDC, and minus 48 to minus 60 V DC options

TemperatureExtended range on select configurations

Short depth 1U

PowerEdge XR5610

Depth400 mm to the rear wall

Processors1 4th or 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor

GPUsUp to 2 single width 75 W cards

PowerAC, HVDC, and minus 48 to minus 60 V DC options

Short depth 2U

PowerEdge XR7620

Depth448.8 mm to the rear wall

Processors2 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable with up to 16 cores each, or 2 4th Gen with up to 32 cores each

GPUsUp to 2 double width 350 W cards, or 4 single width 75 W cards plus 1 low profile card

PowerAC, HVDC, and minus 48 to minus 60 V DC options

Multi node, front accessible

PowerEdge XR4000

ChassisRackable or stackable chassis, 455 mm deep with bezel

Processors1 3rd Gen Intel Xeon D with up to 20 cores per compute sled

GPUsXR4520c sled: up to 2 single width 150 W cards or 1 double width 250 W card

PowerAC, HVDC, and minus 48 to minus 60 V DC options

Confirm the exact configuration, GPU support, and temperature rating for the sled you order.

Security on every XR model

The specification sheet lists the same security set across the line: cryptographically signed firmware, Secure Boot, Secure Erase, Silicon Root of Trust, System Lockdown with iDRAC9 Enterprise or Data Center, and TPM 2.0 FIPS, with data at rest encryption through self encrypting drives on the XR5610 and XR7620. For a forward site, Secure Erase is the feature to test: if a node is at risk of capture, the unit needs a tested procedure for sanitizing it, and someone has to be able to trigger it.

Paragon Micro's tactical edge AI work packages PowerEdge XR7620 and XR4000 servers with NVIDIA Spectrum-X networking and power in ruggedized transit cases, so a unit can run language and vision models locally when a link back to the continental United States is slow or gone. Its tactical and rugged equipment practice covers the solar, generator, vehicle, and battery power platforms those cases run on.

Chapter 8

Dell Pro Rugged laptops for the field

On October 1, 2026, the day after the Quantico address, Dell announced 2 rugged laptops: the Dell Pro Rugged 13 Extreme and the Dell Pro Rugged 14. Dell says both are "MIL-STD-810H certified" with a temperature range of minus 20 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, displays that work with gloves and in wet conditions, Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, optional private 5G, Wi-Fi 7, GPS, hot swappable batteries, and an optional 5 megapixel camera with infrared. Both are available now.

Fully rugged

Dell Pro Rugged 13 Extreme

ProtectionIP66 rating and drop tested from 6 feet

Display13.3 inch FHD at 1,400 nits for direct sunlight

Memory and storageUp to 64 GB LPDDR5X, with removable SSD and self encrypting drive options

GraphicsIntel Arc graphics

Semi rugged

Dell Pro Rugged 14

ProtectionIP53 rating and 3 foot drop protection, about 4.7 pounds

Display14 inch 16:10 FHD at up to 1,100 nits

GPU and memoryNVIDIA RTX PRO 500 Blackwell laptop GPU, LPCAMM2 memory up to 64 GB

DockingRedesigned vehicle docking with quad passthrough

Dell's claims that these are the most powerful and smallest in their classes rest on its own internal analysis from August 2026.

The Paragon Micro store lists the catalog generation of both lines today, the Pro Rugged 14 (RB14250) and the Pro Rugged 13 (RA13250); the October 2026 models were not listed as of October 21, 2026. Chapter 19 has the store links and images.

Security features that matter for DoW endpoints

Dell lists TPM 2.0, contacted and contactless smart card readers, fingerprint readers, infrared cameras for facial recognition, and Dell SafeID with ControlVault, and says the laptops are now further hardened with what it calls quantum resistant protections. A contacted smart card reader is the type used with a Common Access Card; confirm the reader on the configuration you buy. The quantum resistant claim is Dell's, and it does not by itself establish CNSA 2.0 compliance for a National Security System; ask for the specific algorithms and validation status before you rely on it for the January 1, 2027 date in chapter 18.

For the Autonomous Warfare Command, these are the operator endpoints and ground control stations that chapter 17 covers. For FORTRESS, they are the laptops security forces and utility crews carry on a base that has lost its network. Paragon Micro carries the Pro Rugged line in its Dell catalog and checks rugged configurations against the environmental conditions of the deployment before they ship.

Chapter 9

Networking and Dell Federal 5G

Dell has 2 networking lines that apply here. PowerSwitch is the wired switching that Paragon Micro positions for core to edge connectivity, tactical and enterprise network integration, and "granular segmentation that limits lateral movement across the network, in support of Zero Trust principles". Dell Federal 5G is the private wireless system Dell introduced on October 8, 2025.

Dell Federal 5G

Dell describes Federal 5G as a complete system "designed and manufactured in North America," delivered through the Dell Secure Supply Chain, and O-RAN compliant. Its parts are the Dell Private Wireless Orchestrator for zero touch provisioning and monitoring, PowerEdge XR8000 servers that run the radio access network and core software, a RAN accelerator card, Dell RAN software developed in North America, Dell and partner radios across 3GPP bands, and a 5G standalone core.

The use cases Dell lists read like a FORTRESS and AutoWarCom requirements list: a secure perimeter built from 5G connected drones, cameras, and ground sensors; airfield logistics that track fuel trucks and generators; vessels with their own private network for ship to boat to aircraft data; and live fire ranges with 5G connected targets.

What Paragon Micro adds on networking

Paragon Micro plans Dell networking to work with existing multi OEM environments, applies security configurations that reduce attack surface, tests performance and reliability before systems go live, and plans sustainment and growth. Its tactical and rugged practice also covers secure radios, edge networking, SATCOM, and cyber hardened systems from other OEMs, so a Dell wired or 5G network can be quoted with the radios a unit already uses.

Chapter 10

Edge operations and cyber recovery

Hardware at the edge needs software to deploy and manage it, and data in the base data center needs a copy an attacker cannot reach. Dell covers both with NativeEdge and PowerProtect Cyber Recovery.

Dell NativeEdge

NativeEdge is Dell's edge operations software. Dell describes it as running virtual machines and containers on everything from compact gateways to GPU clusters, with zero touch onboarding of devices, high availability clustering, centralized authentication through LDAP and OpenID Connect, and support for non Dell hardware. It ships with blueprints for NVIDIA frameworks such as Metropolis for vision and Riva for speech.

Dell cites an Enterprise Strategy Group analysis, which Dell commissioned, that put the time saved on deploying and managing edge infrastructure at up to 79%. Treat that as a vendor sponsored figure. The capability that matters for a distributed program is onboarding a node at a remote site without sending an engineer, then pushing an application update to hundreds of nodes from 1 console.

PowerProtect Cyber Recovery

Dell's cyber recovery system "creates an operational air gap by isolating critical data in a separately governed vault with its own controls, credentials and management plane," so recovery stays trusted "when production, identity, or backup systems are in doubt." Its Cyber Detect software analyzes full content, including files, databases, and virtual machines, to find corruption before a restore, and produces forensic reports that show the blast radius and the last known good backup.

Paragon Micro's Dell Federal page groups PowerProtect Data Domain with this work and lists what it adds: zero trust design around federal strategies, authority to operate documentation and control mapping, planning for continued operations during an incident, and building security into operating procedures.

For a FORTRESS installation, the question is simple. If the base's control system network is compromised the way CISA, NSA, and FBI warned Volt Typhoon had positioned itself to do, is there a copy of the microgrid controller configurations, the video management system, and the access control database that the attacker could not touch? A vault with its own credentials and management plane is the answer Dell sells. Chapter 15 covers how it fits the base.

Chapter 11

Paragon Micro as a Dell Technologies Federal Platinum Partner

Paragon Micro describes itself as a Dell Technologies Federal Platinum Partner and a value added reseller, with more than 15 years of Dell partnership and more than 20 years of architect experience in Dell environments. It also says Dell named it the 2025 Federal Server Sales Partner of the Year. Those are Paragon Micro's statements about itself; the award and tier can be confirmed with Dell.

What a tier means

Dell's partner program overview lists 4 tiers for solution providers: Authorized, Gold, Platinum, and Titanium. Dell says benefits "increase with greater commitment to the program," and the higher tiers carry revenue and training requirements. That overview is from 2021, so the current thresholds may differ. The practical meaning for a buyer is that a Platinum partner has met Dell's sales and training bar and has access to Dell resources that an Authorized reseller does not.

What Paragon Micro does on a Dell program

Paragon Micro's Dell Federal page describes 5 steps: assess mission requirements, architect Dell based solutions, validate compliance and security, deploy with minimal disruption, and sustain, refresh, and evolve systems. Across those steps it lists the services below.

1. Size

   Size platforms to workload demand so programs avoid unused capacity and overbuilt racks.

2. Validate the BOM

   Check bills of materials for accuracy, compatibility, contract compliance, and lifecycle sustainability.

3. Map controls

   Map technical configurations to federal security and regulatory controls, and support ATO documentation and risk mitigation.

4. Build and test

   Configure, harden, and test systems in the System Readiness Center before they ship.

5. Sustain

   Plan spares, refresh cycles, and sustainment to limit downtime in long deployments.

Dell is 1 of many OEMs Paragon Micro represents, so Dell systems can be quoted alongside the rest of a program's hardware. That matters under the Warfighting Acquisition System's 2 source rule, which chapter 14 covers.

Paragon Micro's federal identifiers are UEI E41LV9AJGHQ1 and CAGE 4ZHT8. Its Department of War practice covers the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, special operations forces, and the Fourth Estate, and its Federal System Integrators practice supports primes that need a hardware partner on their team.

Chapter 12

The System Readiness Center: where OEM solutions get built

System Readiness Center

From secure facility to deployment readiness

55,000+ sq ftVetted U.S. citizensTAA enforced

Dell systems Paragon Micro delivers to DoW programs are staged, validated, and deployed from its System Readiness Center, a 55,000 plus square foot secure integration facility. Paragon Micro describes it as operating in full compliance with NIST SP 800-171, with FIPS 140-2 validated physical and data security, controlled access zones, role based entry, visitor logging and escort, and segmented environments for sensitive programs.

The facility also works as a live demonstration and evaluation environment where customers can test performance and interoperability before they buy.

Paragon Micro announced its AS9120 certification for aerospace and defense distribution on June 30, 2026. AS9120 is the quality management standard for distributors in that sector, and it adds a third party audited process to the custody and verification steps above.

Why this matters for Dell specifically: Dell's transit controls run to delivery, where the customer verifies the bolt seal. The System Readiness Center takes custody at that point, so a program gets a continuous record from Dell's factory to the rack on base. Paragon Micro's article Protect the Mission Before It Ships covers the custody model in detail.

Chapter 13

Past performance on Dell programs

The 2 published case studies below show the partnership at work at opposite scales: a nationwide desktop refresh and a 2 site hyperconverged system.

Both results are Paragon Micro's own account of its performance. What they show for the 3 initiatives is a supplier that can handle a 33 CLIN bulk buy on a fixed schedule and a design that had to be reworked 25 times to fit a budget. Most FORTRESS refreshes and AutoWarCom buys will look like 1 of those 2 jobs. See all past performance.

Chapter 14

Multi-vendor builds with Dell inside

The Warfighting Acquisition System requires at least 2 qualified sources for critical program content unless the requirement is waived, and it calls for modular open systems with competition at the module level. A single OEM architecture cannot meet that on its own. Paragon Micro's resilient multi OEM architectures practice is built around the problem: "Mission systems cannot depend on a single vendor, platform, or supply chain".

In those designs, Dell can fill specific places: PowerEdge and VxRail for compute, PowerSwitch for switching, Pro Rugged for endpoints, PowerProtect for recovery. Around them sit the products Dell does not make, such as secure radios, edge networking, and SATCOM, which Paragon Micro sources from the other OEMs it represents. Every architecture, Paragon Micro says, "is validated in controlled staging before deployment".

The Tinker Air Force Base design in chapter 13 is the working example: Dell VxRail with VMware vSAN at the center, Cisco switching evaluated for the design, and solution validation coordinated with Cisco, VMware, Nvidia, and Thales before the order. Paragon Micro's article OEM Architecture for Wartime Readiness covers the design approach.

Chapter 15

FORTRESS America: installation IT that stays up

FORTRESS America's memo organizes the program around 5 pillars and puts its program office under the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, with a Senior Executive Service member running day to day operations and a two star military advisor. Of the 5 pillars, 4 touch installation IT directly. The table below maps each to the Dell products and Paragon Micro services in the earlier chapters.

MemorandumSep 30, 2026View full memo

Primary source

The memo that created FORTRESS America

Dated September 30, 2026, and signed by Hegseth, the memo establishes FORTRESS America as a Department of War program and describes it as a comprehensive program, tied to the Future Years Defense Program, to secure the capabilities, infrastructure, and resources the military depends on. It goes to senior Pentagon leaders, combatant commanders, and defense agency and field activity directors.

Program office

The Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment stands it up within 30 days, which puts the deadline at October 30, 2026.

Leadership

A Senior Executive Service member runs day to day operations, with a two star military advisor.

Ramp

The office starts as a lean core cell and grows to full operating capability within months.

Support

All military departments, defense agencies, and field activities must support its execution.

“A homeland that cannot be starved out, shut down, or cut off.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, September 30, 2026

Read the memo (PDF)

1. 1

   Energy independence

   Installations generate their own power, independent of the civilian grid. Grid cut exercises at 33 installations found failed batteries, unserviced generators, and air conditioning left off backup circuits.

   Dell and Paragon MicroPowerEdge XR servers with DC power options for sites fed by batteries or vehicles; Paragon Micro's tactical practice includes solar, generator, vehicle, and lithium ion battery power platforms for remote sites.

2. 2

   Supply chain and defense industrial base resilience

   Production of critical materials returns to the United States, and buyers face Section 5949 on December 23, 2027.

   Dell and Paragon MicroDell's direct supply chain, C-TPAT Tier 3, and Secured Component Verification; Paragon Micro's TAA enforcement, component verification, and AS9120 certified distribution.

3. 3

   Strategic defense reserve

   The memo names a strategic defense reserve as a pillar, and news reports describe reserves of munitions, fuel, medicine, and blood. The same logic applies to configured spares for installation IT.

   Dell and Paragon MicroParagon Micro plans spares and has secure storage areas where configured systems can be held.

4. 4

   Installation hardening and cyber resilience

   Bases are protected against cyberattacks, sabotage, and drones. Volt Typhoon held access in some victim networks for at least 5 years and could reach camera systems.

   Dell and Paragon MicroProject Fort Zero's validated zero trust design, PowerSwitch segmentation, and a PowerProtect vault with its own credentials; Paragon Micro's zero trust design and ATO support.

5. 5

   Resilience in space and spectrum

   Satellite and communications resilience, so the base can still talk when terrestrial links fail.

   Dell and Paragon MicroDell Federal 5G on XR8000 servers for an on base private network; SATCOM and secure radios from Paragon Micro's other OEMs.

The base as a control system network

UFC 4-010-06 treats utility control systems and electronic security systems as facility related control systems that fall under the Risk Management Framework. Drone sightings over installations rose to about 420 in the year ending September 2025, so counter drone sensors, video, and edge compute are part of that network too. Paragon Micro's video surveillance and physical security practice and its article Edge AI in the Battlefield for Counter-UAS Operations cover the sensor and edge side.

The program office is due by October 30, 2026. Installations that have assigned their critical IT loads to backup circuits, separated their control networks, and documented their supply chain will be ready when its first requirements arrive. See the FORTRESS America guide for the full specification lists.

Chapter 16

Project Meridian: develop, test, and field

Project Meridian's memo names 5 technologies it says are changing warfare: artificial intelligence, autonomy, directed energy, robotics, and biotechnology. It asks the study to propose actionable solutions "to start developing, testing and fielding these capabilities," with findings due January 28, 2027. The release says the study covers "the full spectrum of future warfighting domains, from subterranean depths to the cislunar frontier".

MemorandumSep 30, 2026View full memo

Primary source

The memo that commissioned Project Meridian

Dated September 30, 2026, and signed by Hegseth, the memo directs the department's chief technology officer, Emil Michael, to commission Project Meridian: The Future of Warfare through a partner organization.

Charge

Study the battlefields of the future, identify the weapons and technologies warfighters will need, and propose actionable solutions to start developing, testing, and fielding them.

Input

Perspectives from outside the Pentagon: top technologists, innovators, business leaders, policy makers, and national security experts.

Services

The Joint Staff and all services should be prepared to connect their future warfare efforts and research to the study.

Deadline

Findings and recommendations go to the Secretary's office within 120 days, on January 28, 2027.

“Project Meridian will study the battlefields of the future.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, September 30, 2026

Read the memo (PDF)

Paragon Micro is not part of the study, and neither company has a role in what it recommends. The reason to plan now is that any develop, test, and field work the department starts afterward would run under the Warfighting Acquisition System, which prefers commercial products, and 4 of the 5 technology areas run on compute.

The department's own research priorities already point the same way. In November 2025, Research and Engineering cut its critical technology areas to 6: applied AI, biomanufacturing, contested logistics technology, quantum battlefield information dominance, scaled directed energy, and scaled hypersonics. AI appears on the memo's list, the White House strategy's list, and R&E's list, and so does directed energy. Whatever Meridian recommends in January, the compute to train and run models will be in demand first.

See What Project Meridian Means for DoW Programs for the study's timeline and checklists, and the Advanced Projects page for how Paragon Micro supports sensitive programs.

Chapter 17

Autonomous Warfare Command: compute, comms, and data

The Autonomous Warfare Command is targeted for October 1, 2027, and Project Agincourt prepares the ground until Congress acts. Drones are bought to be expended. The servers, radios, endpoints, and data systems around them have to last the deployment. Paragon Micro's AutoWarCom guide breaks that into 3 layers. Here is where Dell fits in each.

MemorandumSep 30, 2026View full memo

Primary source

The memo that set the path to the Autonomous Warfare Command

Dated September 30, 2026, and signed by Hegseth, the memo directs the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems, DRPM-UxS, to lead Project Agincourt. It goes to senior Pentagon leaders, combatant commanders, and defense agency and field activity directors.

The command

A four star functional combatant command to lead the Joint Force in unmanned and autonomous warfare, with its own manpower, budget, acquisition authorities, and career paths for officers and enlisted personnel.

Target date

DRPM-UxS works directly with Congress to secure the legislation, with a target establishment date of October 1, 2027.

Acquisition

DRPM-UxS keeps its existing mission while prototyping an acquisition model that pushes "decisions and dollars to the edge of our operational forces."

Plan

Within 30 days, DRPM-UxS and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff submit a plan of action and milestones for the Secretary's approval, which puts that deadline at October 30, 2026.

“We do not have a decade to transition our procurement and doctrine.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, September 30, 2026

Read the memo (PDF)

The money is moving on its own track. The FY2027 request for the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group is $54.6 billion, most of it through reconciliation, so expect orders in phases as funding clears. The Gauntlet II round at Fort Carson planned orders for 60,000 drones. Each of those drones needs a ground control station, an edge node, and a link.

The tactical edge AI case

Paragon Micro's tactical edge AI package puts PowerEdge XR7620 and XR4000 servers, NVIDIA Spectrum-X networking, and power into ruggedized transit cases so a unit can run language and vision models locally, for tasks such as real time comms translation and target identification, without waiting for a round trip to the continental United States. It is the same hardware an autonomous unit could use to fuse feeds from many drones and plan the next sortie.

See Ready for the Autonomous Warfare Command for the questions to ask any radio, terminal, or autonomy vendor.

Chapter 18

Compliance across all 3: who provides what

Each rule from chapter 2 lands on a Dell product feature, a Paragon Micro process, or both. This table is the division of labor for a program's compliance file.

The CNSA 2.0 line deserves its own note. NSA's FAQ, revised in October 2026, says that by January 1, 2027, CNSA 2.0 algorithms "will be required in all new acquisitions for NSS," that by December 31, 2030, equipment and services that cannot support CNSA 2.0 "must be phased out unless otherwise granted an exception," that by December 31, 2031, CNSA 2.0 algorithms are mandated for use in National Security Systems, and that moving fielded equipment "may require a hardware refresh". Product by product CNSA 2.0 status is outside this guide, and it changes as vendors ship updates. The buying rule is simple: for any National Security System order placed after January 1, 2027, get the CNSA 2.0 status of each cryptographic component in writing.

Chapter 19

How to buy Dell through Paragon Micro

Dell lists ITES-4H, NASA SEWP V, NASA SEWP VI, and CIO-CS as its federal vehicles. Paragon Micro holds all 4, although its CIO-CS page shows that contract extended only through October 29, 2026, and it adds MDA SHIELD and GSA. NASA SEWP VI is new: Paragon Micro's contract, 80TECH26D2050 in Category A, runs from November 2026 to November 2036, while SEWP V's ordering period was extended through September 30, 2026 with 2 option periods, the first running to January 31, 2027 and the second to April 30, 2027.

Confirm CIO-CS status with the team before you plan an order there. For a Dell order, the shortest path is to send the configuration, quantities, and delivery sites through the Dell Federal page's strategy session form, and Paragon Micro will recommend the vehicle. See all contract vehicles.

Dell products in this guide and where to buy them

The servers and rugged laptops in this guide are configured to order: send the requirement through the Dell Federal strategy session form and Paragon Micro returns a configuration, a vehicle, and a delivery plan. Stock Dell items, including PowerSwitch models, are listed in Paragon Micro's commercial store at paragonmicro.com. Store pages show manufacturer list prices, and contract pricing comes from an account executive, so no prices are repeated here.

Chapter 6 | Configure to order

Dell PowerEdge R760xa

2U dual socket GPU server with up to 4 double width cards and 8 TB of memory, the data center and training tier in chapters 6 and 16.

Request a configuration R760xa from every angle Dell spec sheet

Chapter 7 | Configure to order

Dell PowerEdge XR8000

Modular short depth chassis with 1U and 2U sleds, up to 4 nodes, with AC, HVDC, and minus 48 V DC power options.

Request a configuration Dell XR spec sheet

Chapter 7 | Configure to order

Dell PowerEdge XR5610

Short depth 1U server, 400 mm to the rear wall, with 1 processor and up to 2 single width GPUs for sensor sites and comms closets.

Request a configuration Dell XR spec sheet

Chapter 7 | Configure to order

Dell PowerEdge XR7620

Short depth 2U server with 2 processors and up to 2 double width GPUs, the tactical edge AI node in chapter 17.

Request a configuration Dell XR spec sheet

Chapter 7 | Configure to order

Dell PowerEdge XR4000

Rackable or stackable multi node chassis with front accessible sleds, including the XR4520c GPU sled.

Request a configuration Dell XR spec sheet

Chapter 8 | Configure to order

Dell Pro Rugged 13 Extreme

Fully rugged 13.3 inch notebook with an IP66 rating, 6 foot drop testing, and a 1,400 nit display, announced October 1, 2026. The store lists the catalog generation, the Pro Rugged 13 (RA13250).

Request a configuration Pro Rugged 13 (RA13250) in the store Dell announcement

Chapter 8 | Configure to order

Dell Pro Rugged 14

Semi rugged 14 inch notebook with an IP53 rating, 3 foot drop protection, and an RTX PRO 500 GPU, announced October 1, 2026. The store lists the catalog generation, the Pro Rugged 14 (RB14250).

Request a configuration Pro Rugged 14 (RB14250) in the store Dell announcement

Chapter 9 | In the store

Dell PowerSwitch

Campus and data center switching: the N3248P-ON is a 48 port 1 GbE access switch with 10 GbE uplinks, and the S5224F-ON is a 24 port 25 GbE top of rack switch with 100 GbE uplinks.

N3248P-ON in the store S5224F-ON in the store All Dell switches

Chapter 20

What to do now

Most of the preparation for all 3 initiatives can be done before the first requirement is written. The checklists below are drawn from the chapters above.

The hardware decisions made in the next 12 months set what FORTRESS installations, Meridian follow on programs, and the Autonomous Warfare Command inherit. Dell builds the products, publishes the specifications, and controls its supply chain to the pallet. Paragon Micro takes custody from there. Request a Dell strategy session to start with a configuration, or talk to the Department of War solutions team about the program.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Timeline

Key dates

Each date lands on a piece of hardware somewhere: a cryptographic module, a chip, a configuration record, an edge node. Programs that know which Dell product answers each, and who holds custody of it, will have fewer orders to rework in 2027.

Related reading

Sources

References