Now more than ever, the Defense Department is placing a premium on innovation, launching partnerships with Silicon Valley companies and finding ways for smaller firms to sell their wares to the Pentagon. At the same time, leadership has stressed to traditional defense contractors that they need to invest their own money on research and development if they want to keep the Pentagon as a customer.

With that in mind, here are 15 of the coolest, most cutting-edge weapons that defense firms and the Pentagon itself are developing for the near future.