Navy Adm. Samuel Paparo Wins 2026 Wash100 Award
for Advancing Essential Emerging Tech
Executive Mosaic is elated to honor Adm. Samuel Paparo, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief, as a 2026 Wash100 Award winner for his work championing critical emerging technologies required for success in future combat.
Adm. Paparo is a highly-decorated sailor with a long track record of success. He has accumulated over 6,000 flight hours as a naval aviator in platforms including the F-14, F-15 and F/A-18 with 1,100 carrier landings.
As U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief, Adm. Paparo directs 380,000 service members and Department of War civilians and is responsible for all Pentagon activities in the region, which covers 36 nations, 14 time zones and 60 percent of the world’s population.
The 2026 Wash100 Award popular vote competition is in its final phase! Vote for Adm. Samuel Paparo and other top GovCon leaders today at Wash100.com.
Why Is Samuel Paparo Winning a 2026 Wash100 Award?
Influential Leadership
Adm. Paparo is one of the most influential leaders in the Pentagon as his focus on rapid experimentation has helped the Pentagon bolster its critical emerging technologies. Testing in realistic scenarios through programs like Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve helps the DOW address integration of new capabilities, examine prototype maturity and refine concepts of operations critical to success in future warfare.
“Adm. Paparo’s selection as a 2026 Wash100 Award recipient reflects his forward-leaning leadership in advancing emerging technologies, including large autonomous systems, to strengthen the U.S. warfighting advantage,” said Jim Garrettson, Executive Mosaic CEO and founder of the Wash100 Award.
“He has also elevated national awareness of China’s shipbuilding pace while deepening alliances across the Indo-Pacific, leading more than 100 joint exercises, including 20 major operations with partner nations.
“This recognition underscores his significant contributions and the continued impact we expect from his leadership in 2026,” Garrettson continued.
Adm. Paparo encourages the Pentagon’s pursuit of large, autonomous and low-cost unmanned systems to deny its near-peer enemies of air or maritime superiority.
“This gets back to that…changing character of warfare,” Paparo said, according to Breaking Defense. “The commoditization of drones has made assault more costly…Having the kind of capability that can be quickly deployed in that space and make assault cost-prohibitive, will inherently benefit a denial defense.”
Innovative Military Strategist
Adm. Paparo is a proponent of the Hellscape concept, which leverages the Pentagon’s efforts to quickly acquire and deliver large numbers of unmanned systems, the Washington Post has reported. Hellscape would deploy thousands of unmanned aircraft, surface ships and submarines to flood the Taiwan Strait in response to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and give the Pentagon, Taiwan and other partner forces time to mount a full response.
Who Is Samuel Paparo?
Adm. Paparo is a distinguished military professional who emphasizes alternative strategies to both deterring, and winning in, combat. He is a proponent of integrating information operations, which he described as reshaping modern conflict, into every aspect of Navy strategy. Information operations includes the collection of tactical information about an adversary, in addition to the dissemination of propaganda in an effort to gain a competitive advantage over an opponent, according to RAND.
Adm. Paparo also supports diplomacy to reduce the odds of warfare. He previously had a conversation with the head of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command where the two had a professional and courteous exchange of information to ensure there were no miscalculations, Defense One reported. Adm. Paparo believes that strong alliances and partnerships based on shared values are an asymmetric advantage against potential adversaries and that the interconnectedness of global threats requires an unified approach.
He understands the importance of land forces, and not just naval forces, to future U.S. military success. Adm. Paparo told the 2025 Land Forces Pacific Symposium that land forces are indispensable because “human beings live on the land” and all joint force functions intertwine with land-based operations.
“The asymmetric advantage against our would-be adversaries is this friendship, this network of orientations and partners,” he said at LANPAC.
Adm. Paparo encourages the responsible use of artificial intelligence. He believes these tools can improve decision-making and bolster joint force operations, but there must always be a human in-the-loop when it comes to offensive power.
In addition to his prestigious amount of flight hours, Adm. Paparo has also spent time on the ground in Afghanistan, commanding a provincial reconstruction team made of more than 100 troops in Nuristan province in 2007, according to Navy Times. He rose up the ranks to command U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Fifth Fleet/Combined Maritime Forces and to lead U.S. Pacific Fleet. He commissioned into the Navy in 1987 after graduating from Villanova University.
What Does Samuel Paparo’s Success Mean for GovCon?
Government contractors can expect Adm. Paparo to continue pushing for rapid experimentation and acquisition of advanced emerging technologies like autonomous unmanned systems and advanced missiles and space-based capabilities as the Pentagon prepares for combat against near-peer adversaries.
Congratulations to Adm. Samuel Paparo on his 2026 Wash100 Award!
Cast your vote for Adm. Paparo in the 2026 Wash100 popular vote competition.