Luca Leone’s Post

A Defense Innovation Unit project to link the Pentagon’s high-performance computers with cloud-based services could soon bring real-time, high-speed data processing to military users around the world. DIU, whose mission is to help the U.S. Department of Defense better leverage commercial technology, worked with two computing firms on the 18-month effort: Rescale, headquartered in San Francisco, and Parallel Works, based out of Chicago. The companies partnered with DoD’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program, which is working to make decision-making tools enabled by supercomputers more accessible across the department — from researchers and acquisition officials to operators in the field.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected the startup Scout Space to participate in the BRIDGES (Bringing Classified Innovation to Defense and Government Systems) consortium. BRIDGES, launched by DARPA in 2023, aims to connect innovative small companies and nontraditional defense contractors with classified Department of Defense research and development efforts. The initiative seeks to bridge the gap between cutting-edge commercial technologies and classified defense needs, particularly in areas considered critical to maintaining U.S. military superiority. Scout Space, based in Reston, Virginia, develops satellite flight software and space domain awareness sensors. The company announced July 8 it was selected by DARPA for its proposal outlining an approach to “advancing autonomous in-space threat response.”

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and Lockheed Martin are collaborating to provide Net-Enabled Weapons (NEW) capability for GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SeaGuardian® Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The addition of NEW capability for SeaGuardian will bolster the Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting (ISR&T) capability for the aircraft. The NEW technology provides expanded sensor targeting applications for the precision targeting of long-range weapons. SeaGuardian’s demonstrated persistence coupled with its vast array of precision targeting sensors enables more efficient kill chains, especially in contested environments. GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SeaGuardian® UAS, and SeaVue multi-role radar from Raytheon, an RTX business, will effectively leverage Lockheed Martin’s extensive NEW expertise to further refine targeting capabilities for future theater deployments. Initial testing was completed on June 5, 2024, with F/A-18s on the U.S. Navy’s W-289 test range in Southern California.

Can Kasapoğlu, Nonresident senior fellow at Hudson Institute. Sine Özkaraşahin , Freelance defense analyst and consultant. "Defense economics is also changing. Start-ups are becoming increasingly essential actors in military innovation. According to McKinsey & Company, the number of seed funding rounds in defense and dual-use technology (in the United States) almost doubled between 2011 and 2023, hinting at a rapid proliferation of start-ups in the high-tech defense industry. This trend is fostering new collaborations. NATO is leveraging the strengths of the start-up industry with a $1.1 billion Innovation Fund and is reportedly working with several European tech companies on robotic solutions, AI-driven systems, and semiconductors. Keeping up with innovation is like boarding a fast-moving train, where getting a good seat ensures a strategic advantage over competitors. By investing in holistic, across-the-spectrum EDT-generation efforts, Turkish decision-makers seem to recognize this imperative. Turkey has faced challenges with industrial advancements, lagging behind in the Industrial Revolution. For instance, the country’s first main battle tank is still not in service. Despite ambitions to operate its fifth-generation combat aircraft, Kaan, within a decade, Turkey has not ever produced third- or fourth-generation tactical military aircraft. This situation is striking given that Turkey excels in producing and exporting state-of-the-art drones but has struggled with other key conventional military assets. According to Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of the prominent Turkish unmanned aerial systems manufacturer Baykar, missing out on the Industrial Revolution has slowed Turkey’s military modernization. However, it also pushed the country to leverage digital age technologies, building new strengths in intelligent assets and EDTs."

On July 8, 2024, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $4.6 million contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop artificial intelligence tools for dynamic airborne missions. This initiative is part of DARPA’s Artificial Intelligence Reinforcements (AIR) program, aiming to enhance modeling and simulation approaches and deploy dominant AI agents for live, multi-ship, beyond visual range (BVR) missions The project signifies a significant investment in revolutionary technologies essential for national security and addresses the evolving needs of defense clients. The AIR program seeks to improve the speed and predictive performance of government-provided baseline models to better reflect the real-world performance of Department of Defense systems. Over an 18-month period, Lockheed Martin will employ AI and machine learning techniques to develop surrogate models for aircraft, sensors, electronic warfare, and weapons, all within dynamic and operationally representative environments.

The Defense Department has determined that the troubled Air Force program to modernize its aging nuclear missiles will continue despite the program’s soaring costs. Earlier this year, the Department of the Air Force notified Congress that the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program exceeded baseline cost estimates, breaching the Nunn-McCurdy Act designed to monitor cost overruns of major defense acquisition programs. The breach was triggered by a 37% cost overrun of the overall program. A breach occurs when the cost of a program grows by 25%, and the program must be terminated unless the office of the under secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment can prove that the program meets the criteria to continue.

IBM announced it has acquired SiXworks Limited (Ltd.), a UK-based consultancy serving the UK defence sector and specialising in digital transformation in highly secure environments. SiXworks is a trusted partner to the UK Ministry of Defence. The acquisition deepens IBM Consulting’s ability to serve clients in the UK defence sector with additional highly specialist industry and technical domain skills across digital, cyber and defence cloud solutions.

In a historic first, the Royal Navy has participated in a trilateral exercise with the Australian and Japanese navies in the Indo-Pacific region. The joint exercise saw HMS Tamar, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, training alongside the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force’s (JMSDF) JS Noshiro and the Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Choules ahead of the Tongan International Fleet Review. “This is the first joint exercise between Japan, Great Britain, and Australia,” said the JMSDF.

Munich-based quantum computing startup planqc is today announcing a €50m Series A round, led by the European Family Office CATRON Holding and Germany’s deeptech and climate tech fund (DTCF). Founded in 2022, planqc — a spinout from the Max Planck Institute in Munich — builds quantum computers using a technique known as “neutral atoms” that involves using lasers to trap and stabilise single atoms to make qubits (stores of quantum information). The company says this approach is the fastest way to scale up a quantum processor’s number of qubits and improve their quality — both of which are “prerequisites for being the first to deliver fault-tolerant quantum computers,” says Dr Sebastian Blatt, CTO of planqc.

The Ministry of Defence has reopened its Uncrewed Air Systems Heavy Lift Capability (UASHLC) Framework to address the current lack of market options and ensure rapid access to emerging technologies. This initiative, valued at £95 million, seeks to accelerate the development of advanced autonomous heavy lift uncrewed air systems (UAS), particularly within the maritime domain.