5W Launches Defense Practice as Citation Share in AI Engines Reorders the Defense Industry

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May 28, 2026, 10:30 ET

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- 5W, the AI Communications Firm, today announced the launch of its Defense Practice — a dedicated practice group serving U.S. defense primes, venture-backed defense-tech companies, space and aerospace firms, allied defense exporters, and the defense capital community.

The launch follows publication of the 5W Defense & Aerospace AI Visibility Index 2026 —which documented that Anduril Industries and Palantir Technologies together captured 35.0% of AI Citation Share in the U.S. defense and aerospace category — a higher combined share than the five largest legacy defense primes (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, Boeing Defense, and General Dynamics), which collectively accounted for 21.1%.

The two defense-tech companies operate at approximately $3.5 billion in combined annual revenue. The five legacy primes operate at approximately $247 billion. In the AI engines that buyers, journalists, congressional staff, and capital allocators now use to research the category, revenue is not predicting citation share.

"In a category where revenue has historically been the measure of weight, the AI systems we tested are surfacing a different pattern," said Ronn Torossian, founder and chairman of 5W. "Procurement officers research vendors in ChatGPT. Hill staff research programs in Claude. Allied attachés research capabilities in Perplexity. Capital research happens in Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Citation Share is where the category is being decided now. The 5W Defense Practice is built to measure it and move it."

What the Practice Does

The 5W Defense Practice combines public relations, digital marketing, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and proprietary AI visibility research to help defense and aerospace clients grow their presence across the AI platforms where category research now happens.

Core service lines include:

AI Visibility Research — Citation Share measurement across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, using the methodology established in the 5W Defense & Aerospace AI Visibility Index 2026, with category-specific prompt slates aligned to defense procurement, congressional appropriations, allied engagement, and capital markets research patterns.

Generative Engine Optimization for Defense — Structural content production designed to be selected, retrieved, and cited by AI engines — entity-rich, schema-marked, primary-sourced, and ITAR-aware.

Founder Communications — Individual-operator content programs tied to the observed pattern in 5W research: companies whose founders maintained public writing and long-form podcast activity during the testing window were associated with higher Citation Share than those whose founders did not.

Defense Trade and Business Press — Earned-media programs across the publications 5W's research identified as the most-cited sources in defense AI retrieval — including Defense News, Breaking Defense, The War Zone, War on the Rocks, and Defense One — alongside Reuters, Bloomberg, and the broader business press community.

Wikipedia Audit and Remediation — Structured audit and remediation of company and founder Wikipedia presence, given that Wikipedia accounted for 20.7% of cited sources in the 5W Defense Index — the single largest source across all five AI engines.

Crisis Communications for the Defense Vertical — Crisis response for ITAR exposure, classified-program incidents, and AI Crisis Archaeology — the persistent AI engine memory of historical reputational events that continues to shape current retrieval. 5W research documented that references to the Boeing 737 MAX appeared in 31% of Boeing Defense responses, F-35 cost-overrun discussions in 28% of Lockheed Martin responses, and Palantir contract-related discussions in 19% of Palantir responses — stable across both waves of testing.

Client Posture

The 5W Defense Practice operates under a structural confidentiality posture appropriate to the vertical. Communications work in defense operates inside classification perimeters, procurement-sensitivity windows, and ITAR boundaries. 5W does not name defense and aerospace clients in market communications.

About 5W

5W is the AI Communications Firm, building brand authority across the platforms where decisions now happen — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews — alongside earned media, digital, and influencer channels. 5W combines public relations, digital marketing, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and proprietary AI visibility research to help clients measure and grow their presence in AI-driven buyer research. Founded in 2003, 5W is recognized as a Top U.S. PR Agency by O'Dwyer's, named Agency of the Year in the American Business Awards®, honored as a 2026 Top Place to Work in Communications by Ragan, and named to Digiday's WorkLife Employer of the Year list. 5W serves clients across B2C sectors — Beauty & Fashion, Consumer Brands, Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Health & Wellness, Travel & Hospitality, Technology, and Nonprofit — and B2B specialties including Corporate Communications, Reputation Management, Public Affairs, Crisis Communications, and Digital Marketing across Social, Influencer, Paid Media, GEO, and SEO. Learn more at 5wpr.com.