William Covey’s Post

As we near the end of the first quarter of 2024, the United States Department of Defense's CJADC2 initiative is advancing significantly as it garners focus from military services, international allies, and industry collaborators. James Parys, our vice president of growth and strategy, recently discussed the critical nature of CJADC2 with Executive Mosaic. He delved into the potential impacts of artificial intelligence and machine learning on these endeavors and explored how these innovations and initiatives are set to revolutionize tactical edge operations. Read the full article here: https://ow.ly/HeQF50QYeFq #CJADC2 #JointAllDomain #militaryinnovation #defensetechnology #artificalintelligence #AI #machinelearning #securecommunications #tacticaledge #nextgenmilitary

Now more than ever, the Department of Defense needs to be able to operationalize all its data to support the warfighter and America’s allies in global operations. Investment in AI is essential to success according to both industry and Defense Department leaders. https://bit.ly/47T0A8B #AI #Analytics #warfighterreadiness United States Department of Defense National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Chenega MIOS SBU Chronos Operations

MG Jeth Rey, Army Futures Command Network Cross-Funtional Team (N-CFT), and COL Cade Saie, currently serving as Military Deputy U.S. Army DEVCOM Analysis Center, published a recent article in Association of the United States Army - AUSA ( https://lnkd.in/e-h8kYHJ ) that discussed “Data Dominance” especially in a Muli-Domain Operation (MDO). As they looked at MDO and “Datacentric Transformation”, they brought out a key point that the US Army “ability to quickly and securely collect, process and transmit data, and the information derived from data, is critical to Joint All-Domain Command and Control operations with the Air Force, Navy, Marines, Space Force and Coast Guard ( https://lnkd.in/e6xgjNrt ), as well as the #military forces of America’s allies. It is also essential if the Army is to be successful in conducting multidomain operations across land, sea, air, space and cyberspace.” This is very critical as the United States Department of Defense works #technology like cloud, #artificialintelligence, and networks; capabilities; interoperability; requirements; and doctrine with experimentation events like AFC Project Convergence 24 and warfighter events like Pacific Pathways with America's First Corps (I Corps) in U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to provide an environment to “shift from network-centricity to datacentricity to enable timely sharing of information across multiple classifications with the joint force and America’s coalition partners.” To expand on “Data Dominance”, “Datacentric Transformation” and Command and Control (C2) especially in a MDO environment, Nick Woodruff published an opinion piece in C4ISRNET especially in a “multinational nature” lens. Some initial good points for DoD “to be successful in future peer-to-peer warfare” that “decision-makers” are “really within all potential permutations of allies and partners. If we aren’t building core command and control (C2) capabilities with this in mind now, we will lose when approached by a real threat.” To tie back into AUSA Article and the importance of collaboration versus shinny technology, Nick points out “Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning hold incredible promise for extracting mission insights, but for those insights to be operationalized we have to focus on a simple concept that’s incredibly difficult: seamless workflow interoperability.” His conclusion brings it together related to #Data and C2 in a MDO with “the way forward is bringing partners and allies together within the same data-centric environment to empower teams to understand, collaborate, and act on authoritative and publicly available data in unison.”

In his article, Lt. Gen. James Terry (Ret.) stresses the importance of U.S. and partner nation leaders improving decision-making capabilities to combat Gray Zone tactics in the first island chain. A significant point is how “edge computing and network solutions…allows joint and service planners to realize scalable decision-making advantages for agile basing and contested logistics missions while assuring communications in denied/degraded environments and enhancing intelligence collection capabilities.” Edge computing and networks will be critical for establishing a decision-making advantage during joint force operations. Another crucial aspect will be device interoperability. Edge computing and networks will provide decision-makers with the information but not necessarily the means to distribute it to the people who will carry out the actions. By creating an interoperable communications network alongside edge computing capabilities, decision-makers can communicate more efficiently across Joint Force Domains and down echelons to subordinate units. A functional comms ecosystem will also enable adjacent communications for the subordinate units, improving operational efficiency without the use of liaison officers or representatives (LNOs), or complex setups for radio operators.    Similar to the position in our CJADC2 post, using AI and edge computing will only improve data compilation and analysis; it will not improve the flow of information. Any information gained from AI or edge computing is useless if decision-makers cannot access or properly communicate the orders derived from the data. Interoperable communication networks in joint force operations will enable faster action and reaction across domains and laterally through echelons, allowing leaders to maintain the information advantage by reducing action and reaction time through effective communication channels. https://lnkd.in/e_HFgEq6

Interoperability is crucial for success in any endeavor, from cooperation to conflict. I recently had the pleasure of attending the Command and Control Operators summit where the significance of this topic was discussed. It's clear that interoperability is essential for resiliency and effectiveness in the face of any challenge. Let's continue to prioritize this important factor in all our future endeavors. #Interoperability #CommandAndControl #Resiliency #Effectiveness https://lnkd.in/geJpF8Wt

“To date, each U.S. military service has built its own systems and capabilities — which in many cases don’t even talk to themselves within their respective service — creating integration challenges at the joint level. Ultimately, capabilities must come together at the four-star, joint combatant command level where that commander integrates each service capability to determine which is the best available to execute the mission. While the Pentagon has been undertaking a years-long initiative that involves the patchwork effort of stitching and retrofitting old systems together, it’s looking to set data standards going forward to ensure systems at the very least are compatible and somewhat interoperable.” […] ““Data is the key to JADC2 … that realization of decoupling applications from the underlying data is what will allow network scaling to occur,” John Waterston, chief engineer for the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s Advanced Command and Control Accelerator…” https://lnkd.in/ea8qsFDf

U. S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) Seeks 'Self-Service' Computer Vision for Warfighters - CENTCOM is exploring intuitive, user-driven commercial platforms to enable military analysts and operators to rapidly create and apply advanced computer vision capabilities for real-time operations. - The goal is to develop "self-service" platforms that allow warfighters to produce custom, high-performing computer vision models in 7 days or less. This aims to address evolving threats more quickly. - CENTCOM's new Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) invites industry to pitch capabilities that can provide an "integrated, streamlined interface" for the full model development process. - This shift towards empowering end-users aligns with the "buy what we can, build what we must" approach to leverage commercial tech for military needs. - CENTCOM cites examples like adversaries using countermeasures to defeat AI-powered targeting to highlight the need for rapidly adaptable computer vision capabilities. #ComputerVision #ArtificialIntelligence #MilitaryTechnology #CentcomCSO #DefenseTech #WarfighterTech

As part of its ongoing modernization efforts, the United States Department of the Air Force chief information officer, in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory , is accelerating initiatives to provide #Guardians, #Airmen, civilian employees, and contractors the ability to responsibly experiment with #GenerativeAI, with adequate safeguards in place. The experiment is an opportunity to facilitate real-world #testing, #focusing on key #metrics such as computational efficiency, #resource #utilization, #security #compliance, etc., to understand GenAI's practical applications and challenges and ensure that future #implementation is effective and efficient. The platform includes user feedback opportunities to help #develop #governing policies and enable #informed #conversations with vendors as the DAF works to incorporate these tools into its operations. "#NIPRGPT is a critical bridge to ensure we get the best #tools we have into our team's hands while larger commercial tools are navigating our intense security #parameters and other #processes,” said Alexis Bonnell, AFRL chief information officer. “Changing how we #interact with unstructured #knowledge is not instant perfection; we each must learn to use the tools, query, and get the best results. NIPRGPT will allow Airmen and Guardians to explore and build #skills and familiarity as more powerful tools become available."

Concepts are tough. Predicated on what the future might look like, they are almost always doomed to fail, at least in the sense that they are exposed to so many edge cases that hindsight tends to show how "off" they can be. Concepts are necessary though. They drive capability analysis, requirements, and acquisition decision trade-offs. In most cases, the concept just needs to be directionally correct to deliver relevant warfighting capability to the field; from there, it is up to the operators to deploy capability effectively within the ever-shifting operational and tactical paradigms of the battlefield. One underlying issue the authors touch on is when concepts try to answer every operational and tactical question, they pose inherent risks to the warfighter on the ground. As the authors state, "Most concepts fall prey to this technological overconfidence, particularly in the field of communications. Assured connectivity in combat is central to nearly all multi-domain operations work. The United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Israel, Taiwan, and NATO all place some style of next-generation command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities at the core of their concept, assuming an assured availability of strong networks in the relatively near future. In reality, and despite a significant amount of attention in recent years, the level of assured connectivity upon which much multi-domain operations thought is predicated is far from realistic." Then they recommend, "stop trying to make war “not war” by being overly clever. New concepts cannot erase attrition from the battlefield or lift the fog of war. Attempts to do so are quixotic at best. Focus on concrete operational problems and build solutions from there." To the point above, I wholeheartedly agree and often fear over-reliance on concepts and "technological overconfidence" cede focus from the power of mission command, commander's intent, solid, realistic training, and trust in our warfighters' adaptability and ingenuity. For me personally, I always try to frame my work in the ADG market from the first principle question of "What is the warfighter (or intel analyst or government software developer or SETA employee, etc.) actually 'doing'?" In most cases, that question lifts the veil and cuts through the conceptual jargon of what might they do or what could they do if everything was perfect. This, in effect, helps me focus on the concrete operational problems a business is trying to help solve for the warfighter and hopefully help them at least do what they are actually doing, just better. https://lnkd.in/e482MANv

As NATO marks its 75th anniversary this week, Microsoft and Foreign Policy Analytics published the fourth edition of our #DigitalFrontLines report on hybrid conflict. This latest issue brief seeks to raise awareness of the potential role of AI in cyberwarfare and how the multistakeholder community can use it as a tool for defense. Learn more at the link below and be sure to scroll down to read the essays from our expert contributors. They provide important perspectives from government, civil society and industry on how we can all come together to secure the online ecosystem. https://lnkd.in/gV_53XZm