The Trump administration just put an 11-foot-tall nuclear test flight vehicle on the National Mall, right next to the state pavilions and funnel cake stands. The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration says the project, called Aires Tide, represents a fundamental shift in how the US develops its nuclear deterrent, using AI, advanced supercomputing, and 3D printing to compress development timelines that historically stretched across decades.
NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams compared the achievement to the Manhattan Project.
What the Aires Tide project actually involves
The vehicle on display at the Great American State Fair, which runs June 25 through July 10, 2026, on the National Mall, isn’t a prop. It’s the product of a development process that replaced traditional design-build-test cycles with AI-driven modeling and additive manufacturing.
The NNSA has been integrating AI and supercomputing into its nuclear security mission planning since at least 2023. Williams has been vocal about these technologies’ potential to modernize the nuclear enterprise.
