L3Harris, BigBear.ai partner on autonomy for surface vessels

On the same subject

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  December 7, 2018 | International, Land, C4ISR

  The Army wants a self-directed combat vehicle to engage enemies

  By: Adam Stone While the commercial world tiptoes toward the notion of a self-driving car, the military is charging forward with efforts to make autonomy a defining characteristic of the battlefield. Guided by artificial intelligence, the next-generation combat vehicle now in development will have a range of autonomous capabilities. Researchers at Army's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) foresee these capabilities as a driving force in future combat. “Because it is autonomous, it can be out in front to find and engage the enemy while the soldiers remain safely in the rear,” said Osie David, chief engineer for CERDEC's mission command capabilities division. “It can draw fire and shoot back while allowing soldiers to increase their standoff distance.” Slated to come online in 2026, the next-gen combat vehicle won't be entirely self-driving. Rather, it will likely include a combination of autonomous and human-operated systems. To realize this vision, though, researchers will have to overcome a number of technical hurdles. Getting to autonomy An autonomous system would need to have reliable access to an information network in order to receive commands and relay intel to human operators. CERDEC's present work includes an effort to ensure such connections. “We need resilient comms in really radical environments — urban, desert, trees and forests. All those require new and different types of signal technologies and communications protocols,” David said. Developers also are thinking about the navigation. How would autonomous vehicles find their way in a combat environment in which adversaries could deny or degrade GPS signals? “Our role in this is to provide assured localization,” said Dr. Adam Schofield, integration systems branch chief for the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) division. In order for autonomous systems to navigate successfully, they've got to know where they are. If they rely solely on GPS, and that signal gets compromised, “that can severely degrade the mission and the operational effectiveness,” he said. CERDEC, therefore, is developing ways to ensure that autonomous systems can find their way, using LIDAR, visual cues and a range of other detection mechanisms to supplement GPS. “We want to use all the sensors that are on there to support PNT,” Schofield said. In one scenario, for example, the combat vehicle might turn to an unmanned air asset for ISR data in order to keep itself oriented. “As that UAV goes ahead, maybe it can get a better position fix in support of that autonomous vehicle,” he said. Even as researchers work out the details around comms and navigation, they also are looking to advances in artificial intelligence, or AI, to further empower autonomy. The AI edge AI will likely be a critical component in any self-directed combat vehicle. While such vehicles will ultimately be under human control, they will also have some capacity to make decisions on their own, with AI as the software engine driving those decisions. “AI is a critical enabler of autonomy,” said CERDEC AI expert Dr. Peter Schwartz. “If autonomy is the delegation of decision-making authority, in that case to a robotic system, you need some confidence that it is going to make the right decision, that it will behave in a way that you expect.” AI can help systems to reach that level of certainty, but there's still work to be done on this front. While the basics of machine learning are well-understood, the technology still requires further adaptation in order to fulfill a military-specific mission, the CERDEC experts said. “AI isn't always good at detecting military things,” David said. “It may be great at recognizing cats, because people post millions of pictures of cats on the internet, but there isn't an equally large data set of images of adversaries hiding in bushes.” As AI strategies evolve, military planners will be looking for techniques that enable the computer to differentiate objects and actions in a military-specific context. “We need special techniques and new data sets in order to train the AI to recognize these things in all different environments,” he said. “How do you identify an enemy tank and not confuse that with an ordinary tractor trailer? There has to be some refinement in that.” Despite such technical hurdles, the CERDEC team expressed confidence that autonomy will in fact be a central feature of tomorrow's ISR capability. They say the aim is create autonomous systems that can generate tactical information in support of war-fighter needs. “As we are creating new paradigms of autonomy, we want to keep it soldier-centric,” David said. “There is filtering and analyzing involved so you don't overwhelm the user with information, so you are just providing them with the critical information they need to make a decision.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2018/11/30/the-army-wants-a-self-directed-combat-vehicle-to-engage-enemies

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  June 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  This summer could be a make or break moment for US Air Force’s next fighter program

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is on track to finalize a business case for its ambitious next-generation fighter this summer, its top acquisition official said Tuesday, and the results could be a make or break moment for the program. The Air Force wants to radically shift its future fighter program — also known as Next Generation Air Dominance — to a model that the service's acquisition executive Will Roper calls the “Digital Century Series.” This model would use new development techniques like digital engineering, open architecture and advances in software development techniques like DevSecOps to field advanced aircraft more quickly and cheaply. At least, that's the theory. Last September, Roper told Defense News that the program's first order of business would be to present an acquisition strategy that would prove whether the Digital Century Series program is technologically feasible, how it should be structured and whether it would be cheaper than traditional forms of development. Now, the plan is almost ready, Roper said during a Tuesday event held by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “I hope to have the acquisition plan for NGAD rolling into the Digital Century Series this summer,” he said. “I don't want to go more specific than that and timeline and drumbeat for the team, because I have given them an unprecedented task.” The Digital Century Series is much different than the Air Force's initial sixth-generation fighter project, known as Penetrating Counter Air, which the service wanted to field the early 2030s. That jet would be part of a networked family of systems that include drones, sensors and other platforms formed after a decade of prototyping efforts. In contrast, the Digital Century Series model would require multiple defense contractors to develop new fighter jets in a matter of years using whatever technological advances have recently emerged. The Air Force would then downselect to a single vendor, buy a small number of aircraft and restart the process — allowing for companies to constantly be designing and producing planes. The entire process, Roper said, could take as little as five years. In October, Col. Dale White was named head of the program executive office for advanced aircraft, which manages the NGAD portfolio of systems and oversees the Digital Century Series acquisition plan. That program office will become PEO Fighters and Advanced Aircraft at the end of June, with White having been selected for promotion to brigadier general. The Air Force has asked for $1 billion for the NGAD program in fiscal 2021. It received $905 million for the program the previous year. However, it's likely the Air Force will need to greatly increase that sum in future budgets. Roper has projected that aircraft development under a Digital Century Series model could be more expensive than legacy methods due to having multiple companies under contract and requiring them to design and prototype aircraft very quickly. However, he also believes sustainment and modernization costs will be far lower. If that theory can be proved out in the acquisition strategy, Congress might more likely agree to fund an unconventional, experimental program. “How long we keep the aircraft is one of the variables that they are weighing [as part of the business case]. How many years make sense? It's clearly not two, three, four, five, but we don't want it to be 30 either. So they're looking at that,” Roper said Tuesday. “They're looking at the amount of modernization that would be expected — what we would expect that to cost and if it gets easier with digital tools. And then summing it all up to see whether the cost of having a lethal airplane per year is less than for the Digital Century Series model than for the traditional." “If it is, that is going to really help us, I hope, because we'll show that data and argue that it is not just better from a ‘competing with China and lethality' standpoint. It's just better from a business standpoint,” Roper said. “If it breaks even or is less [than traditional methods], I will be exceptionally happy. If it's more expensive — and I hope not exceptionally more — then we're going to have to argue” on behalf of the program. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/06/09/this-summer-could-be-a-make-or-break-moment-for-the-air-forces-next-fighter-program/

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  February 27, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Israeli firm sells over 150 drones to European country

  By: Seth J. Frantzman JERUSALEM — Bluebird Aero Systems has sold more than 150 vertical-takeoff-and-landing drones to an unnamed European country in a deal worth “tens of millions of euros,” the Israeli company announced Tuesday. The company, which makes WanderB and ThunderB tactical VTOL drones, said the customer will incorporate the two UAV types into infantry, armored, artillery and special forces units. The commander of the ground forces of the unnamed country provided a statement via Bluebird that said the government was impressed with the VTOL solution, as it will enable “high operational flexibility and provide invaluable real-time intelligence and situational awareness.” The VTOL design has been tested in harsh environments and proved reliable. The recently sold drones are expected to be deployed to enhance the capabilities of units adjusting to modern fighting methods, providing “advanced and reliable intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance capabilities to address the modern battlefield's challenges,” the commander said. The head of the country's special forces brigade command agreed with the ground forces commander that the long range and endurance of the man-packable and tactical UAVs will aid in rapid deployment with small units. The special forces leader added that the UAV is a fit for day and night use. Bluebird's unmanned aircraft systems have been operational with the Israel Defense Forces since 2002 and in other countries since 2006, where they have logged a total of 52,000 sorties. According to the recent edition of the Drone Databook at Bard College's Center for the Study of the Drone, Bluebird UAVs are also used by India, Chile and Ethiopia. These countries use the 9.5-kilogram SpyLite, which has a range of 50 kilometers. In contrast the ThunderB, which was sold in this contract, weighs 32 kilograms and has a range of 150 kilometers. It can also carry a small cargo under each wing, which Bluebird says can be used to drop “essential material” with an accurate ballistic trajectory. The WanderB is man-packable at 13 kilograms and a 50-kilometer range. It can be used to relay real-time surveillance using electro-optical/infrared payloads. Bluebird says the ThunderB is ideal for long, covert intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance missions. The Greek police have reportedly used SpyLite and ThunderB since 2014. And the WanderB has previously been offered to Spain. Bluebird is confident the latest deal will lead to additional European contracts. This deal adds to an overall trend of growth for Israeli companies in Europe as well as the expansion of the small and mini-UAV market. Israel's Elbit Systems sold more than 1,000 mini-drones in a $153 million deal last year to a southeast Asian country. More countries are seeking these smaller UAS solutions for tactical or special forces units in the field, including pairing drones with armored vehicles. This is especially the case as technology advances and units seek to modernize and network together fleets of drones. https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2020/02/26/israeli-firm-sells-over-150-drones-to-european-country/