AI warfare is here, and CBS News got a look at the U.S. military training to use it on the battlefield

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May 29, 2026 / 9:52 AM EDT

/ CBS News

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Tan Tan, Morocco — In arid southern Morocco, where the Sahara Desert meets the Atlantic coast, the silence of the desert was shattered this month by the boom of explosions and crackling gunfire. Plumes of smoke from conventional artillery filled the air as American forces took part in the multi-national African Lion 2026 military exercise. But the U.S. Army also used the war games to test an array of systems powered by artificial intelligence.African Lion was the largest U.S.-led military exercise in Africa, carried out along with 30 partner nations to rehearse for the future of warfare. Increasingly, that future belongs to AI.Alongside the military forces, more than a dozen private defense contractors showcased products and got feedback directly from soldiers as they vie for roles — and contracts — to help modernize the U.S. military.Shortening the "kill chain"As the soldiers practiced traditional battlefield tactics, a robot rolled silently across the Moroccan desert with a machine gun mounted on its roof. Drones lifted into the sky nearby carrying explosives, and another prototype quadcopter carried a nine-millimeter rifle.One of the main applications of AI on display during the exercise was an effort to shorten the "kill chain" — the series of actions required to use lethal force, from the identification of a target to the moment a trigger is pulled. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ramon Leonguerrero told CBS News that personnel in the Joint Operations Center in Agadir, hundreds of miles from the mock battlefield, used an AI-driven platform made by American defense tech firm Palantir "to provide that rapid decision-making cycle faster than normal."