November 18, 2019 | International, C4ISR
By: Mark Pomerleau
Department of Defense officials routinely talk about the need to more fully embrace machine learning and artificial intelligence, but one leader in the Marine Corps said those efforts are falling short.
“We're not serious about AI. If we were serious about AI we would put all of our stuff into one location,” Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and the Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration, said at an AFCEA Northern Virginia chapter lunch Nov. 15.
Smith was broadly discussing the ability to provide technologies and data that's collected in large quantities and pushed to the battlefield and tactical edge. Smith said leaders want the ability to send data to a 50-60 Marine cell in the Philippines that might be surrounded by the Chinese. That means being able to manage the bandwidth and signature so that those forces aren't digitally targeted. That ability doesn't currently doesn't exist, he said.
He pointed to IBM's Watson computer, noting that the system is able to conduct machine learning and artificial intelligence because it connects to the internet, which allows it to draw from a much wider data pool to learn from. Military systems aren't traditionally connected to the broader commercial internet, and thus are limited from a machine learning sense.
“We have stovepipes of excellence everywhere from interagency, CIA, NSA. The Navy's got theirs, Marine Corps' got theirs, everybody's got theirs. You can't do AI when the machine can't learn from one pool of data,” he said.
Brown noted that he was not speaking on behalf of the entire department.
Pentagon leadership has come to similar conclusions. Top officials have noted that one of the critical roles the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud program will do is provide a central location for data.
“The warfighter needed enterprise cloud yesterday. Dominance in A.I. is not a question of software engineering. But instead, it's the result of combining capabilities at multiple levels: code, data, compute and continuous integration and continuous delivery. All of these require the provisioning of hyper-scale commercial cloud,” Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, director of the Joint AI Center, said in August. “For A.I. across DOD, enterprise cloud is existential. Without enterprise cloud, there is no A.I. at scale. A.I. will remain a series of small-scale stovepipe projects with little to no means to make A.I. available or useful to warfighters. That is, it will be too hard to develop, secure, update and use in the field. JEDI will provide on-demand, elastic compute at scale, data at scale, substantial network and transport advantages, DevOps and a secure operating environment at all classification levels.”
Overall, Smith said that industry should start calling out DoD when policies or technical requirements hinder what it can offer.
“If we're asking for something that is unobtanium or if our policies are keeping you from producing something we can buy, you've got to tell us,” he said
January 24, 2024 | International, Land
Germany which has already donated $6.5bn to Ukraine, and committed to $5.4bn by 2028, announced at teh latest meeting a further $8.2bn.
January 10, 2019 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
SSL continues to grow its small form-factor spacecraft business, leveraging the power of Maxar's broad space systems expertise PALO ALTO, CA, Jan. 10, 2019 /CNW/ - SSL, a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX:MAXR), and a leading provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, announced today that it is leveraging Maxar's combined capabilities for a contract to define requirements for a small form-factor satellite that will monitor and measure methane emissions from oil and gas facilities around the world. The satellite, named MethaneSAT, will enable Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to change the way we detect and analyze methane emissions and understand and combat climate change. Following design development, EDF anticipates awarding a contract in 2019 for the final design and manufacturing of the satellite. MethaneSAT will provide global, high-resolution detection of methane emissions from regions that account for over 80 percent of global oil and gas production on a weekly basis. The satellite's high precision will enable it to detect and quantify both high- and low-emission sources and accurately attribute them to relevant oil and gas infrastructure. To enhance its solution, SSL is working together with Maxar's DigitalGlobe, which is the global leader in commercial high-resolution satellite imagery. DigitalGlobe will provide technical input on the satellite payload design and guidance on the overall mission plan. "SSL's decades of experience in developing reliable spacecraft systems, combined with the full suite of space capabilities offered by Maxar Technologies, uniquely positions us to provide solutions for advanced missions, such as MethaneSAT," said Richard White, president of SSL Government Systems. "We're honored to lead the charge in accelerating innovation for missions that reveal critical insights about our changing planet and help to build a better world." SSL is building momentum in its small form-factor and low Earth orbiting spacecraft business with competitive solutions for government and commercial customers. In addition to designing MethaneSAT, the company is: Building DigitalGlobe's next-generation, high-resolution WorldView Legion constellation, which will more than double DigitalGlobe's capacity in important regions; Continuing to provide Earth observation satellites to Planet, with 13 SSL-built SkySats currently operating on orbit; And developing small to medium satellite solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense under the Small Spacecraft Prototyping Engineering Development and Integration (SSPEDI) award. See other ways that Maxar Technologies provides technologies and applications that Build a Better World. About SSL SSL, based in Palo Alto, California, is a leading provider of advanced spacecraft systems, with broad expertise to support commercial and government satellite operators and innovative space missions. The company designs and manufactures spacecraft for services such as direct-to-home television, video content distribution, broadband internet, mobile communications, in-orbit servicing, space exploration, and Earth observation. As a Silicon Valley innovator for 60 years, SSL's advanced product line includes state-of-the-art small satellites, and sophisticated robotics and autonomous solutions for remote operations. SSL is a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR). For more information, visit www.sslmda.com. About Environmental Defense Fund Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org), a leading international nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships. Connect with us on EDF Voices, Twitter and Facebook. About Maxar Technologies As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar Technologies is at the nexus of the new space economy, developing and sustaining the infrastructure and delivering the information, services, systems that unlock the promise of space for commercial and government markets. As a trusted partner, Maxar Technologies provides vertically integrated capabilities and expertise including satellites, Earth imagery, robotics, geospatial data and analytics to help customers anticipate and address their most complex mission-critical challenges with confidence. With more than 6,500 employees in over 30 global locations, the Maxar Technologies portfolio of commercial space brands includes MDA, SSL, DigitalGlobe and Radiant Solutions. Every day, billions of people rely on Maxar to communicate, share information and data, and deliver insights that Build a Better World. Maxar trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/maxar-s-ssl-selected-to-define-small-satellite-requirements-for-environmental-defense-fund-848303493.html
February 15, 2023 | International, C4ISR
The company, which unseated Airbus in operating the satellite constellation, is expected to take full control in 2024.