Watchdog: 75 percent of sub and aircraft carrier maintenance ended late in recent years

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  October 3, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  DARPA Selects Teams to Explore Underground Domain in Subterranean Challenge

  Self-funded teams also invited to compete; media teleconference with program manager Sept. 27 OUTREACH@DARPA.MIL The world beneath us leaves much to be discovered. These uncharted environments pose immense challenges to military and emergency personnel as they respond to threats from adversaries or natural disasters. DARPA has selected nine teams to compete in the Subterranean (SubT) Challenge – seven in the physical Systems track and two in the Virtual track – to develop new approaches to rapidly map, navigate, and search underground environments. The competition seeks to better equip warfighters and first responders to explore human-made tunnel systems, urban underground, and natural cave networks that are too dangerous, dark, or deep to risk human lives. SubT program manager, Timothy Chung, will be available for media Q&A at noon EDT, Sept. 27. Interested reporters must contact outreach@darpa.mil for teleconference details. The SubT Challenge physical Systems and software-focused Virtual competitions aim to create a community of multi-disciplinary teams from distinct fields to foster breakthrough technologies in autonomy, perception, networking, and mobility for underground environments. Teams in the Systems competition will develop and demonstrate physical systems in real-world environments. DARPA has selected seven teams to compete in the funded track of the Systems competition: Carnegie Mellon University Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia iRobot Defense Holdings, Inc. dba Endeavor Robotics Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology University of Colorado, Boulder University of Nevada, Reno University of Pennsylvania Teams in the Virtual competition will use simulation models and physics-based environments focusing on software-driven advances. The following organizations have received a contract to compete in the DARPA-funded track of the Virtual competition: Michigan Technological University Scientific Systems Company, Inc. Teams participating in the challenge will be tasked with designing and developing novel solutions that address the challenges of subterranean environments in circuits for each of the subdomains to include tunnel systems, urban underground, and natural cave networks, culminating with a final event encompassing elements from all three environments. DARPA also is seeking self-funded competitors for both the Systems and Virtual competitions. Self-funded teams will compete for prizes in each of the subdomain circuits. DARPA-funded and self-funded teams will vie for a $2 million prize in the Systems track, while the winner of the Virtual track will earn a $750,000 prize. Competitors Day will take place Thursday, Sept. 27, to convey the vision, schedule, registration information, and additional details for the DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge, engage potential entrants, and provide a forum for technical exchange and teaming opportunities. For additional information on the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, please visit www.subtchallenge.com. Please email questions to SubTChallenge@darpa.mil. Image Caption: The DARPA Subterranean Challenge explores innovative approaches and new technologies to rapidly map, navigate, and search complex underground environments. Click below for high-resolution image. # # # Media with inquiries should contact DARPA Public Affairs at outreach@darpa.mil Associated images posted on www.darpa.mil and video posted at www.youtube.com/darpatv may be reused according to the terms of the DARPA User Agreement, available here: http://go.usa.gov/cuTXR. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2018-09-26

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  August 6, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  Can a dragonfly teach a missile how to hunt?

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — A computational neuroscientist is studying whether a dragonfly's excellent hunting skills can be replicated in a missile's ability to maneuver and destroy targets midair with better precision. Dragonflies are vicious little creatures with a hit-to-kill track record of 95 percent, meaning only 5 percent of its prey escapes. Sandia National Laboratories' Frances Chance is building algorithms that simulate how a dragonfly processes information when intercepting prey, and she's testing them in a virtual environment. So far, the results are promising. The laboratories are federally funded and focus on national security missions through scientific and engineering research. The project is a yearlong, high-risk, high-gain effort that will wrap up in September, and it is funded by Sandia's Autonomy for Hypersonics Mission Campaign, Chance said. “I think what is really interesting about insects, in general, is they do something really fast and really well, but they are not particularly smart in the way you or I would think of ourselves as being smart,” Chance told Defense News in a recent interview. While insects may not be the right fit for studying cognitive capabilities to develop complex artificial intelligence, they are ideal for developing efficient computations for intercept capability. A dragonfly can react to a particular prey's maneuvers in 50 milliseconds, Chance explained. That amount of time accounts for information to cross three neurons in a dragonfly's brain. This indicates the dragonfly doesn't learn how to hunt, but rather the skill is inherent and part of its brain's hard-wiring. “The challenge then is: Is there anything that we can learn from how dragonflies do this that we can then bring to the next generation of missiles, or maybe even the next-next generation of missiles?” Chance said. By developing an artificial neural network that mimics a dragonfly's ability to hunt and then applying it to missile capabilities that rely on computation-heavy systems, one could reduce the size, weight and power needed for a missile's onboard computers; improve intercept techniques for targets such as hypersonic weapons; and home in on targets using simpler sensors. If the model of a dragonfly's neural circuit developed through Chance's research shows enough promise, she would then pass the information to scientists, who would try to directly apply it to weapons systems. One of the greatest leaps involves adapting an algorithm to handle the speed at which a missile flies. While a dragonfly is fast, it's not nearly as fast as a missile. Animal brains process information significantly slower than a computer, so it's possible computations can be sped up to better align with the speed at which a missile approaches targets. “The hope is that even if the algorithm isn't wildly successful, you might be able to say something about what you can get away with in terms of what types of capabilities you give the next generation of weapons,” Chance said. The model she's building is several steps removed from implementation onto a weapon. “I would consider the project complete when we have a viable model — ‘viable' meaning it does interception — and a bonus if it's neurobiologically plausible. There is no reason to force that for this type of research, but only because it doesn't necessarily matter; so something biologically inspired that works I would consider a success.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/land/2019/08/05/can-a-dragonfly-teach-a-missile-how-to-hunt/

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  March 19, 2021 | International, Aerospace

  Estimated development costs for the F-35′s modernization program increased by $1.9B in a year

  Block 4 development costs will reach an estimated $14.4 billion, the Government Accountability Office found.