August 12, 2020 | International, C4ISR
By THERESA HITCHENSon August 11, 2020 at 4:16 PM
WASHINGTON: As defense primes scramble to meet DoD's insatiable demand for AI and machine learning (ML) tools, Lockheed Martin is investing in startups like Fiddler with next-generation tech to help operators understand how autonomous systems actually work (and don't work) in the field.
“I think what everyone is seeing is that, as you go toward deploying an AI/ML system, people start questioning well, how does this thing work?,” Chris Moran, executive director and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures explained in an interview yesterday. “And how do you know, how are you sure, it's making the right decisions? And how can you change those decisions if they're the wrong ones?”
“You want to make sure that these things are behaving,” he added. “Fiddler provides some of that insight into how artificial intelligence is working. They're in what's called ‘explainable AI' space, so they can reveal things about how the neural network was created, and how it's made decisions, right, which gives people a level of comfort,” Moran said.
Lockheed Martin Ventures, the mega-prime's venture capital arm, announced its investment yesterday in Fiddler, a two-year-old Palo Alto startup.
According to the joint press release, the two firms will work together “on the development, testing and scaling of Fiddler's technology in applying explainable AI in the defense and aerospace industries. ... At the heart of Fiddler's Platform lies AI Explainability, which provides continuous insights understandable by humans to help build responsible, transparent, and fair AI systems.”
AI/ML and autonomy are two of the key focus areas for Lockheed Martin Ventures, which buys equity shares in infant companies interested in selling to both the defense commercial marketplace, Moran said.
Not only is DoD racing to deploy AI/ML capabilities for everything from killer drone swarms to spare parts management, such systems are being integrated into almost every civil market sector from aerospace to agriculture — meaning an almost guaranteed return on investment, Moran explained. That return is then re-channeled into future investments.
“AI is such a hot topic right now that every company, not just the Lockheeds and the Boeings and the Northrops, but every single Fortune 500 company, maybe even every Fortune 1000 company, has realized ‘wow, I can simplify my tasks and move some of these mundane things into autonomous system, and thereby have people work on more complicated things that maybe are not suited for autonomy'. So, everybody is trying to do this. Everybody!” Moran enthused. “There's a massive scramble for autonomy engineers, software, you name it.”
Another next-generation autonomous technology development that has caught Moran's eye for possible future investment is the advent of what he called “autonomy factories;” that is, the ability to automate the process of building neural networks that can then build autonomous systems, autonomously.
“What's happened is that companies are starting to figure out how to automate autonomy — how do you autonomously create neural networks and machine learning systems?” he said with a chuckle of amazement. “You know, necessity is the mother of invention.”
Moran and his team of some six scouts have a $200 million fund to bet on newbie entrepreneurs and their technology. Currently, he said, Lockheed Martin Ventures has an investment in 40-odd companies, across 18 focus areas ranging from AI to rockets and propulsion systems to quantum science.
The focus areas are determined by a conclave, usually held in March, with Lockheed Martin's business units, as well as via the Ventures team's own knowledge of the startup ecosystem, he explained. In addition, Lockheed Martin Ventures haunts the increasing number of DoD, and especially Air Force, “pitch days” in hopes of finding matches for the aerospace prime contractor's interests.
As Breaking D readers know, “pitch days” are one of the new methods being championed by acquisition czar Will Roper as a way for the service to harness commercial innovation. And the Air Force is one of Lockheed Martin's biggest customers, if not the biggest if you count space acquisitions.
The Ventures team invested in 10 startups last yea,r including one discovered at an Air Force pitch day, and is on a path to adding another 10 to its portfolio this year, Moran said. Finding those winners is an intensive process that involves scouting 700 to 1,000 startups per year, he explained.
Once a startup is chosen, Lockheed Martin Ventures gives it an opportunity to pitch ideas/products/services across all interested Lockheed Martin business areas.
“We have an internal, if you will, we call it ‘demo day,' that we're holding this week, and right now I think there are well over 100 Lockheed Martin engineers and technologists set up to listen to 12 or 13 of the portfolio companies that we've invested in the last year,” he said. “That's part of what we do as a service inside the company. And hopefully out of those discussions and presentations, there are further collaborations.”
Moran explained that those collaborations can include software licenses or contracts for services — and even, once a startup has established a larger market presence, traditional subcontractor ties.
And while investment allows Lockheed Martin Ventures to get in early on the startup's expertise and tech concepts, the prime contractor is not seeking to tie the hands of the entrepreneurs regarding clientele. Instead, he said, the objective is to grow the startup into the overall defense and aerospace industrial base.
“We're creating, eventually, a market for them,” Moran said. “And it's kind of a weird dynamic, but we give them money, and then my group goes off and works for them inside the company — so we're paying them for us to work. It's weird, but ... that money goes to supporting the small companies grow and scale so that they'll be around for when a Lockheed Martin or any large company wants to use their tools and services. So we look at it as a win-win.”
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/08/lockheed-martin-ventures-scouts-next-gen-ai-ml-tech
October 10, 2023 | International, C4ISR
The strategy pursues a two-lane approach to procuring launches -- one for emerging providers a second for rockets that can fly more demanding missions.
September 20, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Security
DÉFENSE Comme pour son Gripen, le constructeur suédois Saab a été éconduit par l'armée suisse dans le choix du nouveau système de surveillance de l'espace aérien. L'Américain Raytheon a aussi été écarté. C'est le Français Thalès qui a finalement été choisi. Le candidat français Thales avec le système Skyview devrait assurer à l'avenir la surveillance de l'espace aérien pour l'Armée suisse. La direction du programme Air2030 a suivi la recommandation de l'équipe d'experts. Le français Thales a été retenu en raison de son meilleur rapport qualité-prix, a indiqué le Département de la défense dans un communiqué jeudi. Les autres candidats étaient Saab (Suède) et Raytheon (Etats-Unis). L'acquisition fera l'objet d'une demande au Parlement dans le programme d'armement 2020. Le projet "C2Air" prévoit le remplacement des sous-systèmes Ralus/Lunas du système actuel de surveillance de l'espace aérien et de conduites des opérations aériennes des Forces aériennes suisses. Depuis 2005, l'espace aérien suisse est surveillé 24 heures sur 24 par Florako. https://www.lenouvelliste.ch/articles/suisse/surveillance-de-l-espace-aerien-la-suisse-choisit-le-systeme-skyview-du-francais-thales-867846
February 26, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Tewksbury, Mass., February 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company [NYSE: RTN] is enhancing the combat-proven Patriot(TM) Air and Missile Defense System under a $314 million task order for engineering services from the U.S. Army, awarded on January 30. The task order is funded by the 17 nations that rely on Patriot for integrated air and missile defense. This is the third of five annual, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity task order awards with a total contract ceiling of more than $2.3 billion. "These modernization efforts ensure Patriot continues to outpace the advancing and proliferating threat, and will be ready when needed," said Tom Laliberty, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business. "The 17-nation Patriot partnership shares the cost and reaps the benefit of continued investment in the system." Under the task order, Raytheon is providing comprehensive engineering services including systems, software and hardware development, integration and test services, configuration management and logistics support. Additionally, many of the project results will be incorporated into Patriot Post Deployment Build 8.1, a series of software and hardware capabilities, including: 1. New cutting edge methods to search, detect, track, discriminate, engage, and defeat a wide range of evolving threats including tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and military aircraft. 2. Integrating Warfighter Machine Interface into Patriot. WMI provides a total view of that battlespace, with 3-D visuals, easy-to-read status pages and search functions. As part of the contract, Raytheon is also: -- Enhancing the resilience of Patriot against evolving cyber threats -- Developing solutions that enhance readiness and reduce life cycle costs by making the system more reliable. -- Replacing obsolete parts of Patriot's communications system, enabling Patriot to reliably operate until the U.S. Army's new Integrated Air and Missile Defense command and control system comes on-line. Raytheon's Global Patriot Solutions is the most advanced, tactical air and missile defense system in the world, providing protection against a full range of advanced threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. About Raytheon Raytheon Company, with 2019 sales of $29 billion and 70,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 98 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I(®) products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter. Note to Editors The 17 Patriot Nations are: -- United States of America -- The Netherlands -- Germany -- Japan -- Israel -- Kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- Kuwait -- Taiwan -- Greece -- Spain -- Republic of Korea -- United Arab Emirates -- Qatar -- Romania -- Sweden -- Poland -- The Kingdom of Bahrain Media Contact Mike Nachshen +1.520.269.5697 idspr@raytheon.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-partners-invest-314-million-in-patriot-integrated-air-and-missile-defense-system-301010687.html SOURCE Raytheon Company