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Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Army punches the gas on Next-Gen Command-and-Control
Coming out of an entire career in the operational Army, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ellis, now the director of the Army's command-and-control modernization, said it hasn't been uncommon in the field to see critical data jotted down on a piece of cardboard in the back of a platoon sergeant's tank. 'There's probably a headquarter somewhere today at an exercise where an intel officer is going to write everything down on a piece of sticky note that came out of his intel system, walk across the [Tactical Operations Center], hand it over to the fires guy who has to type it into the fires system to make it work,' he said in a Monday press briefing at the Pentagon. 'We realize this is just not the approach to speed that we need in the United States Army.' The Army's command-and-control, or C2, architecture, which enables commanders to plan, decide and executive missions, was cobbled together over 20 years during the Global War on Terror. Most warfighting functions used separate stove-piped systems, amounting to a total of 17 programs of record, according to Alex Miller, the Army's chief technology officer. 'We had built up a lot of technical debt and process debt,' Miller said during the briefing. 'As technology evolved and as commercial industry really got into the edge processing game and data analytics and cloud, we had processes in place that didn't allow us to change fast,' Miller said, calling it '60 years of policy archeology.' Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George recognized getting command-and-control right was imperative to future battlefield success and decided to embark on a program to fix the service's C2 capabilities to avoid operational disruption while creating the necessary clean-sheet system from scratch. The Army's effort to overhaul its command-and-control ecosystem, dubbed Next-Generation C2, is one of the top priorities for Army modernization — if not the highest. 'If you cannot command and control your formation, nothing else matters,' Army Futures Command commander, Gen. James Rainey said last week at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama. A year ago at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, soldiers at the Army's experimentation event Project Convergence and industry partners, including Google, Anduril and Palantir, demonstrated a proof-of-concept at the unclassified level for what a Next-Generation C2 system, or NGC2, might look like. Walking through a cluster of adobe buildings and pitched tents in a quiet desert village in the middle of the Mojave Desert, George saw commanders and unit leaders using just a laptop or tablet and headset to communicate, plan, conduct reconnaissance and targeting and execute fires operations. Using just their vehicles as operations centers, the units decreased both their signature in the electromagnetic spectrum and Tactical Operations Centers footprints, which typically stick out like sore thumbs, and planned and executed their missions more efficiently. Then the service took the capability to another experimentation exercise called NetModX in September. 'We took that commercial architecture, the software side of that, the data flow inside of that, put it on real Army systems, on the real radios that we have or might want, satellites, all that. Ran that system, jammed them, knocked people off of it, tested it,' Ellis said. Fast-forward to Project Convergence, held earlier this spring at the National Training Center. There, the Army gave the capability to an entire armored battalion, put it in a brigade headquarters and had real soldiers employing the technology. 'There wasn't an Army of contractors following vehicles around,' Ellis noted. 'The soldiers were actually using a lot, really quality feedback there. For instance, Ellis said that he climbed on top of a tank for 45 minutes talking to soldiers using NGC2. They showed how they could flip through intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance feeds, examine vehicle maintenance data and supplies status and make better decisions in real time. 'Climbing off that tank I realized we hadn't once talked about how complicated it was to access that data, how hard it was to log in, the transport problems they were having,' Ellis said. 'We were talking about what they're actually doing with the data, which is exactly what our goal is.' The Army took one year to go from a proof-of-concept to capability validation, a timeline Miller called 'astronomically fast.' Normally, such a process would take five to seven years, he said. 'We went from characterization of need with industry, government and industry together, to things in the hands of soldiers that I am actually pretty confident that if war broke out tonight, they could use in real-time.' The Army has now enabled a process through a software acquisition strategy to try and buy commercially available technology more agilely. The service has also moved away from giving industry a set of rigid requirements to adhere to when developing a capability to, instead, provide them with a problem and a short, broad statement outlining the Army's needs. Industry has already helped significantly to shape the effort. 'We're not just talking about stovepipes anymore,' Ellis said, 'We're actually talking about how to approach it from a whole stack, everything from software, the applications, all the way down to the data transport layer.' A major part of the effort is developing an integrated data layer on which the service can build applications over the top, according to Ellis. Like applications on smartphones, the Army's systems can use that same data. Rather than relying on 'complicated spaghetti charts' to flow data, an integrated data layer puts data all in one place, Ellis said. The service will soon release a request to industry for solutions that will filter into its brand new, clean-sheet approach to Next-Gen C2 to build on the progress made over the last year and begin to scale the capability across the operational force, Lt. Gen. Rob Collins, the military deputy to the Army's acquisition chief, said. The Army will never stop iterating its C2 capability going forward and will rely heavily on soldier feedback to build the system, he noted. The major endeavor also presents an opportunity for the service to work differently with industry, Joe Welch, the deputy to the Army Futures Command commander, said during Monday's media briefing. 'We're moving away from this concept of an industry integrator into more of a team of teams, but on our side, we need to be a better customer. It's not just handing industry a problem statement and then walking away, waiting for them to deliver and then holding them accountable if they don't,' Welch said. 'That partnership means that we need to understand where we have shared incentives, where we have different incentives and then kind of acknowledging those directly and understanding how to work through that.' The Army plans to scale the system to an entire division by the next iteration of Project Convergence, expected to take place in the summer of 2026. The Army chief has charted the developers to field to both a division and corps. While the service typically takes about five years to field a capability to the entire Army, Miller said once the first division gets the core software and data pieces that will be cloud-based, multiple divisions will be able to log in at the same time. The Army also plans to use funding freed up by ending legacy capabilities to pay for Next-Gen C2 to the tune of 'billions of dollars,' Welch said. 'There's no room for things that won't win,' Miller said. 'Being able to stop and adjust and use the money that taxpayers gave us more efficiently, that's the name of the game. That's how we're going to pay for Next-Gen C2.'
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Army looks to artificial intelligence to enhance future Golden Dome
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Army is looking to increase autonomy through artificial intelligence solutions to reduce the manpower needed to manage Golden Dome, President Donald Trump's desired homeland missile defense architecture, the service's program executive officer for missiles and space said this week. As the Army contributes a large portion of the in-development air and missile defense architecture for Guam, it is looking to adapt those capabilities for a Golden Dome application, Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano told Defense News in an interview at Redstone Arsenal on Wednesday amid the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama. Some of the Army's major contributions to the Guam Defense System include new modernized radars, an emerging Indirect Fire Protection Capability and its new Integrated Battle Command System, or IBCS. 'What we're trying to do is three things,' Lozano said. 'We're wanting to integrate more AI-enabled fire control so that will help us reduce the manpower footprint. We're wanting to create more remotely operated systems so that we don't have to have so many operators and maintainers associated with every single piece of equipment that's out there.' And, he said, 'We need to have more autonomously operated systems.' Currently, the Army typically has a launcher with a missile and a launcher crew consisting of at least two to three soldiers. 'In the Golden Dome application, we would likely either have containerized missiles — think box of rockets — or we might actually put rockets and missiles in the ground,' Lozano said. Those systems would require less frequent upkeep, as a smaller manpower footprint means status checks might only happen every couple of weeks, and test checks would be conducted remotely, he said. In order to work on such capability, the Army is planning to use what it learns from maturing the Guam Defense System, which will become operational in roughly 2027 with Army assets. The service will also pivot its Integrated Fires Test Campaign, or IFTC, from a focus on testing the Guam architecture incrementally to how to inject autonomy and AI into those systems for Golden Dome beyond 2026. The IFTC in 2026 is considered the Guam Defense System 'Super Bowl,' Lozano said. Then, beyond 2027, he said, 'If we're called upon to support Golden Dome initiatives, we need to have those advanced AI, remotely operated, autonomous-based formations and systems ready to go.' To begin, the Army will be focused on defining the functions that human operators perform at all the operator terminals within an IBCS-integrated fire control center or at a particular launching station, Lozano said. Once those functions are defined, Lozano said, the Army will have to define the data sources that drive action. 'We have to create the decision rubric that assesses and analyzes that data that then drives a human decision, and then we have to code AI algorithms to be able to process that information and make the right decision,' Lozano said. 'There will be trigger points where the software has to say, 'I'm not authorized to make that level of decision. It's got to go back to the human and deliver.'' For the first time, the Army's Program Executive Office Missiles and Space is interacting with many new market entrants in the AI realm to work on the effort. For example, Lozano said he met this week at the Global Force Symposium with the French defense firm Safran. Safran, known for its assured position, navigation and timing capabilities, is planning a significant U.S. expansion. The defense firm provides capability for various Army missile programs, including Patriot air and missile defense systems and IBCS, as well as Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System and Precision Strike Missile programs. Lozano told the company he is looking for ways to reduce humans having to perform actions, such as verifying that timing data is synchronized with satellite timing. The Army has also begun discussions with Anduril, which, in early January, acquired the U. S. defense company Numerica, which happens to write the Army's IBCS fire control software. The service has discussed with Anduril how it can start looking at integrating more AI fire control functionality into its major air and missile defense command-and-control system. Part of the plan is focused on engaging with some nontraditional industry, such as venture capitalists and newly established small companies tackling these challenges, according to Lozano. The Army will spend the next six to nine months defining what it wants to look for from industry and then will begin hosting industry days and issuing requests for information, he said.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
US Army plans Australia test of missile launcher that has irked China
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Army plans to conduct a live shot with its Typhon missile system in Australia this summer during the Talisman Sabre exercise, marking the first firing of the long-range strike weapon on foreign soil, according to Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano, program executive officer for missiles and space. The Army will deploy its second battery and will fire an SM-6 missile from the system's launcher, he told Defense News in an exclusive interview at Redstone Arsenal amid the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium. The other Typhon battery, also referred to as the Mid-Range Capability missile system, was transported to Luzon, Philippines, in the spring of 2024 as part of the Salaknib exercise, marking the first time the new capability, deemed vital to the U.S. Army's Indo-Pacific strategy, was deployed. The mobile, ship-sinking system has remained in the country since then, much to the disapproval of China. The Typhon launcher traveled more than 8,000 miles from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, aboard a C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft on a 15-hour flight. The Army has not conducted any live-fire exercises with the system in the Philippines yet and does not plan to do so during this year's Salaknib or Balikatan, which will kick off later this spring. The Lockheed Martin-built system, consisting of a vertical launch system that uses the Navy's Raytheon-built Standard Missile-6 and Tomahawk missiles, can strike targets in the 500- to 2,000-kilometer range. The complete system has a battery operations center, four launchers, prime movers and modified trailers. Defense News first reported the Army's plan to pursue the midrange missile in September 2020. The Army fielded the capability in less than three years. While the first Typhon battery belongs to the 1st Multidomain Task Force in the Pacific, the second battery is for the 3rd MDTF. The Army is building these formations to be dedicated to specific theaters and designed to address specific military needs in those regions. There will be five MDTFs in total and three will be dedicated to the Pacific. The 2nd MDTF is in Europe and the 5th, which has yet to be formed, will be stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and will be designed for rapid deployment where it is needed. The first two batteries were fielded to JBLM and the Army is now getting ready to take receipt of the third battery from its producers, according to Lozano. That battery will go to Europe's 2nd MDTF. The service obligated funds last year to build the fourth battery, he noted.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Yahoo
US Army wants AI solutions to protect homeland munitions sites
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Army is looking for inexpensive but high-tech solutions, including artificial intelligence, to help protect the massive acreage that make up its sites where munitions are made and stockpiled. In one instance, a local duck hunter got out of his boat, grabbed his shot gun and waded right into the protected area of a munition site, Brig. Gen. Ronnie Anderson, Joint Munitions Command commander, said Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama. These 13 operating sites under the purview of Joint Munitions Command have also seen 42 drone incursions, Anderson said, without specifying the timeframe. 'What are they doing? We don't know. Is there anything nefarious or is it just someone who's curious? We don't know because we don't have the ability to interrogate the [unmanned aircraft system] or the person who's operating.' The worst-case scenario, Anderson said, is a hobbyist could crash a drone into an operating site where there are explosives being moved between Point A and Point B. Although installations have inner perimeters providing security, McAlister Army Ammunition Plant in Oklahoma, for example, which is larger than the District of Columbia, has an outer perimeter of three-strand barbed wire cattle fencing. Fencing, however, can be costly. A recent estimate to construct fencing around Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas was $80 million, according to Anderson. 'For less than $5 million, we can have an AI-enabled mobile trailer with sensors, cameras, radar and communicate back through an IT network, back to the control center, that senses, it alerts the [emergency operations center] of something that either is a threat or is not a threat,' Anderson said. Solutions would also be able to properly address unmanned aircraft systems incursions. The AI capability would be able to learn, allowing it to identify an unmanned aircraft system, communicate the type of system back to the Army and then start to interrogate the system, Anderson said. The Army has engaged three industry partners who are experimenting now at Bluegrass Army Depot in Kentucky with applying artificial intelligence-enabled wide-area security, he said, adding that the service is also initiating another experiment at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Missouri. These security issues are critical to address now, Anderson said. 'In the next conflict, when the continental United States is a contested area, we have to be able to sense and we don't have these resources to put armed guards on patrol every corner of all of our thousands and thousands of acres.'
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Army wants to aggressively amass cheap rockets
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — While the U.S. Army has exquisite firepower with its expensive long-range precision fire systems, it also wants to amass cheap rockets to target drones or overwhelm an enemy. 'If you're familiar with the rocket pods we have for [guided multiple launch rocket systems], I would like to fill those rocket pods with 50 to 100 rockets,' Gen. James Rainey, Army Futures Command commander, said Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama. 'What we could put in that box … it's not as good as [guided multiple launch rocket systems], but it can visit a lot of hate on the enemy in the right conditions.' Rainey said the Army is engaging industry right now and is not just talking to companies that make rockets but industry that could disrupt manufacturing processes to build thousands of rockets or companies that can mass produce energetics, replacements for rocket motors or use additive manufacturing to produce rapidly. The service is moving quickly, Rainey noted. 'We don't have a few years,' he said, adding that the service has an emerging requirements document, which formalizes a new requirement and jumpstarts development. 'We're asking companies to mass produce — in the thousands — fires capabilities, counter-[unmanned aircraft systems] capabilities at a lower price point.' Mass-producing rockets is one way to tackle the cost curve of countering drones, Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano, program executive officer for Missiles & Space, told Defense News in an interview at Redstone Arsenal outside Huntsville on Wednesday. One way is to continue to refine electronic warfare technology. The other is to take out drones like the Iranian-developed Shahed loitering munition that costs over $5,000 a pop with cheap rocket systems. For example, the Army's Hydra rocket costs roughly $45,000 per system. 'You're finally getting to a one-on-one,' he said. The service Program Executive Office Missile and Space is working with Army Development Command's Aviation and Missile Center and the Long-Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team on direct support fires technology. The Army is looking to have a low-cost rocket that can be put into a multiple launch rocket system, or MLRS, family of munitions launcher, with 30 of those rockets with warheads that the service could mass 'at a very high rate of fire' with a range in excess of 30 to 40 kilometers, Lozano said. 'We're being very aggressive in that area to try to deliver capability so that whatever [large-scale combat operations] situation we find ourselves in, whether it's [European Command] or Iranian or Korea fight, [Indo-Pacific Command] fight, we can give the warfighter this mass, high rate of fire capability that they need,' Lozano said. The Army is taking a new look at its fiscal 2026 budget request and its five-year funding plan, but when funding is allocated, the hope is to make the effort a three- to five-year program, with more emphasis on three years because Army leadership wants rapid, aggressive action to deliver capability, according to Lozano. Industry is already looking at how it can answer the call for large amounts of cheap rockets. While Lockheed Martin is developing the Joint Reduced Range Rocket for training to replace the legacy system it also builds, it is eyeing the potential to adapt the rocket for other missions. 'We're definitely looking at [direct support fires technology] and how we could be a competitor in that market,' Dave Griser, vice president of guided multiple launch rocket systems at Lockheed Martin, told Defense News. 'We think we can play there in terms of how we produce, our production and our experience that's unique to [MLRS family of munitions] and what we do. We think it's a good fit for us.' The new five-inch rocket has a modular payload and the tubes can be reused and reloaded in the field, according to Griser. The Army also recently chose Anduril Rocket Motor Systems to develop a new 4.75-inch solid rocket motor for long-range precision rocket artillery.
