May 3, 2023 | International, C4ISR
US cyber leaders look to AI to augment network activities
If planes can fly and land using autopilot, ARCYBER boss Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett said, it is "not scary to run a network in an automated way."
July 19, 2018 | International, C4ISR
Germany wants its own version of DARPA, and within the year
COLOGNE, Germany — Germany Defence and Interior ministry officials are pushing for the creation of a new agency this year that will study disruptive technologies relevant to Germany's defense and security.
A decision on the way forward is expected “shortly,” a Defence Ministry spokesman told Defense News on Wednesday. Planning is underway to get the green light from the Finance Ministry, a necessary step because the agency would be set up as an “in-house” limited liability corporation, according to the spokesman.
If all goes according to plan, insiders believe Cabinet-level consideration of the effort could come as early as September. While there is no official word on the exact timing, the spokesman said creating the agency is firmly on the calendar for 2018.
The full name for the outfit is “Agentur für Disruptive Innovationen in der Cybersicherheit und Schlüsseltechnologien,” or ADIC. Its name first popped up in the coalition-government agreement between Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and Social Democrats in March.
The document postulated that the agency, overseen by the two ministries for interior and exterior security, would help ensure Germany's “technological innovation leadership.” Also requested in that document was the creation of an “IT security fund” that would help protect related key technologies.
Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen referred to the coming agency in a speech in May, equating its purpose to that of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, otherwise known as DARPA.
She presented the idea as part of a wider plan toward deep-futures thinking on cybersecurity matters, which also includes a study program at the Bundeswehr University in Munich.
Under the relatively new shift to emphasize all things cyber in the German military, the Defence Ministry's Cyber Innovation Hub, created last year, is slated to survey the domestic technology startup scene for ideas with potential military application.
Asked by Defense News what status the upcoming agency will accord to the field of artificial intelligence, ministry officials responded that such projects “generally” would be eligible to receive temporary funding if they are deemed relevant to the mission.
Much remains unknown about the German military's approach to artificial intelligence, famously dubbed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last year as the technology that holds the key to ruling the world.
“The research area of artificial intelligence and potential applications by the Bundeswehr are being substantively reviewed,” the defense spokesman said. Whether the new ADIC or any of the existing organizations inside the Defence Ministry would get involved remains an open question, he added.
Some experts fear Germany is falling behind the the United States' and China's enormous efforts in artificial intelligence, though government officials have said they believe the country's talent base and emerging policy framework can ensure success.
A whitepaper released Wednesday by the Cabinet agency leading the push on AI, the Ministry of Education and Research, proclaimed the goal of making German-made AI a “seal of quality recognized all over the world.”
The document will lead to a more comprehensive strategy by late November. It makes no explicit mention of any military or defense applications.
Efforts already exist within the armed forces and the wider government to employ data-mining and predictive-analysis tools, which fall under the broader definition of artificial intelligence. For example, defense officials have touted experiments with a forecasting application developed to predict worldwide crises.
Officials also try to play up the Bundeswehr's geekiness in its search for new recruits. A current online marketing campaign showcases the career field of a Bundeswehr University professor employing AI techniques to analyze terror attacks for patterns.
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October 15, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Army-developed multimission launcher ‘off the table’
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army spent years internally developing its own multimission launcher for the Indirect Fires Protection Capability program — designed to counter threats like rockets, artillery and mortars as well as cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft systems. But that grand plan is now officially off the table. The service has purchased two Rafael-made Iron Dome systems as an interim solution to get after the cruise missile defense capability gap, but it's taken a step back to rethink its enduring IFPC program strategy. While much is up in the air, it's certain that the launcher that will ultimately be part of the IFPC program won't be the MML. “It'll be something different that we will develop,” Brig. Gen. Brian Gibson, who is in charge of the Army's air-and-missile defense modernization, told Defense News at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. As of 2016, the Army had spent $119 million to build MML prototypes, which included owning the technical data rights. The cost of developing the system outside of the Army would have been about three times as much according to the service at the time. Over the course of its development, the launcher was able to defeat a cruise missile target and an unmanned aircraft system using an AIM-9X missile at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, and fired the Miniature Hit-to-Kill (MHTK) and Tamir missiles as well. The U.S. Army had awarded three $2.6 million contracts in the summer of 2018 for the first phase of a program to find a second interceptor — the Expanded Mission Area Missile (EMAM) — for the MML. Also already selected was the first interceptor for the launcher, the Sidewinder. Lockheed Martin's MHTK missile and two missiles from Raytheon were chosen to be qualified for the launcher: Sky Hunter, the U.S. version of the Iron Dome missile Tamir; and the Accelerated Improved Interceptor Initiative missile. The effort to qualify the MHTK has been paused, Scott Arnold, Lockheed Martin's vice president and deputy of integrated air-and-missile defense with the company's Missiles and Fire Control business, said at AUSA. The company did not have an intercept test, but was able to move the MHTK missile through some testing prior to the Army's decision to pause the program. The Army may take technologies developed as part of the MML effort and spiral them into a future launcher, “but there were a lot of things, with all the right reasons, that launcher turned out the way it did,” Gibson said. An assessment of the launcher determined it was not sufficient for an enduring capability, he added. “All the variables of when you define a new piece of hardware matter and, for air defense, it really comes down to angles you launch things at, whether it's vertical or whether it's horizontal, and the applicability of how many different interceptors potentially you can put in,” Gibson said. “Those are all lessons learned from MML and it matters on the threat set.” The one-star added that he is confident the Army is capable of developing something appropriate on the right timeline when it comes to a launcher for the enduring IFPC plan. And while the service doesn't want to buy beyond the two batteries of Iron Dome already purchased, the Army is considering the feasibility of taking its launcher and missiles for the future IFPC program. The Army has until the end of 2023 to field an initial enduring capability or, by law, will have to buy more interim Iron Dome systems. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2019/10/15/army-developed-multimission-launcher-off-the-table
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August 13, 2024 | International, Aerospace
Space Force, allies craft global supply chain strategy
Space Force says the strategy could be completed in within the next year.