A closer look at DOD's budget request & Army software
Also: Register for Nexus 24, Series E announcement, & more
Welcome back to the Nexus Newsletter, Applied Intuition Defense’s biweekly newsletter covering the latest in national security, autonomy, and software-defined warfare.
In today’s edition, we announce an exciting milestone for Applied Intuition Defense, provide some takes on the Department of Defense’s fiscal year 2025 budget request, and an Army software policy revamp. Plus, a new contract award and our thoughts on how digital engineering can advance aerial autonomy.
But, before we get into it… Register for Nexus 24
We’re getting closer to Nexus 24, Applied Intuition Defense's annual national security symposium! Join us for a day of provocative keynotes, interactive breakouts, and a number of networking opportunities on June 13 at The REACH at the Kennedy Center.
Registration is free but spots are limited. Click here to reserve your spot and watch our video below to see what Nexus is all about.
Announcing our Series E funding round
We’re excited to announce that Applied Intuition has raised $250 million in Series E funding, bringing its total valuation to $6 billion!
Since our founding in 2017, our team has expanded beyond its Silicon Valley roots and in 2022 we opened up our Washington, D.C. office. Our defense business has grown rapidly since that time through our ongoing work with the U.S. Army and U.S Air Force. This new round of funding will allow Applied Intuition Defense to further expand its work in the defense ecosystem and offer even more solutions to warfighter requirements with AI and autonomy.
Read more on our blog here and watch below to hear our founders talk about where we’re headed.
What’s on our minds: Accelerating aerial autonomy with digital engineering
Autonomy has become a major capability focus for programs developing Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS). Their ability to be force multipliers for human operators has the potential to drive significant value across many industries, from inspecting gas pipelines to drone delivery networks. On the battlefield, autonomous systems are changing how modern conflict is fought and delivering a competitive advantage to those who can field them.
To achieve this, AI-based software must process sensor data to perceive its surroundings, localize, and optimize trajectory in a continuous feedback loop. However, developing these capabilities is a challenging task because the performance of the system varies based on the environment it is deployed in. For example, software trained on data from a desert test site may fail at identifying maritime vessels or planning routes over urban environments.
Digital engineering encompasses a large umbrella of tools and capabilities, part of which enables developers to build and retrain software rapidly, without relying on live testing in limited environments. Software can be tested across all possible operational domains, building confidence in its performance before deploying it.
Read our latest blog exploring how digital engineering can accelerate modern sUAS software development.
Continuing our partnership with AFWERX
Applied Intuition Defense was recently awarded a contract by AFVentures to integrate our simulation and synthetic data solutions with the Advanced Framework for Simulation, Integration, and Modeling, or AFSIM, the DOD’s de-facto simulation tool.
Under this contract, we’ll deliver a synthetic data generation toolkit that will allow the U.S. Air Force to generate multi-modal synthetic data on all-domain assets and a functioning integration of our simulation tools with AFSIM. AFSIM is a core simulation tool for the development and sustainment of autonomous systems. This work fills a critical AFSIM capability gap, incorporating high fidelity perception simulation and use of synthetic data into those workflows.
This contract builds on our strong relationship with AFWERX and follows prior contracts awarded to us to help accelerate the delivery of target recognition capabilities to the U.S. Air Force.
Read more about this contract here. And ICYMI, watch our video below to see our tools in action:
News we’re reading
Last week, the Biden administration unveiled its newest budget request: $895.2 billion for national defense for fiscal year 2025, with almost $850 billion for DOD.
Overall, the figures are lower than projected but not a surprise, with publications reporting funding constraints were due to the Fiscal Responsibility Act passed last year that capped spending. At the same time, fiscal year 2024 appropriations are still in limbo as lawmakers have yet to strike a deal more than five months into the fiscal year.
Here are our main takeaways on some of the most pressing autonomy and artificial intelligence programs under DOD’s fiscal year 2025 wish list. Plus, our take on a recent software revamp for the Army.
C4ISRNET | Pentagon says $1 billion planned for first two years of Replicator
Key quote: “There are two options. First, Congress could include the first $500 million in its long-delayed FY24 Pentagon budget. Working toward this goal, McCord said, Hicks has been speaking with the defense committees on Capitol Hill.
The backup plan, McCord said, is a reprogramming request — in which the Pentagon asks the defense committees for permission to shift money around in its budget.
In FY25, the $500 million for Replicator is already in the budget. McCord, though, did not say where that money is, other than to say it’s classified.”
Our take: This is the first time DOD has inked an initial, publicly available estimated cost of Replicator, an effort announced last August to field thousands of drones in an effort to counter China’s military mass. This is also a departure from Deputy Secretary of Defense (DSD) Kathleen Hicks’s initial statements that there would be no new money requested for Replicator, yet we had always thought that new money would be a likely outcome.
The reprogramming of funds is always politically fraught, and had met skepticism early on such as during the HASC CITI Subcommittee Hearing on the subject last year. Similarly, HAC-D Chairman Rep. Ken Calvert said that the initiative would require new money. While the Hill continues its consideration of the DSD reprogramming requests briefed to the Hill, it remains to be seen which approach the Hill takes.
If you ask us, there are likely inefficiencies from which Congress could pull funding for Replicator. Either way, we support robust funding of Replicator with a focus on software sustainment no matter what pathway the Hill chooses.
C4ISRNET | Software revamp aims to align US Army with industry best practices
Key quote: “We thought this was important to do this now, and issue this policy now, because of how critical software is to the fight right now,” Margaret Boatner, the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for strategy and acquisition reform, told reporters at the Pentagon. “More than ever before, software is actually a national-security imperative.”
Our take: The Army’s newest software guidance, “Enabling Modern Software Development and Acquisition Practices,” recognizes a key shift in the center of gravity of capability procurement from hardware to software. It provides some practical guidance and recommendations, especially the reinforcement of the authorities under the Software Acquisition Pathway and ATO reciprocity.
However, we anticipate that some of the recommendations may be counterproductive to the goal. For example, directing the use of cost-reimbursable contracting methods to the maximum extent possible, the Army will be applying a large filter to smaller, non-traditional software companies that excel at Agile software development.
Furthermore, a cost-based approach will provide “un-Agile” incentives and an inflexible contract structure. We want to emphasize that Agile software development is best accomplished through flexible contracting practices that provide incentives for the delivery of capability at speed by top talent in the software industry.
Defense News | Pentagon trims tech research funding request; AI, networking flat
Key quote: “The request includes $1.4 billion for Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or CJADC2, and $1.8 billion for AI. Both figures are consistent with the FY24 plan.
The CJADC2 concept envisions forces across land, air, sea, space and cyber working together to outwit and outshoot tech-savvy adversaries. Automation and AI feed into that, with the Chief Digital and AI Office helping realize the requisite information-parsing and database connectivity.
Mike McCord, the Pentagon comptroller, on Monday told reporters AI is ingrained in ‘so many things’ that a detailed breakdown of investments is tricky to readily produce.
‘It’s a little hard to put your arms around, and therefore the number is not necessarily reflective of the impact of it, in the fact that it’s in so many places,’ McCord said. He promised to provide an accurate inventory as soon as possible.”
Our take: While a sense of urgency across the DOD has spurred a focus to delivering mature capabilities to the warfighter, we urge DOD to continue investing in near-term game-changing technologies.
We do believe that the Chief Digital and AI Office is the right organization to own the enterprise infrastructure for CJADC2 capabilities, as the tech is both ready to be procured and unlikely to be procured by combatant commands at the scale necessary.