Abstract: Photonic integrated circuits (PICs), the optical counterpart of traditional electronic integrated circuits, are paving the way toward truly portable and highly accurate biochemical sensors for Department of Defense (DoD)-relevant applications. We introduce the fundamentals of PIC-based biochemical sensing and describe common PIC sensor architectures developed to-date for single-identification and spectroscopic sensor classes. We discuss DoD investments in PIC research and summarize current challenges. We also provide future research directions likely required to realize widespread application of PIC-based biochemical sensors. These research directions include materials research to optimize sensor components for multiplexed sensing; engineering improvements to enhance the practicality of PIC-based devices for field use; and the use of synthetic biology techniques to design new selective receptors for chemical and biological agents.