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  November 25, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Turkish firm develops AI-powered software for drone swarms

  Burak Ege Bekdil ANKARA, Turkey — A privately owned Turkish company says it has developed an artificial intelligence-based software for swarm drones. MilSOFT announced Nov. 19 it developed the software after four years of research, and the the technology could be used in both fixed- and rotary-wing drone platforms. A government aerospace official said swarm drones would be used in Turkey's future unmanned aerial combat concept due to their low hardware costs and stealth technology. “These drones could be ideal in asymmetrical warfare. They are quick, cost-effective and easy to operate,” the official said. “Most importantly, they are assets designed to minimize human loss in asymmetrical warfare.” The Turkish military has been operating a big fleet of tactical and armed drones primarily in combat against Kurdish militants in Turkey's southeast provinces but also in cross-border operations in northern Syria and Iraq. Turkish drones have also been used in Libya's civil war and, most recently, in conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Many countries have yet to try drone swarm technology in a simulated, controlled environment. Turkey is among those that have the technology and the ability to test it in the field during operations. Turkey's top procurement office, the Presidency for Defense Industries, launched its Swarm UAV Technology Development and Demonstration program with a view to develop algorithms and software for the use of unmanned platforms with a swarm capability. The program is also meant to involve micro-scale companies as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. MilSOFT has specialized in software solutions since 1998, and it is one of the participants of the government-run program. It has been offering products to the Turkish military for tasks including identifying detection by automatic moving target technology using AI, and machine-learning techniques with image-processing algorithms. The company said with the integration of intelligence and image evaluation products, drone swarms can be updated with additional capabilities such as reconnaissance, detection, recognition, search and rescue, and vehicle tracking. MilSOFT's software-based solution will allow drone swarms to be launched from aerial, land and naval platforms, and the images they obtain will enter a central command system. In the meantime, the drone flocks will transfer images between different military units with a relay function. AI technology can help catch elements that cannot be caught by the human eye and enable multiple attack capabilities by arming vehicles in operation. MilSOFT's AI-based software is also expected to enable swarm drones to perform frontal attacks on command from helicopters and provide operational support to other friendly platforms. The drones can reportedly operate autonomously from the beginning to the end of a mission, and can be instantly monitored and controlled via intelligence applications. The UAVs have a flight time of more than half an hour and a payload capacity of 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). The vehicles work with landing gear that can land on rough terrain. While five UAVs are currently used in a herd in the field, this number can reach up to 25 in a controlled environment. MilSOFT aims to make a drone swarm of 50 operational vehicles. Communication between the drones is also provided by MilSOFT's own technology. Vehicles can communicate with each other from up to 500 meters. There is also a 10-kilometer network solution for data transfers. MilSOFT plans to integrate its technology for underwater and surface platforms as well as land vehicles. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/11/24/turkish-firm-develops-ai-powered-software-for-drone-swarms/

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  October 27, 2020 | International, Naval, C4ISR

  Rafael pitches naval capabilities to counter ‘asymmetric power projection’

  Seth J. Frantzman JERUSLAEM — Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is presenting a number of technologies during the Euronaval conference meant to counter “asymmetric power projection” at sea. The Israeli company is making its pitch to navies during the European maritime trade show, which is being held virtually this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ran Tavor, vice president of Rafael's naval systems business and a former Israeli Navy officer, said the company's offerings are divided by offensive and defensive purposes. For the former, it is offering naval versions of the Spike ER and NLOS missiles with increased range. The missiles are typically used by ground forces and on helicopters. The NLOS version can reach up to 32 kilometers, and the ER variant can reach up to 10 kilometers. The company says they can operate in GPS-denied environments and penetrate areas defended by electronic warfare systems. The weapons are equipped with electro-optical target automatic recognition as well as artificial intelligence to make them more lethal and precise. The Spike naval system is mounted with a launcher that has multiple cannisters for different systems in the missile family. “You don't need to be too close to the enemy, and this capability allows [it] to launch ship to ship and ship to shore," Tavor said, "and basically it is [a] relatively small footprint due to size and weight, and you can leverage a fast patrol boat to [become] a missile boat, so we change the way the fast patrol boat is used.” The missile systems are operational, but Rafael, like most Israeli defense companies, does not disclose where they have been sold outside of Israel. Rafael is also pitching its Typhoon naval remote weapon station that could be used to counter drones. The company says the platform is aided by multispectral sensors. The system fires 30mm rounds, which can prove ineffective against small drone targets at a distance that might have cross-sections of about 1 foot. Rafael has increased the weapon's magazine to 400 rounds to give it more firepower. Rafael is also showing off its C-GEM rocket decoy and fourth-generation Torbuster decoy for torpedo threats as another example of defensive technology. Tavor said the key to defense at sea is not any one item, but tailored solutions for navies that are part of an integrated, multilayered system involving a variety of sensors, algorithms and artificial intelligence to reduce the necessity for “man-in-the-loop” technology. “You need to detect, classify and engage to deal with a single threat, and if there is multiple-layer threats you are limited with [in terms of] line of sight and you have a big challenge — so here we come into play with all capabilities of detecting and classification and automatic tracking and automatic engagement,” he added The company reports that it has done business with 34 navies, including those of the U.S. and Australia, but doesn't identify other customers. http://https://www.c4isrnet.com/industry/2020/10/23/rafael-pitches-naval-capabilities-to-counter-asymmetric-power-projection/

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  January 7, 2019 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  Pentagon Seeks a List of Ethical Principles for Using AI in War

  BY PATRICK TUCKER An advisory board is drafting guidelines that may help shape worldwide norms for military artificial intelligence — and woo Silicon Valley to defense work. U.S. defense officials have asked the Defense Innovation Board for a set of ethical principles in the use of artificial intelligence in warfare. The principles are intended to guide a military whose interest in AI is accelerating — witness the new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center — and to reassure potential partners in Silicon Valley about how their AI products will be used. Today, the primary document laying out what the military can and can't do with AI is a 2012 doctrine that says a human being must have veto power over any action an autonomous system might take in combat. It's brief, just four pages, and doesn't touch on any of the uses of AI for decision support, predictive analytics, etc. where players like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others are making fast strides in commercial environments. “AI scientists have expressed concern about how DoD intends to use artificial intelligence. While the DoD has a policy on the role of autonomy in weapons, it currently lacks a broader policy on how it will use artificial intelligence across the broad range of military missions,” said Paul Scharre, the author of Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War. Josh Marcuse, executive director of the Defense Innovation Board, said crafting these principles will help the department “safely and responsibly” employ new technologies. “I think it's important when dealing with a field that's emergent to think through all the ramifications,” he said. The Board, a group of Silicon Valley corporate and thought leaders chaired by former Google and Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt, will make the list public at its June meeting. Defense Department leaders will take them under consideration. Marcuse believes that the Pentagon can be a leader not just in employing AI but in establishing guidelines for safe use — just as the military pioneered safety standards for aviation. “The Department of Defense should lead in this area as we have with other technologies in the past. I want to make sure the department is not just leading in developing AI for military purposes but also in developing ethics to use AI in military purposes,” he says. The effort, in part, is a response to what happened with the military's Project Maven, the Pentagon's flagship AI project with Google as its partner. The effort applied artificial intelligence to the vast store of video and and image footage that the Defense Department gathers to guide airstrikes. Defense officials emphasized repeatedly that the AI was intended only to cut down the workload of human analysts. But they also acknowledged that the ultimate goal was to help the military do what it does better, which sometimes means finding and killing humans. An employee revolt ensued at Google. Employees resigned en masse and the company said that they wouldn't renew the contract. Scharre, who leads the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said, “One of the challenges for things like Project Maven, which uses AItechnology to process drone video feeds, is that some scientists expressed concern about where the technology may be heading. A public set of AI principles will help clarify DoD's intentions regarding artificial intelligence.” Full artcile: https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2019/01/pentagon-seeks-list-ethical-principles-using-ai-war/153940/