Space Force to share internal digital models with industry

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  28 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Three European air forces approve performance benchmarks for next-gen fighter jet

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The air forces of Germany, France and Spain have agreed on a set of performance benchmarks to help their governments guide the development of a next-generation fighter jet set to fly in 2040, the German military announced Tuesday in a statement. The document, approved earlier this month, is meant to help officials identify what features from a collection of 10 possible system architectures are worth keeping when the time comes to settle on a path forward for the Next-Generation Weapon System, or NGWS. That system, with the manned next-gen fighter at its heart, is slated to become the central element of the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, the most ambitious and expensive weapons program in mainland Europe. As envisioned, a small fleet of attack and surveillance drones, or “remote carriers,” would accompany each jet, and all elements would be interlinked by an artificial intelligence-powered “combat cloud,” according to a project description. The 10 different system architectures for NGWS currently in the mix lean in different directions — for example, when it comes to armaments, maneuverability and range of the main jet and its companion drones, the German Bundeswehr statement explained. The three air force top officials — Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz of Germany, Gen. Philippe Lavigne of France and Javier Fernandez of Spain — also agreed on a “Common Understanding Connectivity,” a guide for connecting national systems into the future FCAS scenario. The document will enable the program's partner nations to “synchronize” their respective development programs, according to the German statement. The industry leads for the Future Combat Air System program, Airbus of Germany and Dassault of France, unveiled a mock-up of the future fighter jet at the Paris Air Show last year. The plan is to begin testing a prototype in 2026. Earlier this year, France and Germany formally kicked off the next phase of the overall program, with each government contributing $85 million toward the development of technology demonstrators. German lawmakers, who fear an overtly strong French industry influence in the FCAS program, have linked the project to progress on the Main Ground Combat System, another highly visible bilateral program aimed at building a common battle tank. France has the lead on the next-generation fighter, while Germany leads the tank project. The German parliament's strategy of keeping a close watch on the aerial program by approving only relatively small tranches of money has Dassault CEO Eric Trappier worried about the ability to hit deadlines, French newspaper La Tribune reported last week. Speaking before a French Senate committee in mid-May, Trappier proposed a Franco-German programming law to ensure a more rapid development pace, according to the newspaper. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/05/26/three-european-air-forces-approve-performance-benchmarks-for-next-gen-fighter-jet/

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  11 septembre 2018 | International, C4ISR

  DARPA’s new $2 billion initiative for next-level AI

  By: Mike Gruss Leaders at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced Sept. 7 a $2 billion initiative, known as AI Next, that aims to substantially improve artificial intelligence research. “With AI Next, we are making multiple research investments aimed at transforming computers from specialized tools to partners in problem-solving,” Steven Walker, the agency's director, said in a press release. “Today, machines lack contextual reasoning capabilities, and their training must cover every eventuality, which is not only costly, but ultimately impossible. We want to explore how machines can acquire human-like communication and reasoning capabilities, with the ability to recognize new situations and environments and adapt to them.” As a result of the effort, DARPA leaders envision improving day-to-day processes, such as vetting for security clearances in a week or accrediting software systems for operational deployment in a day or less. DARPA said it plans to announce multiple broad agency announcements in the next year. The announcement marks the second major artificial intelligence-related initiative in the last three months. In late June, the Department of Defense announced its Joint AI Center, which is expected to help provide a road map for the department's nearly 600 AI-related programs, including the controversial Project Maven program. The funding is a parallel effort to the Department of Defense's Joint AI Center, known as JAIC, which is expected to cost about $1.7 billion in the coming years. That program is run through the DOD CIO's office and is expected to focus more on applications for artificial intelligence while the DARPA programs will concentrate on answering questions related to the “foundational science” related to AI. DARPA has a history of working on AI project. It is currently funding about 20 AI related programs and said its initial funding on the topic dates back to the 1960s. Leaders describe the new investment as working toward what they call the third wave of AI. The first wave focused on rule-based systems for narrow tasks and a second wave has been used to find statistical patterns in large data sets. But DARPA leaders are describing a third wave as one of “contextual adaptation.” In a press conference at the conclusion of DARPA's D60 symposium, agency leaders said the new initiative would include a focus on explainable AI, in other words, how a machine arrived at its answer. They also said they expect a broader discussion of ethics related to artificial intelligence. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/09/10/darpas-new-2-billion-initiative-for-next-level-ai

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  3 décembre 2019 | International, C4ISR

  France’s armed forces minister: How AI figures into operational superiority

  By: Florence Parly Robot vs. human: This is the new battle in vogue. Ask Col. Gene Lee, a former fighter pilot and U.S. Air Force pilot trainer, defeated in 2016 by artificial intelligence in an air combat simulation. This specific AI program, even deprived of certain controls, is able to react 250 times faster than a human being. It is one story among many others of how AI technologies play and will play a leading role in operational superiority over the next decades. I personally choose not to oppose the human to the robot. There is no discussion of replacing human intelligence by artificial intelligence, but it will be essential in increasing our capabilities manyfold. AI is not a goal, per se; it must contribute to better-informed and faster decision-making for the benefit of our soldiers. AI means unprecedented intelligence capabilities. Crossing thousands of satellite images with data provided by the dark web in order to extract interesting links: This is what big-data analysis will make possible. AI also means better protection for our troops. To evacuate wounded personnel from the battlefield, to clear an itinerary or a mined terrain — as many perilous tasks that we will soon be able to delegate to robots. Lastly, AI means a stronger cyber defense. Cyber soldiers will be capable of countering at very high speed the increasingly stealthy, numerous and automated attacks that are threatening our systems and our economies. We have everything to win in embracing the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence. This is why the French Ministry of Armed Forces has decided to invest massively in this area. However, we are not naïve, and we do not ignore the risks associated with the development of emerging technologies such as AI. Hence, we chose to develop defense artificial intelligence according to three major principles: abiding by international law, maintaining sufficient human control and ensuring the permanent responsibility of the chain of command. To ensure daily compliance with these principles over the long term and to feed our ethical thought, as new uses of AI appear every day, I decided to create a ministerial ethics committee focused on defense issues. This committee will take office at the very end of this year and will come as an aid to decision-making and anticipation. Its main role will be to address questions raised by emerging technologies and their potential use in the defense field. At the heart of these questions stands an issue that is of interest but also of concern, both within the AI community and within civil society. It comes down to the lethal autonomous weapon systems that some call “killer robots” — weapon systems that would be able to operate without any form of human supervision, that would be able to alter the framework of the mission they are allocated or even assign new missions to themselves. It is important to know that such systems do not exist yet in today's theaters of operation. However, debating about them is legitimate. In fact, France did introduce this issue in 2013 to the United Nations in the framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. We do wish these discussions to continue in this multilateral framework, the only one that can eventually bring about a regulation of military autonomous systems, as it is the only one that is altogether universal, credible and efficient. We cannot rule out the risk of such weapons being developed one day by irresponsible states, or falling into the hands of nonstate actors. The need to federate with all other nations in the world is even more imperative. France defends its values, respects its international commitments and remains faithful to them. Our position is unambiguous and has been expressed in the clearest terms by President Emmanuel Macron: France refuses to entrust the decision of life or death to a machine that would act fully autonomously and escape any form of human control. Such systems are fundamentally contrary to all our principles. They have no operational interest for a state whose armed forces abide by international law, and we will not deploy any. Terminator will never march down the Champs-Elysées on Bastille Day. Florence Parly is the armed forces minister in France. https://www.defensenews.com/outlook/2019/12/02/frances-armed-forces-minister-how-ai-figures-into-operational-superiority/