Science & Tech

2021 Top Ten: Tech

Along with AI and JADC2, the year's top tech stories include the Army's December announcement of a vaccine that covers all possible COVID variants.

Ideas

A To-Do List for the Pentagon’s New AI Chief

As three AI-related agencies prepare to merge, there is a chance for a fresh start—and a better approach to competing with China.

Science & Tech

This Air Force Targeting AI Thought It Had a 90% Success Rate. It Was More Like 25%

Too little of the right kind of data can throw off target algorithms. But try telling the algorithm that.

Science & Tech

DHS Reveals Next Research Interests

The Department of Homeland Security wants industry comment on AI, biohazard tracking, and more.

Policy

Lawmakers Push DOD to Share its Data to Help U.S. Make AI Gains

New legislation to pilot easy-access data libraries could be included in the fiscal 2022 NDAA.

Science & Tech

Pentagon AI Chief Responds to USAF Software Leader Who Quit in Frustration

Lt. Gen. Groen concedes culture must change, but says faster development is already on the way.

Science & Tech

US Army to Stage Largest Robot Tank Experiment Ever

Its lessons will inform the Army’s next-gen-unmanned-vehicles plan to ask tech firms to deliver the brains and established firms to deliver the wheels.

Exclusive Science & Tech

Pentagon’s Top Science Official Adds to Tech-Breakthrough Wishlist

Heidi Shyu, R&D undersecretary, said she went looking for tech areas to trim—and found that some vital ones had been overlooked.

Science & Tech

How Well Can AI Pick Targets From Satellite Photos? Army Test Aims to Find Out

The Scarlet Dragon exercise is evaluating ways the service might put new tools to use in the very near term.

Science & Tech

An Army Pilot Just Re-Invented Flight Training for the Digital Era

By teaching an AI to read instruments with a camera, you get the best of the human and machine worlds.

Ideas

Users Can’t Be Afterthoughts in the Pentagon’s AI Efforts

The troops, commanders, and civilians who will use artificial-intelligence tools have vital roles to play in creating, training, and improving them.

Threats

Vulnerabilities May Slow Air Force’s Adoption of Artificial Intelligence

More data on the battlefield means a wider attack surface, something the Defense Department has yet to prepare for, experts say.

Science & Tech

Learn to Use Data or Risk Dying in Battle, New Army Project Teaches

Project Ridgway pushes soldiers to use—and even create—the artificial-intelligence tools that will confer military advantage.

Ideas

Pull US AI Research Out of China

International scientific collaboration is a great thing, but not when it is fueling a despotic superpower’s oppression at home and belligerence abroad.

Science & Tech

How AI Is Revealing the Secrets of Iran’s Nascent Centrifuge Factory

Satellites can’t directly observe the underground facility, but analysis of its surroundings yields a progress report.