Defence Facing Technological Innovation Challenges

Aerospace and Defense Review | Friday, October 30, 2020

The DoD partners need to understand that a suitable defense solution might only overcome a small portion of their operational challenge.

Fremont, CA: Most innovations are made with a focus on private sector applications. Recently, because of a changing innovation landscape and the improved capabilities of competitor states, the US defense and policymakers are asking whether the country is suffering a crisis of innovation. Historically, the US military had spearheaded funding and fostering cutting-edge technologies long before they entered the commercial market.

Today, modern military warfare is not fought with tanks, fighter jets, and nuclear weapons. Instead, countries worldwide are focused on magnifying their technological prowess with AI, robotics, cybersecurity, biotech, and other bleeding-edge technologies. The Department of Defense has introduced Third Offset Strategy with the purpose of improving the foundation of military innovation. However, the Pentagon recognizes that the US defense companies are falling behind the private sector in technology research and development.

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AI is gradually becoming an important tool in defense. Speed is a great advantage on the battlefield, and defense officers believe that AI has the potential to increase the speed of warfare. AI also plays a key role in the precision and efficiency of military decision-making. The Pentagon has already started adopting next-generation AI capabilities. Superpower countries are striving to procure, develop, and implement AI solutions to stay ahead in the competition.

However, everything comes with challenges. For instance, Project Maven, which automated the labeling of objects from aerial drone intelligence in order to assist Air Force analysts in identifying unique targets, received negative feedback. When Google employees got to know that they were the AI partner in the program, they severely criticized Google's role in developing warfare technology.

Another problem is that spin-on does not necessarily mean that the commercial solution is ready for military applications from day one. The DoD partners need to understand that a suitable defense solution might only overcome a small portion of their operational challenge.=

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