U.S. Military Investments in Autonomy and AI .”The FY2021 U.S. defense budget request allocates $1.7 billion to autonomy to enhance “speed of maneuver and lethality in contested environments” and the development of “human/machine teaming,” as well as $800 million to AI, building on previous funds directed to the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) and Project Maven.”
Department of Defense announces $197.2 million for microelectronics. “The RAMP Phase 1 Other Transaction awards totaling $24.5M will be awarded to Microsoft and IBM to advance commercial leading-edge microelectronics physical “back-end” design methods with measurable security.”
Anduril adapts tech to detect cruise missiles in US Air Force demo. “… this is not science fiction,” he added. Anduril “really demonstrated these systems at White Sands a few weeks ago without a human in the loop, a network of sensor systems, both the ones that we built and fielded, and legacy systems that we integrated into Lattice. … It is able to autonomously identify, classify, detect and track multiple cruise missiles.”
Mission assurance: NRL space research group to validate SDA satellite interoperability. “”NRL will test various payloads produced through two different SDA contracts against each other to ensure compatibility before certifying for launch. Interoperability testing between subsets of these satellites is critical to the validation of SDA vendor spacecraft,” Chibert said.”
DoD establishes joint hypersonic transition office systems engineering field activity at NSWC Crane. “More than three hundred people at Crane are working to advance hypersonic technologies and the enabling capabilities to make them possible.”
US developed hypersonic missile hit within 6 inches of target, says Army secretary. “Lockheed Martin is serving as the lead weapons integrator for the system onto a mobile truck, and Dynetics Technical Solutions is the first to learn how to build the glide body for production.”
Trump’s security hawks call distributed ledgers ‘critical’ in US-China tech arms race. “DLT is one of 20 focus areas on the National Security Council’s “critical and emerging technologies” shortlist, released Thursday.” One of twenty doesn’t sound so resounding.
DHS’s innovation program brings in 5 more blockchain startups. “The idea is that if blockchain technology can support the security of a digital currency like bitcoin, it also can serve as the backbone for a system of licenses or certificates.”
NAVSEA: Analysis of ship repair processes led to better on-time rates, more realistic schedules. “Bill Galinis told USNI News that the Navy had gone from more than 7,000 lost days in FY 2019 to just 1,100 in FY 2020 due to maintenance overruns and was on track to continue lowering that closer to zero.”
US Air Force looks to advanced manufacturing to keep existing aircraft flying and develop next-gen capabilities. “Approximately 60% of our supply chain is either single sourced, or involves parts that are no longer available through traditional manufacturing. The Air Force is serious about adopting advanced manufacturing to support breakthroughs for both our existing aircraft fleets, and for the design of future aircraft.”
The constellation frigate: don’t give up the ship for the cost-cap. “Cost caps dominated the effort to develop the Burke’s final detailed design. And these last few cost-driven design changes were the ones that have compromised the Burke’s continued viability as America’s high-end surface combatant.”
DoD space agency driving Pentagon contractors to rethink their price points. “The Space Development Agency is buying 20 communications satellites for about $14 million apiece, and eight missile-warning satellites for about $43 million per unit… the agency plans to use multiple suppliers so it doesn’t become “vendor-locked” like many Pentagon programs where there is no competition.”
Army ammo plants at the end of the rope: Jette. “It doesn’t sound like that new strategy will be reflected in the Army’s budget submission for 2022, however, nor in the associated Program Objective Memorandum (POM) for 2022-2026.”
Success of JADC2 depends upon relevant and actionable data. “We’re doing real-time detection and fusion into a single track, which gives operators all the real-time information they need to make decisions.”
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