Mission AI at the Edge: Equipped, Not Disconnected

Getting new capability into the field should not take years. A U.S. Army aviation digital transformation lead and a mission engineering VP on what changes after AI is actually fielded. Recorded August 26, 2026. Hosted by FedInsider. Edge and enterprise are usually described as two separate worlds. This conversation argues they are one system with an unreliable link between them, and that the hard problem is not running AI in a tent. It is reconciling what happened at the edge with the systems of record once connectivity comes back. The panel draws on recent Army exercises, including Project Convergence Capstone 6 and Scarlet Dragon 26-01, where AI systems ran on ruggedized edge servers to support operational planning and intelligence workflows without reachback to enterprise sources. WHAT THE PANEL COVERS Why enterprise systems break down at the flight line, and what hybrid cloud and edge architecture change How authorization to operate works for AI software, including containerized and continuous ATO pathways What "fully disconnected" means in practice: pre-staged data, local models, and the cost of losing reachback Reconciling edge decisions and repairs back into systems of record after comms are restored How acquisition reform moves requirements in parallel rather than in sequence Why forward deployed engineers work best in small doses, roughly eight hours across eight weeks, so units own the capability The wrong metrics (tokens consumed, documents generated) and the right ones (outcomes for the operating unit) Why trust takes time, and how surfacing citations and source context shortens it When a small, tightly scoped local model beats a frontier model that lacks the manuals Time to value measured from first measurable outcome, not first install Why digital transformation is roughly ten percent technology and ninety percent people LINKS Full summary and transcript https://www.legionintel.com/resources... Request a Centurion evaluation https://www.legionintel.com/centurion... LinkedIn   / legion-intel   SPEAKERS CW4 Reginald Oliver, Chief Digital Transformation Officer, Capability Program Executive Aviation, U.S. Army Nick Weir, VP of Mission Engineering, Legion Intelligence Mark Krzysko, Moderator and Contributing Editor, FedInsider PRESENTED BY FedInsider, Carahsoft, Legion Intelligence, and the George Washington University College of Professional Studies ABOUT LEGION INTELLIGENCE Legion Intelligence builds governed agentic AI for national security. Legion connects the systems, data, and workflows teams already use so AI agents carry out real work with full attribution and human oversight. It deploys across cloud, on-prem, air-gapped, and edge environments, including Centurion by Legion Intelligence, a deployable edge system built for denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited (DDIL) conditions. #edgeai #defenseai #agenticai #nationalsecurity #pcc6 #armyaviation #ddil