Helsing’s Post

The war in Ukraine shows that 21st-century conflicts will be decided by electronic warfare capabilities. While the private sector is rapidly advancing with faster, more cost-effective, and distributed systems, the U.S. Military remains bogged down by bureaucracy. Instead of embracing bottom-up experimentation and empowering operators to identify mission-critical solutions, it continues to rely on upgrading legacy systems. This highlights a critical gap in how the military adapts to modern warfare.

It was a privilege to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on the United States Department of Defense's acquisition pathways and fielding innovation from America’s leading defense technology companies like Skydio, Shield AI, Palantir Technologies, Applied Intuition, and Saildrone. My perspective is grounded in decades of military service and a decade in the private tech sector. To ensure our nation deters or prevails in a great power conflict, we must:  • surge American drones to support our Ukrainian allies,  • scale drones capable of performing in a contested environment across our own military,  • and adopt accelerated acquisition pathways. Rapidly equipping our military with the best technology enhances our deterrence and ensures we can prevail in great power conflict should deterrence fail.

From a pure overall cost/time to develop perspective; ease of production capability, effectiveness as a weapon. We shouldn’t need any prompting to ramp it up! ➡️To ensure our nation deters or prevails in a great power conflict, we must:  ✅ surge American drones to support our Ukrainian allies,  ✅ scale drones capable of performing in a contested environment across our own military,  ✅ and adopt accelerated acquisition pathways.

The House Armed Services Committee—frustrated by the DOD’s slow acquisition processes amid ever-changing technologies—sought insight from Mark and other leaders at the forefront of artificial intelligence, software, and drone development in a rare field hearing in Silicon Valley. The hearing served as a crucial wake-up call, highlighting the urgent need for the DOD to adopt a more agile, problem-solving approach to acquisition and prioritize investment in cutting-edge technologies, especially compared to rapid innovation witnessed in the commercial sector and in adversarial nations. In particular, Ukraine has served as a testbed for drones and automation. We should take some of those lessons learned—whereby soldiers and combatant commands can provide an intimate understanding of their needs, for example—and adapt them to acquisition processes in the U.S. Read more about the hearing in my most recent newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gbt3QtQD

The battlefield of the future is already here, and America is woefully unprepared. In a gripping analysis by Mark Milley and Eric Schmidt for Foreign Affairs Magazine, they argue that modern conflicts, exemplified by the ongoing war in Ukraine, are increasingly being defined by the use of #drones and artificial intelligence (#AI). This shift in warfare technology requires a radical transformation in how the U.S. approaches #defense and military strategy. According to Milley and Schmidt, autonomous weapon systems and sophisticated algorithms now dominate the landscape of war, diminishing the relevance of traditional military assets such as jets, ships, and tanks. The authors emphasize that the rapid technological advancements in AI-driven warfare necessitate a proactive and comprehensive update to U.S. military tactics and infrastructure. They suggest that without significant investment and adaptation, the U.S. risks falling behind its adversaries, who are already leveraging these technologies on the battlefield. For more detailed insights, you can read the full article on Foreign Affairs here: https://lnkd.in/duvqMbhN

📌 Airbus Defence and Space, in collaboration with HENSOLDT, begins updating the German Airborne Weapon Systems Electronic Warfare Center with advanced software and hardware. 📎 https://lnkd.in/d5qVct8D

America's strategic edge hinges on swift integration of advanced tech! 🇺🇸 In a compelling op-ed, former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper highlights the lessons from Ukraine's innovative military tactics, emphasizing the critical role of AI, robotics, and unmanned systems in modern warfare. As the battlefield evolves, so must our military's approach to ensure we remain at the forefront. #defenseinnovation #aifuture #militarystrategy #ukraine #advancedtechnology

America's strategic edge hinges on swift integration of advanced tech! 🇺🇸 In a compelling op-ed, former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper highlights the lessons from Ukraine's innovative military tactics, emphasizing the critical role of AI, robotics, and unmanned systems in modern warfare. As the battlefield evolves, so must our military's approach to ensure we remain at the forefront. #defenseinnovation #aifuture #militarystrategy #ukraine #advancedtechnology

Moving the mission forward! OpsLab was honored to host nearly a dozen United States Air Force Airmen from the 25th Attack Group out of Shaw Air Force Base for a strategy session about optimizing the flight operations of the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper. The United States Department of Defense has made clear the importance of autonomous systems, and the MQ-9 is one of the most important tools in today's American military arsenal. Given the MQ-9’s significant loiter time, wide-range sensors, multi-mode communications suite, and precision weapons, it provides a unique capability to perform strike, coordination, and reconnaissance against high-value, fleeting, and time-sensitive targets. But the MQ-9 is an exquisite system, and flying them safely and effectively requires significant operational output. Often times, flight schedulers spend hours on tasks that OpsLab’s software can perform in minutes. This all-day working session allowed OpsLab and the 25 ATK to come together as one team to address these challenges and optimize our engagement to increase operational readiness. #mq9 #uav #readiness #operationalreadiness #softwaredefineddefense #defensetech

Insights from Roman Knyazhenko, the CEO of TOP Ukrainian manufacture. 1️⃣ Drones: The game-changing role of drones, from reconnaissance to long-range strikes, bridging the gap between traditional and individual combat systems. 2️⃣ Cost of War: How cost-effective drones are proving to be a powerful alternative to expensive military assets. 3️⃣ Coordination: Integrating drones with traditional weaponry for greater battlefield efficiency. 4️⃣ Mobility & Speed: The increased flexibility and initiative enabled by new technologies for soldiers in combat. 5️⃣ Automation: The future potential of AI-powered drones capable of autonomous target identification and elimination. Read the full article (in Ukrainian) on Ukrainska Pravda for more details. #DefenseTech #MilitaryStrategy #NATO #Drones #AutonomousWarfare #Innovation #WarInsights #MilitaryDoctrine