Franchetti confident prototypes will usher in manned-unmanned fleet

On the same subject

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  December 8, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Taiwan F-16 upgrade aims for 2023 completion

  By Greg Waldron7 December 2020 Taiwan has upgraded 18 Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs to the new F-16V standard, and hopes to complete all 141 planned upgrades by 2023. In addition, 66 new F-16Vs from a 2019 deal with the US government will be completed by 2026, according to a recent report by Taiwan's Central News Agency, quoting the Taiwanese military. The work is being undertaken by local airframer AIDC with support from Lockheed. Taipei hopes to complete the upgrade work by 2023, a year later than originally planned. The report adds that the Taiwan F-16V fleet will feature the Raytheon ALQ-184 electronic countermeasures pod, which is consistent with US Air Force equipment. The upgrade affects the mission computer, airframe, cockpit instruments, and electronic warfare system. The jets will also receive an active electronically scanned array radar in the form of Northrop Grumman's Scalable Agile Beam Radar. The project involves AIDC essentially installing a kit originally developed by Lockheed. Taipei has an urgent need to upgrade its defence capabilities owing to increasing military pressure from China, which views the democratic island as a province. Beijing, which has rapidly developed its military over the last decade, regularly mounts probing flights to test Taiwan's air defences. https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/taiwan-f-16-upgrade-aims-for-2023-completion/141502.article?referrer=RSS

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  July 25, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Boeing proposes designs for new ICBM deterrent

  By Stephen Carlson July 24 (UPI) -- Boeing has proposed design options to the U.S. Air Force for design of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, a possible replacement for the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. "We offered the Air Force cost and performance trades for a deterrent that will address emerging and future threats," Frank McCall, vice president for Boeing Strategic Deterrence Systems, said in a press release. "By considering the various capabilities and opportunities for cost savings, the Air Force can prioritize system requirements as we progress toward the program's next phase," McCall said. Boeing received a $349 million contract from the Air Force last August for work on the GBSD, and completed a design review in November. A system functional review will be completed later this year, while Boeing is expected to present the completed design to the Air Force in 2020. Along with Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are competing for development contracts on the new missile. The Ground Based Strategic Deterrence program is the U.S. Air Force effort to replace the venerable LGM Minuteman II ICBM, which is nearing the end of its lifespan. Upgrades of the Minuteman series of ICBMs have been in service since the early 1960's. Much of its components are over 50 years old and making replacement necessary. The GDSM program is still in its early stages but is expected to start entering service in 2027 and is planned to be in service until 2075. The current Minuteman III is an underground silo-launched missile armed with nuclear warheads with up to a 350 kiloton yield. It has a range of well over 6,000 miles, though the exact maximum range classified. The Minuteman III can carry up to three multiple independent reentry vehicle warheads but is restricted to one per missile by treaty. The United States currently has 450 ICBMs in service. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2018/07/24/Boeing-proposes-designs-for-new-ICBM-deterrent/7861532445298

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  April 20, 2018 | International, C4ISR, Security

  DARPA official: To build trust in AI, machines must explain themselves

  By: Brandon Knapp Artificially intelligent systems must be able to explain themselves to operators if they are to be trusted, according to an expert from the Defense Advanced Research Agency, who voiced concern that methods used by current AI systems are often masked by mysterious algorithms. “A lot of the machine learning algorithms we're using today, I would tell you ‘good luck,” Fred Kennedy, the director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office during a panel at Navy League's Sea-Air-Space on April 10. “We have no idea why they know the difference between a cat and a baboon.” “If you start diving down into the neural net that's controlling it,” Kennedy continued, “you quickly discover that the features these algorithms are picking out have very little to do with how humans identify things.” Kennedy's comments were in response to Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Unmanned Systems Frank Kelley, who described the leap of faith operators must make when dealing with artificially intelligent systems. “You're throwing a master switch on and just praying to God that [Naval Research Laboratory] and John's Hopkins knew what the hell that they were doing,” Kelley said of the process. The key to building trust, according to Kennedy, lies with the machines. “The system has to tell us what it's thinking,” Dr. Kennedy said. “That's where the trust gets built. That's how we start to use and understand them.” DARPA's Explainable Artificial Intelligence program seeks to teach AI how to do just that. The program envisions systems that will have the ability to explain the rationale behind their decisions, characterize their strengths and weaknesses, and describe how they will behave in the future. Such capabilities are designed to improve teamwork between man and machine by encouraging warfighters to trust artificially intelligent systems. “It's always going to be about human-unmanned teaming,” said Kennedy. “There is no doubt about that.” https://www.defensenews.com/home/2018/04/10/darpa-official-to-build-trust-in-ai-machines-must-explain-themselves/