They say a picture is worth 1,000 words.

That would be handy, because I’d just post the image below and then be done with today’s essay.

But I should give a little more context, I think.

Because this picture isn’t worth 1,000 words.

It’s worth a trillion dollars or so.

This picture, funnily enough, only has four important words on it. One word in particular more is important that the rest, big bold, in red…

So, what is this picture?

The White House (aka President Trump) has decided the Department of Defence was too… soft.

Needed a harder edge.

Something to really scare off those pesky terrorists.

It’s now the Department of War. Or as I’m going to call it, War Inc.

After all they don’t really do defence, do they?

And Department of Offense sounds more like the White House basketball team.

They landed on Department of War instead. That really is what they do and what they’re good at.

Now, when you see Department of War, you know that its role is exactly what it says on the tin.

No confusion there anymore.

I actually like it.

It’s far more transparent than what it used to be. But it also tells me there’s something bigger bubbling away under the surface.

Maybe you’d have the same feeling, and seeing that image just confirms what you and I are thinking…

There’s a boom coming for US defence companies, and anything that’s good at making and selling critical Army, Airforce and Navy technology is prime for a decade long bull run.

Sacrifice for the gods

I think this name change shows very clear intent that the US war machine is going to wind itself up. And arm itself like John Rambo about to go to the supermarket.

I actually do believe that Trump doesn’t really want to fight wars. I think he’s more of the view that if he has to make a decision to go to war, they’re going to very much wipe the enemy off the face of the planet.

I do think it’s more a case of if the US military is so advanced, so well-armed, so deep in the latest, greatest and most powerful military technologies no one is going to want to fight them.

Let’s say you and I get into a fight, you’ve got a water pistol, and I rock up with a Sig Sauer XM250. I know you’re going to use your water pistol, and you know that if you squirt me, I’m 100% going to use the XM250… you’re not going to squirt me, are you?

Source: 1945

Sounds disproportionate I know, but disproportionate is what stops wars from starting. And if they start, it’s what ends them.

But to get to that point, the US is going to spend a lot of money on all kinds of weaponry, advanced technologies, equipment and vehicles.

And this is where investors should find their winners.

The other thing I see happening is that the US will “acquire” stakes in these companies. I’ve called it “Nationalisation-lite” previously. But it’s where the government gets a stake of a company because it gives them a vested interest, profit benefits, and a guaranteed supply chain of the things they need.

Trump did this with Intel recently to secure US supply of semiconductors no matter what happens in Taiwan.

Don’t be surprised if we see an official sacrificial ceremony where America’s top defence firms are required to offer up 10% stakes to appease their political gods.

Boeing looks especially ripe for this treatment. Still reeling from years of mismanagement and scandal, it remains too big to fail and too critical to US air dominance to be left in purely private hands.

Treasury oversight could come disguised as “strategic support.” In reality, it would be a leash.

And where Boeing goes, others will follow…

The Rise of Anduril

Then there’s the new blood. Anduril Industries, the Palantir-meets-Lockheed startup founded by Oculus creator Palmer Luckey, is already the darling of defence-tech circles.

Its AI-driven surveillance systems and autonomous drones are exactly what the Pentagon craves.

Right now, Anduril is private. But when it eventually IPOs, I believe it could become the single most valuable defence company in the world.

Bigger than Lockheed. Bigger than Boeing. Bigger than BAE. And 10% to the US government for the support and privilege of getting there.

That sounds hyperbolic until you look at that picture again.

Department of War.

An Anduril IPO I think could be a generational buy, just set and forget for 30 years…

It’s also not the only private company that could be setting out an IPO soon that might provide a generational buying opportunity.

We also can’t ignore Elon Musk’s empire. Starlink (via SpaceX) is already deeply entrenched in providing military communication networks to the US.

And it might be an on-again, off-again relationship with the administration but don’t write off Elon’s companies getting into the defence and military side of things a bit deeper.

With a Department of War, I think SpaceX and Starlink (maybe even Tesla with their humanoid robots) could be looking at more contracts, more integration, and potentially, more pressure for Musk to spin out Starlink or the Optimus project to open up the potential for military application.

Decades of levelling up the War tech machine

The US is positioning its defence industry as a growth engine. It’ll be high tech, armed to the teeth and ready to deploy anywhere on earth in an instant.

The expansion won’t stop at America’s borders. Expect allied nations, the UK, Australia, Japan, even Europe to be roped into this new era of War Inc.

Supply chains, joint ventures, shared R&D… it’s all going to be globalised under a US-led Department of War umbrella.

And if JD Vance succeeds Trump in 2028 (which seems likely at least at this point) expect continuity. That means at least seven more years of War Inc. and maybe as much as 11.

I’d say Defence is back, but I don’t think it ever really left.

What I would say is that outside of AI and decentralised finance, defence looks to be the next most important, defining sector of the next decade.

The Department of War is here, War Inc. is getting ready to spend, spend, spend and as investors, there’s big generational wealth here for the long term.

Until next time,

Sam Volkering
Contributing Editor, Investor’s Daily

P.S. That bold red label — Department of War — signals more than just a name change. It’s a declaration of intent… and AI is right at the center of it. Surveillance. Drones. Command systems. It’s all being reimagined with artificial intelligence. And with one obscure $38 investment, Nick Hubble believes you can tap into every company fuelling this AI arms race — without going all-in on any single stock. See how it works here.