Securing the US military's competitive edge with software & announcing our Nexus keynotes
Plus, Nexus Talks is back
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 our keynote speakers for Nexus 24, share some events we’ll be at next week, a new blog on software-defined vehicles, and news we’re reading. Plus, we’re back with a new episode of Nexus Talks.
Come See Us at MDEX and XPONENTIAL next week!
If you ask anyone in the Department of Defense (DOD) what’s top of mind right now, it’s Replicator. Described by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks as a “big bet,” Replicator is an ambitious initiative to field thousands of attritable autonomous systems in order to counter China’s military mass.
We’ve spoken at length on how—as tempting as it can be to focus on the end capability—what’s going to make or break Replicator is the underlying infrastructure. The effort’s success will hinge on the software that will actually enable the systems to be operational. We’re also thrilled to be helping the Army on another innovative effort: the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV), a major modernization focus for the Army.
We’ll be having conversations around Replicator and the importance of software-enabled ground vehicles at two defense tech conferences next week. Come meet the team at NDIA Michigan Defense Expo (MDEX) from April 23rd to 25th and take part in an interactive experience at booth F18. We’ll also have a booth at AUVSI’s XPONENTIAL event, April 22nd to 25th, and our General Manager for Defense Jason Brown will be speaking during the conference.
We’ll also be at the Special Competitive Studies Project’s AI Expo for National Competitiveness in Washington, DC on May 7th and 8th. Come see us at booth 256.
Our Nexus 24 Keynotes
Our annual Nexus symposium is quickly approaching and over the coming weeks, we will announce our distinguished speaker lineup. Today we are proud to announce our first tranche of keynote speakers:
Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus
Rep. Rob Wittman (VA-01) - Vice Chairman, House Armed Services Committee
Young Bang - Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology
Bilal Zuberi - General Partner at Lux Capital
As a reminder, you can register for Nexus 24 by clicking here. Also be sure to register for our upcoming Nexus Talks webinar, Swarms and speed: What the Pentagon can learn from Ukraine, which will preview some of the themes we’ll talk about at this year’s Nexus. You’ll hear from our General Manager for Government Jason Brown and Deputy Director of Analysis and Research Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology Margarita Konaev as they discuss what lessons DOD can learn from the Ukraine battlefield. Register for free for the April 29th webinar below.
National Defense University x Applied Intuition Defense
We hosted students from Washington, DC’s National Defense University last week. The cohort joined us at our Mountain View, CA headquarters to learn how Silicon Valley companies are working to support defense and national security requirements.
During the visit, students spoke with our defense experts and engineers on topics close to the Pentagon, like the roles industry and the military services play in the development and sustainment of software, including how both sectors can work together to develop artificial intelligence and autonomy software required for systems to adapt to ever-changing battlefield conditions. Beyond the systems, students had the opportunity to exchange views with our engineers and business development teams on the challenges non-traditional defense technology companies encounter in the DOD acquisitions process. Software-driven acquisition strategies are just as important and must be flexible and inclusive.
We also explored human-machine teaming, particularly how the defense industrial base can rapidly scale the production of low-cost, attritable hardware equipped with the most advanced software much faster than it could for expensive systems. If these topics interest you, come join the conversation at Nexus 24.
Securing Competitive Edge: How the U.S. Military Can Benefit From a Software-Forward Approach
Speaking of software-defined vehicles, we write about how DOD can learn from the automotive industry and apply those lessons to defense in our latest blog. As the U.S. military progresses into the digital age, future defense programs will struggle if the Pentagon sticks to a traditional, hardware-centric approach.
The defense innovation ecosystem will start to see parallels emerge between the vision the commercial auto industry is working toward and the critical technologies DOD seeks to implement. These capabilities will emerge in rapid, iterative development cycles driven by experience in testing and operational deployments. All of these depend on the ability to rapidly build, test, and deploy software. They will require platforms with largely static hardware configurations to accept constant updates over their lifetime, something the U.S. military has thus far struggled to do.
The solution? Reimagining how a vehicle is designed. Click below to learn how program executive officers can leverage hard-won lessons from top vehicle manufacturers that offer a new vision for software-defined vehicles to secure America’s competitive edge.
Tech debt, data management, and partnering to fine tune autonomy
We were recently invited to speak at a panel discussion on leveraging AI with limited resources at the Texas Defense Research Symposium hosted by The University of Texas at Austin, where Jason shared some broader thoughts, including:
Government can benefit from industry’s approach of using open source models to fine-tune and implement some aspects of autonomy
There are struggles around data management for autonomy that need to be considered. The government struggles with tech debt and needs more modern tech that exists today to be able to manage data much more easily in order to achieve goals laid out with AI and autonomy.
There are opportunities for the research community, industry, and government to discuss new model architectures and how they can be implemented in autonomous systems and at the edge
News We’re Reading
DefenseScoop | CDAO shapes new tools to inform Pentagon’s autonomous weapon reviews
Key quote: “‘Obviously, the 3000.09 process is not optional. But in terms of how you demonstrate that you are meeting those requirements — we wanted to provide a resource [to help],’ Matthew Johnson, the CDAO’s acting Responsible AI chief, told DefenseScoop in a recent interview.
The overarching toolkit Johnson and his colleagues have developed — and will continue to expand — marks a major deliverable of the Defense Department’s RAI Strategy and Implementation Pathway, which Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks signed in June 2022. That framework was conceptualized to help defense personnel confront known and unknown risks posed by still-emerging AI technologies, without completely stifling innovation.”
Our take: The DOD does not get enough credit here. While much work remains to operationalize the 3000.09 process, you’d be hard pressed to find another department or ministry making greater progress in implementing autonomous weapons policy.
We were glad to see the updated Directive 3000.09 highlight how modeling and simulation tools should be used to test system software. We urge any autonomy programs in DOD as well as test and evaluation (T&E) offices to prioritize acquiring commercially-proven modeling and simulation solutions to enable rapid, comprehensive, and scalable T&E and verification and validation. We also support the inclusion of both DOD’s AI Ethics Principles and the Responsible AI Strategy & Implementation Plan in the updated directive. These principles address new ethical challenges that AI raises and ensure responsible AI development and use by DOD.
Breaking Defense | Navy’s Project Overmatch eager for new software, ahead of schedule, admiral says
Key quote: “Fielding software on existing hardware is the fastest way to move,” [Rear Adm. Douglas] Small said. “That has been our mantra: just focus on software.”
“[So] what we need is the applications — not new computers, that takes longer to install on ships,” Small said. “We have plenty of contract vehicles to get your software into the brains of sailors tomorrow.”
Our take: According to Breaking Defense, the Navy is ditching a hardware-first approach in favor of getting the software right. For an effort as critical as Project Overmatch, the service’s contribution to the Pentagon’s broader Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative, it’s great to see Navy leadership prioritize software. It’s also encouraging to see how the Navy, and the other military services, want to collaborate with industry for new technologies.