DOT visit, DIU updates, and Nexus 23
All of the latest news and announcements from Applied’s government team
The Nexus Newsletter
Welcome back to The Nexus Newsletter. In this edition, we discuss a recent visit by a delegation from the U.S. Department of Transportation, comment on recent news out of DIU, announce new speakers at Nexus 23, highlight upcoming events on our calendar, and more.
Senior USDOT officials visit Applied
We recently hosted a delegation of senior officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation, at our Mountain View, California headquarters. The delegation visited Applied to learn more about how virtual testing tools can validate the safety and performance of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
DIU: New Director and structure
Mr. Doug Beck, currently Vice President of Apple and Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve, will take over as Director of DIU, Secretary of Defense Austin announced on April 4. With a long career in tech and nearly 26 years in both reserve and active duty in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Beck seems well-equipped to lead DIU.
In addition to the announcement of a new director, Secretary Austin also announced that DIU will now report directly to the Secretary of Defense. We are strong proponents of this move and believe that it will allow the DOD to take better advantage of the technologies developed through private investments in startups outside of the traditional defense supplier ecosystem. We are excited to learn about Doug’s 90 day assessment and recommendations to Secretary Austin, and see if the DIU charter and mandate change in any way.
We are ardent believers in DIU’s ability to positively impact contracting schedules to accelerate commercial technologies to DOD programs and warfighters. But could they do more to acquire commercial technologies to rapidly field to fill joint gaps if given their own high TRL development budget, and ability to run their own programs?
Upcoming events
Applied’s government team is attending and exhibiting at a number of events this month. Meet us there!
April 17-18: Military Robotics & Autonomous Systems | Book a meeting
April 19-20: MDEX International | Book a meeting
May 9-11: XPONENTIAL 2023 | Book a meeting
Nexus 23: New speakers
We are just over a month away from Nexus 23! We have a few more confirmed speakers to announce:
LTG Christopher Donahue, Commanding General, XVIII Airborne Corps, U.S. Army
Dr. Michael Horowitz, Director, Emerging Capabilities Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
COL Jeffery Jurand, Project Manager, Maneuver Combat Systems, PEO Ground Combat Systems, Army Futures Command
Lachlan McGovern, Counsellor for Defence Strategic Policy, Embassy of Australia to the United States
Marin Halper, Vice President, Cross-Cutting Priorities, MITRE
Liza Tobin, Senior Director for Economy, Special Competitive Studies Project
Megan Eckstein, Naval Warfare Reporter, Defense News
Evanna Hu, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
Justin Lynch, Senior Director for Defense, Special Competitive Studies Project
We will announce the full agenda for Nexus 23 in the next couple of weeks.
News we’re reading
Autonomous systems are gaining momentum in the national security space. Below, we’ve pulled key quotes from recent articles of interest, plus brief commentary from Applied Intuition’s government team:
Defense Scoop | Air Force preparing for ‘tethered’ and ‘untethered’ CCA drone operations
By Jon Harper, Managing Editor of Defense Scoop
Key quote: Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle, commander of the Air Force Research Lab, said modeling and simulation tools will help officials explore how the drones could operate both tethered and untethered. [...]
“We’re working on … developing that autonomy, the flexibility to switch back between tethered and untethered. And when you have an unexpected break of your tethering communications, what do you want the autonomy to do? Do you want it to automatically return to base? Do you want it to posture itself to reestablish the connection? So as we’re taking baby steps right now, kind of crawl, walk, run [approach]. We’re working through all those kinds of different things. But we’re putting a framework in place to where you know safety is kind of your number one priority, and then you build on capability from there,” he said.
Our take: We’re thrilled to hear that AFRL supports the use of modeling and simulation tools to explore tethered and untethered operations for CCAs. Testing drone behaviors in an unstructured, virtual environment will allow AFRL to evaluate how CCAs handle a variety of scenarios and execute a range of maneuvers, all in the safety and security of a high-fidelity virtual environment that ensures their manned counterparts are not put at risk.
Defense News | Autonomous tech can help keep US homeland safe, NORAD’s VanHerck says
By Colin Demarest, Networks, Cyber & IT Reporter at Defense News
Key quote: “I think the future of homeland defense is vastly different than what we see today,” he said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on fiscal 2024 spending. “It’s likely including autonomous platforms, airborne, maritime platforms, unmanned platforms with domain awareness sensors, and effectors that are kinetic and non-kinetic.”
Autonomous and uncrewed systems could linger and observe for extended periods of time, providing VanHerck and his successors a steady feed of information that can then be parsed for signs of foreign aggression. They could also be parked in places considered too risky or complicated for troops to be in-person, extending American defenses.
Our take: We’re glad to see that Gen. VanHerck recognizes the important role that unmanned and autonomous systems play in modern defense. From persistent ISR to enhance situational awareness, to high-risk environments that are too dangerous for exquisite manned platforms to operate, uncrewed systems can fill gaps, increase the effectiveness of manned platforms, provide volume, and present dilemmas for adversaries.
Air & Space Forces Magazine | Collaborative Combat Aircraft Will Join the Air Force Before NGAD
By John A. Tirpak, Editorial Director of Air & Space Forces Magazine
Key quote: The first iterations of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the drones that will pair with manned platforms, will join the Air Force’s fighter fleet in “the later 2020s,” several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, service acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel on March 29. [...]
Lt. Gen. Richard G. Moore Jr., deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, also set the top three missions of the CCAs, in order, as:
shooters
electronic warfare platforms
sensor-carrying aircraft [...]
Hunter also said the notional number of CCAs will be between 1,000 and 1,500 aircraft.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told the House Appropriations defense panel on March 28 that CCAs could cost between one-half and one-quarter as much as an F-35. [...]
“Ordinarily we provide a requirement to industry, they come back with what we’ve asked for, and we know that it does exactly what we asked. In this case, we’ve asked a question to industry to see what’s possible rather than tell them exactly what we want,” General Moore said.
Our take: Well…at $20-$40M each it makes sense why the Air Force is hesitant to call these platforms attritable. Still, this is roughly in the range that we expect, particularly when it comes to a conflict fight with an adversary like China, where systems are expected to operate over long distances and face high-end capabilities. It will be interesting to see if all CCAs fall within this price range, or if there are certain platforms that are cheaper - one potential option is retrofitting older, manned aircraft with autonomy kits, as we’ve seen with Project VENOM (though to-date, VENOM’s autonomous F-16s are only intended to build trust, refine autonomy stacks, and test new capabilities).
Comments from Air Force leadership on the Hill, at AFA and in this article have demonstrated the Air Force’s commitment and investment in utilizing autonomous systems as the pivot point for force projection against near peer adversaries. At first glance, however, the “notional number” of CCAs seems low - roughly half of the (original) planned F-35 buy across services, and below the Air Force’s total planned order of F-35s over the lifetime of the program. While General Moore and Secretary Hunter stated the intent is for CCAs to augment both F-35 and NGAD deployments, previous Air Force war games have shown success utilizing higher numbers of drones - so the Air Force will need to vastly increase its buy of CCAs.
C4ISRNET | Navy creating unmanned, AI operations hub within US Southern Command
By Megan Eckstein, Naval Warfare Reporter, Defense News
Key quote: “The 4th Fleet area of operations provides us with an environment best suited to operationalize the concepts Task Force 59 has worked tirelessly to develop to increase our maritime domain awareness capabilities,” Secretary Carlos Del Toro said at the lunchtime speech. [...]
CNO Adm. Mike Gilday told reporters after the event that while the Navy stood up a formal task force in U.S. 5th Fleet to experiment with unmanned and AI technologies alongside regional partners, the Navy chose to try a different command structure here. Rather than create a task force underneath 4th Fleet, this effort will instead incorporate unmanned and AI tech — and the vast information that they’ll collect and analyze for operators — within existing offices at 4th Fleet, such as intelligence, operations, plans and manpower.
By doing this, he said, the Navy is further “normalizing” these advanced technologies.
Our take: Operationalizing the concepts that TF59 has developed in SOUTHCOM is exciting. We’re looking forward to seeing if that includes the contractor-owned, contractor-operated model that TF59 has used to great effect. Integrating autonomous capabilities into existing offices is ultimately a more realistic and effective structure for deployment than standalone task forces made up exclusively of autonomous capabilities.
USNI News | SECDEF Austin to House: Subs, Unmanned Systems Key to U.S. Pacific Advantage
By John Grady
Key quote: In the immediate future, “you’re going to see a shift to robotics in a big way, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. The use of low and slow commercial aerial drones in Ukraine demonstrated unmanned system’s versatility in combat. He expects the United States and China to aggressively explore their use in maritime warfare.
Milley estimated that one-third of the Navy could be unmanned in the not-distant future. [...]
The administration “wanted to get upstream on this” as early as possible on advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing as well as unmanned systems, Austin said.
“The department is also accelerating investments in cutting-edge defense capabilities, such as uncrewed systems that can operate on the water, underwater, in the air, and on land. Integrating human-machine teaming, autonomous systems, and resilient networks will make our operations significantly faster, more lethal, and more survivable,” Austin said in prepared remarks.
Our take: Unmanned and autonomous systems are particularly valuable in the maritime domain, where the Navy has more ocean than it knows what to do with: Autonomous systems can fill the gaps to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the ocean. Recent wargames have also demonstrated how vast numbers of the Navy’s large, slow surface vessels would be wiped out in the opening salvos of a conflict around Taiwan. A new approach to maritime power is necessary to deter conflict and protect our allies: Large numbers of fast and maneuverable vessels are desperately needed. Autonomous - not merely “uncrewed” - vessels are mission critical: Tactical scenarios demand a comprehensive understanding of the battlespace, rapid reactions, and large numbers. Autonomy enables the navy to develop the coordinated, resilient network of systems required for success. We’re glad to see that Chairman Milley and SecDef Austin understand these realities.
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