Latest news: AI capabilities interlace all levels of military operation

The UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) have formalised a trilateral collaboration to drive forward critical artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity systems, the research outfits announced on 20 September 2024. 

By combining their efforts in AI and cybersecurity, the UK, US, and Canada aim to maintain a technological edge as geopolitical challenges grow more complex. 

According to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), this agreement is pivotal for cementing the close ties among the nations and further integrating their research and development (R&D) efforts. The collaboration aims to reduce duplication of research by sharing key insights and technologies across borders. 

In a recent statement, Dr Nick Joad, Director of Science and Technology at the UK MoD, emphasised the importance of the partnership, stating the collaboration is “one of our most vital and enduring partnerships”, added that advancing areas such as cybersecurity and AI is critical for national defence and ensuring security in an evolving global landscape. 

Among the first projects under this initiative is the CASTLE (Cyber Agents for Security Testing and Learning Environments) programme, which focuses on using AI to defend against advanced cyber threats autonomously. DARPA notes that CASTLE is designed to enable AI to autonomously detect, classify, and respond to cyber threats, reducing reliance on human operators, who can no longer keep pace with the volume of threats. 

The partnership will also address other areas of AI integration in defence. DARPA Director Stefanie Tompkins stressed the significance of trustworthy AI, citing the need to create resilient systems that can withstand attacks by skilled adversaries. 

GlobalData’s report “AI in Defence” supports this approach. According to GlobalData, the AI market is expected to reach $908.7bn by 2030, driven by a 35.2% compound annual growth rate. AI is increasingly seen as a critical tool for modern warfare, automating functions such as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), command and control, and simulation. 

The report also points out that AI poses ethical and security challenges. It raises concerns about lethal autonomous weapons, which could be used to identify and eliminate threats without human intervention.

Despite these concerns, the urgency of developing cutting-edge AI technologies is being felt globally, particularly given rising geopolitical tensions and the current war in Ukraine. As nations race to gain an advantage in AI development, the UK, US, and Canada are positioning themselves as leaders in this field. 

Northrup Grumman has announced the integration of a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature, known as Advanced Battle Manager (ABM), into its Forward Area Air Defense (FAAD) command-and-control system. 

This capability is designed to assist operators in making informed decisions in real-time, particularly in the complex counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS) mission space. 

ABM is designed for both efficiency and growth, capable of planning for complex aerial swarm scenarios and supporting real-time data processing with minimal delay. 

During the trials at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona during spring and late summer, the ABM demonstrated its effectiveness in real-time weapon-target pairings across a range of kinetic and non-kinetic weapons. 

ABM generates engagement plans in less than a quarter of a second and continuously monitors the battlespace, adjusting engagements as necessary. 

Currently, the ABM system supports multiple weapon types. Its open architecture design allows for the easy addition of new weapons in the future. 

FAAD is a critical system that integrates short-range air defence, counter-rocket, artillery, mortar, and C-UAS missions. 

As a cyber-certified, real-time safety-critical command and control software, FAAD offers a single integrated air picture, airspace coordination, deconfliction, and fire control to support multi-domain missions. 

Its open, multi-domain architecture facilitates integration and interoperability across diverse platforms and systems, allowing for rapid, cost-effective technology insertion and modernisation at the speed of need. 

Northrop Grumman global battle management and readiness vice-president and general manager Kenn Todorov said: “As threats evolve, the need for operations to become simple and clear during high-stress multi-target engagements has increased. 

“This critical AI enhancement will create a streamlined and intuitive engagement plan giving service members more time to save lives with a single click. Northrop Grumman and the US Army’s collaboration in innovation ensures the combat-proven FAAD system remains at the forefront of C-UAS technology.” 

In 2023, Northrop Grumman’s FAAD command-and-control system was fielded in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to help the armies in the Baltic region to integrate with Nato air defences. 

Defence Support, a unit within the UK’s Strategic Command, have selected Adarga’s artificial intelligence (AI) software, Vantage, to streamline information analysis and intelligence gathering. 

Vantage will accelerate analysis as Defence Support explore threats to British military operations worldwide in a fast-moving information environment. 

The AI software provides unique search, discovery, and generative AI capabilities to deliver enhanced intelligence outputs to decision-makers, as well as streamline work processes.  

“Driving efficiency and boosting productivity is undoubtedly a key priority for defence, and human-machine teaming is a fundamental driver of this”, said Adarga’s senior vice president for the public sector, Charlie Maconochie. “We are delighted to hear that Defence Support are not only saving significant amounts of time through the use of Vantage but can also more effectively scale their research efforts and produce better results having had more time to focus on higher-level analysis.” 

Users can now more promptly interpret a large volume of curated data that has been automatically collated, contextualised, and connected – as well as translated from over 75 languages – with a tool purpose-built to augment rather than replace human intelligence.  

This is a useful form of crewed and uncrewed teaming in intelligence – a hybrid force concept that is increasingly applied to combat platforms on land, sea and air.  

As a result, Defence Support have reported an increase in the quality of their insights with the ability to access a wide range of global information that would typically remain inaccessible. This is not only broadening their knowledge base but also introducing diverse perspectives on various topics. 

Adarga’s Question and Answer (Q&A) function has also been recognised as a powerful tool by Defence Support. Its specialist capability enables users to generate natural language answers to complex questions rapidly and ask questions of specific outputs and reports that have been generated in the platform.

The capability is powered by its calibrated large language model and features robust guardrails to ensure it is used safely and with confidence, providing citations and links back to source documents.