The live-fire event, which took place in Poland, Germany and Arizona on May 11-27, was led by the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force under 56th Artillery Command and included international allies.

Maj. Gen. John Rafferty, commanding general of 56th Artillery Command, called it a “premier training event” that tested the task force’s ability to operate across all domains, find targets “at depth” and strike those targets with kinetic and non-kinetic effects.

In U.S. military parlance, the term “kinetic effects” generally refers to munitions or other projectiles, while non-kinetic effects include things like electronic warfare, directed energy and cyber capabilities.

The Multi-Domain Task Force is “improving and refining the technology and the tactics, techniques and procedures. Our soldiers, our sergeants and our lieutenants are the ones who have their hands on this equipment, who are determining the best way to employ it, to get the effects and find the targets that we’re asking them to. And we are putting that feedback right back into the system to improve the capability and optimize not just the equipment that we have, but the way that in which we’re employing it,” Rafferty told reporters Friday during a teleconference.

The results of the exercise are also setting the conditions for the evolution of Rafferty’s command into a multi-domain command in Europe that’s going to take place over the next few months, he noted.

Unmanned systems of various types were key components of the latest iteration of Arcane Thunder, part of an effort to demonstrate the ability to “fight with live data” across a large-scale combat theater.

The Army teamed up with the Navy in the employment of unmanned surface vessels to test out the multi-domain ops concept — which fits in with the Pentagon’s vision for Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) to better connect the sensors, shooters and information networks of the U.S. military services and allies and partners.

“It’s really trying to perfect the ability to transition from the littoral domain to the land domain, and … how does the MDTF, as part of the joint force, gather data from our joint partners and also share data with our joint partners,” Col. Patrick Moffett, commander of the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force, told reporters about the use of unmanned surface vessels during Arcane Thunder. “Working with the USVs, we worked the joint kill chain where the Navy vessels would identify a target, that target would get passed to the second MDTF all-domain operations center, and then we would pass that target to really, for this exercise, to our Polish partners. So that was the tie-in.”

As a land-based force, the Army’s understanding of littorals is often limited, but those USVs gave the task force the ability to better understand what was going on in the sea domain, he noted.

The robo-boats were also used to haul Army equipment in a contested logistics scenario, where the military might need to push that type of gear forward to “isolated elements,” Moffett explained.

But USVs weren’t the only uncrewed systems involved in Arcane Thunder. Drones, high-altitude balloons (HAB) and unattended ground sensors were also part of the mix.

Lt. Col. Aaron Ritzema, commander of the 2nd Multi-Domain Effects Battalion, noted that soldiers used sensor data to inform the employment of so-called “launched effects” — such as loitering munitions — to strike targets.

“For us, as we kind of, you know, fought through the scenario-based portion of this exercise, it was using … the micro HAB to provide that geolocation. And then that would trigger battalion- and company-level decision points on if and when … we launched the launched effect to actually close the kill chain on that,” he told reporters.

Stitching together the different technologies involved in the exercise and enabling interoperability between platforms and payloads were some of the biggest challenges the Army had to tackle, he noted.

Rafferty emphasized the importance of being able to pass live data through mission command systems — which in the case of Arcane Thunder, involved forces in both Europe and the continental United States.

He noted that the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force under Moffett’s command demonstrated the ability “to make sense of the information and generate enough fidelity to produce targets that then, in some cases, were passed back to the 56th multi-domain headquarters … to work through the process of assigning, you know, the right shooter to those particular targets. So there was a whole range of possibilities and scenarios there.”

Rafferty added: “Really the breakthrough, like I said, was getting that data in virtually real-time from a micro HAB, refined by another platform, made sense of by [Moffett’s team in Poland] and Aaron Ritzema’s soldiers at Fort Huachuca [in Arizona] … and then, in seconds, back here to Wiesbaden and Mainz-Kastel in Germany for, you know, additional analysis and assigning to the right shooter. So really taking that kill chain and taking what was once, you know, hours to really into minutes, essentially … That live data part is probably the biggest breakthrough for us, from my standpoint.”

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The service is pursuing technologies for its Marine Air-Ground Task Force unmanned expeditionary (MUX) family of systems, including medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drones.

Among the in-the-works tools are airborne network extension capabilities, electronic warfare pod, maritime domain awareness pod, detect-and-avoid system, proliferated low-Earth orbit command and control, and smart sensors, according to Lt. Col. Eric Duchene, integrated product team lead for combat capabilities on the MUX/MALE MQ-9A at Naval Air Systems Command’s program office for multi-mission tactical unmanned aerial systems, PMA-266.

“What that provides is AI-enabled, persistent presence in the battlespace. We’re looking to field advanced capabilities that allow us to find, fix and track our targets of interest, and then be able to disseminate that out to the MAGTF and the joint force,” he said Tuesday during a presentation at the Modern Day Marine conference, calling the smart sensor payload system “a really, really big, advanced capability.”

“This is tactical edge, high-power compute processing in the battlespace. Fielding this capability will be critical to reducing the pilot and sensor operator workload inside the battlespace to find, fix, track and target targets of interest. What this does … with sensor autonomy is it minimizes the time by automating what would normally be a manual three-ball collect on a target, of trying to find and then progressively get closer and closer to the target of interest, refine what you’re seeing, identify it. We’re looking to lessen that workload to then free up the operator to do more advanced things like develop a track and then be able to employ that and disseminate it throughout the joint force,” Duchene said.

The Marines have currently fielded 18 MQ-9As, built by General Atomics, and two more are slated to come off the production line soon, he told DefenseScoop.

A bundled release of Sky Tower II electronic warfare payloads and the smart sensor system are slated for the last quarter of this calendar year, he said.

In the future, the Corps wants its own “organic” pipeline for AI and machine learning so that these types of tools can be modified and improved to meet warfighters’ needs.

“What that does is AI and ML takes big data, it takes a lot of processing power, and by owning our own data that we’re getting off the platform, being able to retrain and update AI machine learning algorithms and then send those forward as the battlefield evolves over time” will be important, he said. “When we collect that data, we can rapidly retrain, put out new models. And you can, as an operator, eventually you’ll be able to take that and go from ‘this algorithm didn’t work,’ maybe real-time get it fixed, and then re-upload it, and now tweak your algorithm while you’re out there flying and get better fine, fix and track capability,” Duchene said.

Meanwhile, some observers are raising concerns about the survivability of Reapers in contested battlespaces. The Houthis in Yemen have recently shot down several U.S. military MQ-9s that were supporting American military operations against the group, which has been launching missiles and one-way attack drones at commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea.

At the Modern Day Marine conference, Duchene was asked how the Reaper would survive in a conflict with China or other adversaries with advanced air defense weapons.

“I would say it’s not a unique problem just for the MQ-9 Alpha,” he said. “We’re all actively working that solution. And in our system for MUX/MALE, we are also working that too, to maximize our survivability.”

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The 716th Military Police Battalion received the Ground-Based Operational Surveillance Systems (Expeditionary) (G-BOSS(E)) Medium tower platform March 24, making it the first unit equipped with the capability.

G-BOSS(E) is an expeditionary, ground-based, self-contained, sensor for persistent surveillance that is used to observe, collect, detect, classify, identify, track, record and report on objects and threats 24 hours a day, according to the Army’s program executive office for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors. It can be integrated into the command-and-control network on the southern border to provide a network of integrated sensors, according to an Army spokesperson.

Moreover, the expeditionary nature of this variant is seen as a critical aspect for meeting operational needs.

The capability is part of a family of persistent surveillance tower systems that were previously based on quick-reaction capabilities for forces in the field. It had consisted of two variants: a medium for small to medium-sized operating bases and a heavy for larger operating bases.

The 716th received a single G-BOSSE(E), according to an Army spokesperson, but other units on the southern border are also anticipated to receive the system.

While the 716th was slated to be the second unit to receive the technology, due to its deployment to support the border security mission it was prioritized and moved to the front of the line to be the first equipped, the spokesperson said.

U.S. Northern Command in March established Joint Task Force-Southern Border to synchronize activities of various units that have deployed to aid the Trump administration’s efforts for stemming the flow of illegal border crossings into the United States. Thousands of troops have been sent to support the mission.

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The one-step call for proposals falls under AFRL’s Autonomous Decisions, Algorithms, and Modeling multiple authority announcement that was released in March.

“The objectives for the program are to develop new algorithms for tracking and sensors resource management, modifying existing algorithms, conduct experiments to measure effectiveness of combat identification (CID), integrate with other CID algorithm improvement efforts, and simulate scenarios to measure algorithm performance,” officials wrote.

In U.S. military operations, combat identification of objects on the battlefield may include friendly forces, enemy forces, non-combatants or other entities. It’s used to support engagement decisions for the employment of fires.

A more detailed statement of objectives for the SOUP program hasn’t been publicly released because it contains controlled unclassified information. Interested vendors must request it from the Air Force.

However, officials have broadly described the technical areas of focus for the Autonomous Decisions, Algorithms, and Modeling multiple authority announcement, which include multi-domain sense making, sensing autonomy, sensing and effects analysis, multi-sensing knowledge, and sensing management.

To boost “multi-sensing knowledge,” officials aim to “provide techniques for timely, high confidence behavioral and physical knowledge generation from denied and difficult targets using multiple sensors, domains, and types to include algorithm development across multiple distributed, homogeneous and heterogeneous sensors. Efforts will commonly include data association, entity detect/track/ID, information fusion, contextual reasoning, training with limited measured data, data/performance modeling, and scenario specific algorithm performance assessment,” as well as the “application of machine learning techniques to address technical challenges in contested environments,” according to the announcement.

AFRL also intends to explore ways to improve sensing management across ISR, strike, electronic warfare and cyber “mission effects chains.”

“These efforts include techniques to manage sensor data flow through collection, communication, and reasoning for processing and dissemination; to generate anticipatory responses; sensor resource planning, allocation, and scheduling; and control flexibility across multiple distributed sensing capabilities. Efforts will focus on technologies including sensing interface/architecture development and assessment, experimentation, sensing decision-making strategies, representation, sensing data and knowledge management, cross-mode sensor management and registration, distributed processing, and joint inference and control,” officials wrote.

The AFRL initiatives come as the Defense Department is looking to make its ISR enterprise more effective and efficient through the integration of new AI tools that optimize system employment and reduce cognitive and physical burdens for human operators and analysts, via autonomous capabilities and decision-making aids.

The estimated program cost for SOUP is $3 million, and the anticipated award date is July 25, according to the solicitation.

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While officials acknowledged operating inside the so-called weapons engagement zone, or WEZ, is not new, what is becoming more challenging is having to deal with advanced sensors to detect forces and weapons with longer ranges that push U.S. military units farther away from key objectives.

“Operating effectively in the WEZ,” Capt. Colin Corridan, deputy director of the Navy’s Disruptive Capabilities Office, said at the annual WEST conference this week when asked to identify the most challenging ops the Navy will have to perform in the future.

Other officials explained the importance of persistence to operating within those zones to have greater understanding of malicious activity and be better postured to counter it, if needed.

“We also need persistence. What I’m talking about here is persistent power projection and persistent domination of the battlespace, leading to denial of adversaries’ objectives. It means forces are able to execute prolonged operations against evolving threats, and our forces are able to operate within our adversaries weapon engagement zone,” Adm. Stephen Koehler commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, said at the conference. “Operating forces within the range of enemy weapons, with the needed persistence to have an effect takes ingenuity, creativity in both tactics and equipment. That’s how we’re going to manage the inherent risk of those operations.”

The Marine Corps, part of the Department of the Navy, has articulated its concept of being the “stand-in force” for the military, which requires troops to already be present in theater near the enemy before crisis or conflict breaks out.

“We got to get the capabilities in the hands of the Marines where they can sense and make sense of the operating environment and really bring the concept of every Marine as a sensor, so that in the competition phase we have a good understanding of the battlespace — and should we have to go to high-end conflict, we really have a head start on understanding how the adversaries think and deconstructing that system,” Lt. Gen. Melvin “Jerry” Carter, deputy commandant for information, said in an interview at the conference. “It starts with persistent presence. As you know, for the commandant’s vision it is to develop the capabilities to ensure that the Marine Corps is not only that crisis response force, but as we look at the [Indo-Pacific Command] area, what we may have to face in the future, that inside force … in the weapons engagement zone, our goal as an institution, as the Marine Corps, is persistent presence inside the first and second island chain, preferably the first.”

Officials noted that the big changes to these types of ops are the range of enemy weapons, advanced technologies and sensors — and thus the need to increase the speed of decision to counter them.

There are roughly three broad buckets officials described when thinking about how to enable operations in the WEZ, both from an offensive and defensive perspective: counter-command, control, computers, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting (C5ISRT), terminal defense and contested logistics.

Counter-C5ISRT is a top priority for the commander of Indo-Pacific Command, according to Rear Adm. Nicholas Homan, commander of Fleet Information Warfare Command – Pacific, who noted it’s also one of the five key pillars in the chief of naval operations’ priorities related to Project 33, part of the CNO’s Navigation Plan released last year to modernize the force quickly.

“Our task as information warfare professionals is to counter command, control, computing, communication, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting at scale, as it is this enabling capability that will bring victory in crisis and conflict versus our adversaries,” Homan said. “Without an effective C5ISRT system, military forces are essentially blind and unable to respond in a coordinated manner … To do this right, we will be required to integrate non-kinetic effects with kinetic effects at scale, something that has never been done but is absolutely doable. Our success in this arena will depend on integration of cutting-edge technology, robust evolving targeting strategies and perhaps most importantly, developing TTPs [tactics, techniques and procedures] and policy that enable our military, contractor and civilian personnel to innovate and evolve in real time.”

Officials also noted they’re learning a lot about terminal defense from military operations in the Red Sea against a barrage of missile and drone attacks launched by the Houthis — a group backed by Iran that controls portions of Yemen — in response to U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas. Lessons are related to both kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities.

From a contested logistics perspective, officials noted that the Navy and the other services must be able to sustain and resupply their forces while they’re being heavily targeted by high-tech adversaries such as China. This is an area where counter-C5ISRT will be mutually supportive.

Officials also articulated that in these contested environments, timelines will be accelerated and American forces must take advance of fleeting opportunities to execute effects.

Fighting from maritime operations centers will be a way to help coordinate these capabilities in a dynamic battlespace.

“In terms of bringing it all together and enabling it, we’re doing a lot of that from the MOC and then working at both the MOC level and then getting it down to the tactical end in terms of understanding the TTPs and [concept of operations] of the kit that we’re going to bring to bear to get after those three lines of effort,” Vice Adm. Michael Vernazza, commander of Naval Information Forces, told reporters.

For the Marines, they must have capabilities to allow them to be nimble, mobile and lethal in this dynamic operating space.

Carter said from a platform perspective, the Corps is looking at lighter systems that can more easily be moved from island to island in the Pacific, if needed.

“Heavy tanks, the capabilities of the past, the heavy armor, even the amphibious ships, they’re not going to cut it,” he said. “We are looking at, in terms of our platforms, something that is highly maneuverable and survivable.”

The service must apply technologies to those platforms to make them more stealthy and employ capabilities that allow forces to pass data back and forth quickly and securely.

“We have to give Marines the right capabilities and tools out there to not only sense the operating environment and how do you transmit … that information all the way back to decision makers that they can in the instant and make a decision, informed decision, get a targeting solution, and if you have to, identify and kill that thing very quickly,” Carter said.

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The service is eyeing a potential acquisition of these types of capabilities for its Observation and Sensing System (OSS) program, according to a sources-sought notice released Thursday by Marine Corps Systems Command’s program executive office for land systems.

The program manager for ground-based air defense “is seeking interested parties that can provide force protection and littoral expeditionary advanced capability for the detection, identification, and tracking of manned and unmanned ground, air and sea vessels and personnel operating within the vicinity of specific missions,” per the RFI.

The document notes that the Marines are considering an accelerated acquisition schedule and thus officials are interested in non-developmental systems and commercially available optic and active sensor technology that’s currently at Technology Readiness Level 8 or 9.

The OSS program is pursuing a modular “family of systems” that can perform active surveillance and beef up security for the Corps’ expeditionary advanced base operations.

“OSS will detect, classify, and identify targets fusing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) to alert security forces of activity and coordinate response force as appropriate. OSS will utilize on-board edge computing in order to minimize the data communicated to the local Command and Control (C2) system,” officials wrote in the RFI.

The program aims to integrate electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) optics and “multi-domain” active sensors that can perform those tasks in all weather conditions from stationary locations as well as mobile platforms.

The Corps wants solutions that can spot and classify objects as small as a backpack, as well as surface vessels, ground vehicles, people, and small rotary-wing and fixed-wing drones — day or night.

Additional attributes of interest include open architecture software designs so that systems can be integrated into existing C2 systems; the ability to perform “slew-to-cue” operations; real-time display, processing and recording of video data; auto-focus and auto-tracking of targets; and the ability to relay information via multiple radio frequency sources, among others.

Signaling that the Marines are looking to acquire new tools quickly, the Corps wants RFI respondents to list how many systems they already have on hand and their production capacity in terms of timelines and quantities.

Responses are due Oct. 8.

The PEO for land systems isn’t the only office in the Department of the Navy searching for new capabilities to identify, classify and track potential threats. Last week, the DON issued a notice about its plans to test new underwater sensors and automated target recognition tools that could help protect assets.

That initiative, known as Technology Operational Experimentation Event 25.2, is part of a campaign led by the Office of Naval Research-Global that will examine emerging tech to support operational objectives related to “subsea and seabed warfare.”

One of the focus areas of that effort will be on capabilities that can monitor and defend infrastructure and facilities against adversary undersea reconnaissance via emplaced devices or underwater vehicles.

During a counter-drone panel at NDIA’s Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference and Exhibition earlier this month, Mike Dickerson, executive director of the Navy’s maritime accelerated response capability cell, highlighted the growing threats that the sea services are facing.

“It’s not just unmanned aerial systems. It is also in the surface and underwater domains. But really, from my perspective, both systems in the surface and the underwater domains are following a very similar pathway to what we saw with the unmanned aircraft threat. They may be a few years behind, but it’s following the exact same exponential increase in capability and in proliferation across the board. And obviously we’re going to continue to face these challenges as technologies evolve and as novel, innovative ways to employ them continue to change. But I personally believe that with the right approaches, the right partnerships, and really with targeting some of the investments in the appropriate areas, that we’ll remain postured to appropriately address this threat,” Dickerson said.

The pursuit of new tools to counter a variety of adversary drones is accelerating as U.S. officials observe how these types of systems are being employed in the Ukraine-Russia war and in the Middle East, where military forces, civilians and commercial ships have come under attack from unmanned aerial vehicles and uncrewed surface vessels.

The Pentagon hopes that cutting-edge tools like artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomous systems and faster command-and-control networks will give the department an advantage over its adversaries.

At the Potomac Officers Club’s Navy Summit last week, Michael Stewart, director of the Department of the Navy’s Disruptive Capabilities Office, said he couldn’t get into specifics about where things stand with the sea services’ automated target recognition capabilities and the DCO’s efforts to boost those.

“It’s something we are very focused on. And I think you’d be, let’s say, pleasantly surprised where it is,” he told DefenseScoop.

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Pentagon leadership on Monday issued the 2024 Arctic Strategy, which aims to guide the military’s path forward as it adapts to the unfolding and intensifying geopolitical and geophysical shifts in the security environment — particularly in and around U.S. territory in Alaska and allied hubs in the High North.

“To ensure the Arctic does not become a strategic blind spot, this strategy outlines a series of deliberate steps for DoD to improve its ability to monitor events in the Arctic and, when directed, execute a tailored response to national security threats alongside its interagency and international partners,” officials wrote in the document.

They point to major transformational events that are “driving the need” for the new strategy — including “Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the accession of Finland and Sweden to the NATO Alliance, increasing collaboration between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia, and the accelerating impacts of climate change.”

To confront these and other intensifying risks and boost integrated deterrence, the strategy directs a range of activities across three broad lines of effort: enhancing the Joint Force’s Arctic capabilities and domain awareness; engaging with allies, partners and key stakeholders; and exercising tailored presence in the region independently and with NATO and others.

The first line of effort encompasses a variety of technologies that the U.S. military says it must prioritize to innovate and expand its Arctic presence.

“DoD should pursue early warning capabilities; discrimination sensors; tracking sensors; Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) capabilities; improved understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum; and sensing and forecasting capabilities,” the document states.

In terms of all-domain awareness and missile-warning assets, the strategy calls on the Pentagon to evaluate options for “improving ground-based sensors to complement and enhance existing NORAD capabilities.” Officials are also directed to continue research into options for new space-based missile-warning and observational systems with greater polar coverage.

Beyond maintaining investments in manned and uncrewed aerial systems to enable air and maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, the strategy also urges DOD to “conduct analysis of requirements for future unmanned platforms that can operate in the Arctic.”

In a press briefing Monday to unveil the department’s new strategy, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks noted that — as the Pentagon is moving quickly to deploy artificial intelligence and autonomous capabilities across its enterprise — the Arctic is a “perfect domain” to test out different applications. She said it also envelops “a clear area where we can apply some of what we’re doing in the department.”

“So that means a lot of research and development and testing — and that’s where we’re focused in this area — and looking at the possibilities of where uncrewed systems can bring value. But I think as Replicator is demonstrating [that], so we are ready to kind of catalyze where we can in the movement on the sorts of capabilities [where] really see the potential,” Hicks said.

“AI is ideal at helping us make sense of an environment pattern recognition, bringing in data and understanding the environment to make better decisions and faster decisions. And this is a space where I think bringing the two together or just in general being able to leverage AI can really advantage us,” she added.

The department is also encouraged to invest in satellite solutions to improve tactical and strategic communications — specifically above 65 degrees North latitude.

Officials are further directed to engage with allies and partners to improve data coverage and capacity for the more than 250 anticipated, advanced multi-role combat aircraft that NATO could deploy for Arctic operations by the 2030s.

The strategy also notes that the military’s weapon systems and equipment need to be outfitted or customized for Arctic specifications and conditions, where tasks must be performed at extremely cold temperatures routinely reaching -50 degrees Fahrenheit or below.

“The services should therefore ensure the adequacy of their Arctic equipment (accounting for both male and female personnel) in order to conduct relevant Arctic operations as directed, in accordance with their own Arctic strategies,” the document states. 

In the new guide, leadership also details refreshed strategic plans for how DOD components should approach engaging with military partners in the region moving forward. They also spotlight certain joint exercises in the pipeline that will help realize these efforts.

The plan “aligns and nests under” the U.S. national security and national defense strategies from 2022, and the National Strategy for the Arctic Region released that year. 

It’s also meant to build upon and implement prior directives from the Pentagon for components to adopt a “monitor-and-respond” approach to preserving stability in the region.

Expanding on the growing challenges there, the new strategy articulates DOD’s recognition that the area “may experience its first practically ice-free summer by 2030.” 

The “loss of sea ice will increase the viability of Arctic maritime transit routes and access to undersea resources. Increases in human activity will elevate the risk of accidents, miscalculation, and environmental degradation,” the strategy states.

Among other concerns, the document also warns that China is working to expand its influence and activities in the Arctic, such as through experiments testing uncrewed underwater vehicles and polar-capable fixed-wing aircraft. 

At the same time, Russia is posing “nuclear, conventional, and special operations threats,” and also “seeks to carry out lower-level destabilizing activities in the Arctic against the United States and our Allies, including through Global Positioning System jamming and military flights that are conducted in an unprofessional manner inconsistent with international law and custom,” officials wrote.

During the press briefing Monday following Hicks’s remarks, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arctic and Global Resilience Iris Ferguson noted that DOD has seen an “uptick” in China-Russia military collaboration around the Arctic over the last couple of years.

“We see them exercising diplomatic agreements, including between Chinese and Russian coast guards. Within the Arctic region, we also see [them conducting joint] military exercises for the first time,” Ferguson said.

Although it does not detail immediate next steps and is not accompanied by an associated implementation plan, the strategy notes that the undersecretary of defense for policy will develop DOD-wide policy that “builds enduring advantages in [the] Arctic.”

“I think that that phrase actually just meant to say that the Undersecretary of Policy will be responsible for implementing the strategy going forward,” Ferguson noted during the briefing.

In response to questions regarding concrete outcomes and next steps that are envisioned following the release of this new strategy, she told DefenseScoop: “I think we will have an implementation plan — it’s unclear if it will be public or not.”

But in her view, it’s all “about creating the roadmap for the capabilities that we need to protect our interests and to ensure that our troops have what they need to operate in the region,” Ferguson explained.

She went on to highlight some of the investments DOD is already making in boosting up its missions in the region. 

“We recognize that it’s an incredibly challenging place to live and to serve, and many of the locations in the Arctic are remote and austere. So we’ve been focusing heavily on quality-of-life improvements for many of our troops that are stationed there — and as of this summer, all service members that are stationed in Alaska will actually have access to cold weather incentive pay for when they’re there. They’re able to buy cold weather gear for living up there,” she said.

Her team has also been looking at what kind of infrastructure repairs might be needed for DOD’s Arctic assets due to rapidly changing weather conditions there.

Additional progress is being made by the services.

“The Space Force has also invested some $1.8 billion in the Enhanced Polar System Recapitalization Payload, which is a payload that is actually uniquely hosted on Norway satellites. It was actually meant to launch several weeks ago and it will hopefully launch in the next couple of weeks. That’s the first time that we will have a payload on an allied partner satellite,” Ferguson told DefenseScoop.

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That includes technologies for the medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drone — a role being filled by the General Atomics-built MQ-9A Reaper.

While the Reaper gained prominence as a terrorist hunter-killer for the Air Force and CIA during the post-9/11 wars in the Middle East, the Marine Corps primarily wants to use the system for communications and data network relay, electronic warfare, and maritime domain awareness missions in the Indo-Pacific region.

As part of its airborne network extension operational concept, the Corps envisions the MUX MALE system as a digitally interoperable “network bridge” and secure comms gateway for the Naval and joint force, according to slides presented by Lt. Col. Leigh Irwin at the Modern Day Marine conference on Thursday. That includes exchanging data with satellites, other drones and aircraft, ships, expeditionary advanced bases, maneuver forces on land, ground control stations and land-based sensors.

The concept fits in with the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative, which calls for better connecting sensors, platforms and data streams of the U.S. military and key allies under a more unified network.

Naval Air Systems Command’s program office for multi-mission tactical UAS, also known as PMA-266, sees AI as a key enabling technology for the future.

“We are at PMA-266 leaning forward a little bit ahead of our some of our NAVAIR peers in the artificial intelligence arena. We’re working with [the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Office] to get essentially sensor autonomy is what we’re going after first. I think platform autonomy is definitely on the wish list, but I think it’s too far away for what we’re doing here. But sensor autonomy if we add cueing on the aircraft payloads, and then inherent sensors that come with MQ-9 Alpha so that the Marine on the ground doesn’t have to do all of that stuff — that’s a big one. So we’re aggressively pursuing that. I think it’s gonna take us a little longer than we expected because AI is hard. But we are pursuing some sensor abilities there,” Irwin, director of MUX/MALE programs, told DefenseScoop after her presentation.

“It’s more the algorithms and the ability to learn based on what it’s seeing and then — not make decisions — but inform the aircrew on what’s going on in the battlespace,” she added.

A key aim is to help reduce Marines’ workloads and make their operations more efficient and effective.

“It’s more cueing on what’s in the battlespace and us telling us, ‘Hey, this is what’s important to us.’ And so that sensor operator, maybe he gets an alert or he or she gets an alert when something’s important … rather than having to scan it and being like, ‘Oh, that’s important,’” Irwin explained.

Many unmanned aerial systems, such as the Reaper, are remotely piloted and currently require more manpower than the Marines would like to support their missions.

“Unmanned isn’t necessarily less labor intensive, I’ll say. I mean, you need almost as many Marines to fly an unmanned aircraft as you do a manned — and in some cases, more. So … any place where we can find a way to reduce the manpower it takes to do these missions and fly these aircraft, we’re looking at like [ground control stations] that can do more than one platform, AI that can help inform the operator of what’s going on so they don’t have to be staring at one screen the whole time and catch it themselves — things like that. Those are all types of things we’re looking at and hopefully to get to the future for MUX,” she said.

The Reapers that the Marines are getting for MUX MALE increment one are 36-feet long with a 66-foot wing span, have up to 27 hours of endurance, can fly at an altitude of 50,000 feet, have a payload capacity of 3,000 pounds external and 850 pounds internal, and can fly at a true air speed of 240 knots, according to Irwin’s slides.

Increment one will include 20 MQ-9A Block 5 systems plus associated ground control stations and Sky Tower data networking and comms relay pods. Twelve are currently fielded, according to her slides.

NAVAIR is also looking ahead at increment two.

“Our [initial operating capability] for increment two is going to be more in the 2026 time frame. I don’t expect [the AI-enabled sensor tools] to be ready then. I think it’ll be a couple or a few years after that, if I had to guess based on what we’re doing now. But we’re trying to get everything in place so that it can follow fairly quickly after we get the first piece of increment two,” Irwin said.

She told DefenseScoop that officials hope the technology will be ready for prime time before the end of the decade.

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Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, has identified 14 “critical technology areas” that she is prioritizing, including trusted AI and autonomy, space, integrated sensing and cyber, integrated network systems of systems, renewable energy generation and storage, and microelectronics. They also include human-machine interface, advanced materials, directed energy, advanced computing and software, hypersonics, biotech, quantum, and 5G/FutureG.

Although S&T funding for budget activities 6.1 basic research, 6.2 applied research and 6.3 advanced technology development only account for about 2% of the Pentagon’s overall budget, it’s considered critical for military modernization because it lays the seed corn for next-generation capabilities.

Of the $17.2 billion that the Pentagon has requested for these budget activities in fiscal 2025, 98% would be divided among those 14 critical tech areas, according to Shyu’s slide presentation during a webinar hosted by NDIA’s Emerging Technologies Institute on Tuesday.

“If you see where the bulk of our funding is going … the biggest bar chart is trusted AI and autonomy. So that’s not going to be surprising. The second area that we found a lot of money in is in the space technology arena. The third piece is the integrators sensing and cyber … Those three categories of areas we’re funding composed about 65% of our S&T budget,” Shyu noted.

The proposal includes about $4.9 billion for trusted AI and autonomy, $4.3 billion for space, and $1.9 billion for integrated sensing and cyber.

Additionally, it includes $1.6 billion for integrated network system of system, $1.5 billion for renewable energy generation and storage, $515 million for microelectronics, $458 million for human-machine interface, $414 for advanced materials, $355 million for directed energy, $333 million for advanced computing and software, $242 million for hypersonics, $224 million for biotech, $76 million for quantum, and $38 million for 5G/FutureG.

The majority of that — approximately $9 billion — is for advanced tech development, with $5.8 billion and $2.5 billion slated for applied research and basic research, respectively.

Among DOD components, about $8.3 billion would go toward “Defense-wide” agencies not aligned with the services — also known as the Fourth Estate — such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Innovation Unit, Strategic Capabilities Office, Missile Defense Agency, and other agencies and field activities under the Office of the Secretary of Defense, according to Shyu’s slides.

Among the services, the Army would receive about $2.8 billion, the Air Force $2.7 billion, the Navy $2.5 billion and the Space Force $840 million.

The total S&T funding request for fiscal 2025 is 3.4% lower than the 2024 request, per Shyu’s slides.

Shyu noted the importance of technology transition from the S&T enterprise as the U.S. aims to field new capabilities at scale.

A total of 105 projects in critical technology areas were transitioned in fiscal 2023, with trusted AI and autonomy topping the list at 30, according to the Pentagon CTO.

There are several potential transition pathways, she noted.

“The most typical way that people think about is transitioning into a program of record. Right. So that’s the one pathway. However, it could be a piece of software that we’re delivering capability to upgrade a capability that’s already been fielded. So that’s a different way of fielding a new capability. The other way could very well be, we have developed a technology, the technology is being utilized by a DOD prime or commercial company, [and] we then end up procuring that technology. And the fourth way is we’ve transitioned technology for the DOD [and] it could be used by another government agency,” she explained.

She highlighted the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) and the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) programs as examples of initiatives aimed at helping transition promising warfighting capabilities into production.

Several RDER-related technologies are on track to move into production, according to Shyu.

“We have developed some capabilities as part of … the RDER activities. Once we develop it and its mature and the services say, ‘We really would like to have it,’ there are ways that we can just put it right onto the [General Services Administration] schedule and literally a service that wants to procure it just can buy it outright. So it doesn’t have to go through a long procurement process into a program of record,” she explained.

In April, the Pentagon announced the latest tranche of APFIT projects to receive funding, geared toward small and nontraditional contractors. To date, the department has funded 38 companies via the initiative, Shyu said Tuesday.

“We’re helping to fund small companies to get into low-rate initial production. This is helping them to bridge the valley of death that they typically face from [budget activity] 6.3 to get into 6.4 and into-low rate industrial production,” she said, noting that technologies from the first tranche are being fielded by the services and the combatant commands.

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The outreach came in an update to a broad agency announcement, posted on Sam.gov, for technologies to support an operationally focused Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), which is the Department of the Air Force’s contribution to the Pentagon’s warfighting construct known as Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control. The effort aims to better connect the sensors, data streams and weapon systems of the U.S. military and key allies under a more unified network. Such weapons include not just traditional munitions such as missiles, but also digital warfare tools that are sometimes referred to as “non-kinetic” capabilities.

“To effectively engage peer and near-peer adversaries, the U.S. Air Force needs to develop, acquire and operate systems as a unified force across all domains (air, land, sea, space, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum (EMS)). The objective is to adopt the best practices of open architectures to enable rapid proliferation of new and existing software and hardware as well as developing enabling technologies that support maintaining the technological advantage,” the call states.

In 2022, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall appointed Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey to serve as the department’s first integrating program executive officer for command, control, communications and battle management (C3BM).

The C3BM office issued Tuesday’s call for concept papers for “Cyber Electro Magnetic Activities” capability development aimed at countering opponents’ command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) assets.

That includes tools “to deny, degrade, disrupt, or destroy enemy C5ISR capabilities to allow air and surface operations in and around denied or heavily defended areas. These activities should be viable in their delivery mechanism(s) and be able to integrate into an existing C2 architecture as part of the advanced battle management construct. Delivery mechanisms should be able to be integrated on or with existing platforms to the maximum extent possible,” the document states.

Additionally, the updated announcement includes a call for concept papers related to the development, maturation, integration, demonstration and proliferation of sensor hardware and software.

“In a conflict with a well-resourced adversary, U.S. forces could be faced with numerous surface and air moving targets. Blue forces must be capable of engaging those threats simultaneously, in high numbers, and in a time-compressed situation. Traditional airborne moving target intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sensors will be threatened which will dictate ability to prosecute targets by new, non-traditional means and prioritizing those that would deny access to areas of interest. These systems need to be continually developed and improved and, moreover, integrated into the command-and-control structure,” the document states.

“Against the modern, advanced threat, sensors must be able to detect at significant ranges and discriminate as to type to effectively perform a countermeasure. Sensors must be able to process and communicate results in short timelines. A key interest is the compatibility and interoperability capabilities using open interfaces (such as UCI (Universal Command and Control Interface)) to enable improved control of systems and the processing of their data. Design, development, demonstration and integration of networked weapons engaged across complex (e.g. wide area mesh) environments capable of supporting C2 deconfliction and synchronization of multidomain assets,” it added.

The call comes as the Air Force is pursuing next-generation drones known as collaborative combat aircraft, or CCAs, that are expected to operate with a great deal of autonomy enabled by artificial intelligence agents. They are also envisioned to serve as robotic wingmen to manned fighter jets such as the F-35 and a Next-Generation Air Dominance stealth fighter, called NGAD, that’s in the works. The Advanced Battle Management System must allow for real-time connectivity between those types of manned and unmanned platforms and the sensors and weapon suites they carry, the document notes.

The two-step BAA process asks for vendors to submit concept papers to the Air Force. Offerors whose papers generate interest may be invited to submit a formal proposal that could lead to a contract award. The department is looking for tech that’s currently at Technology Readiness Level 3 or higher.

Concept papers are due March 31, 2025.

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