Today’s global semiconductor shortage has stretched procurement lead times to unforeseen lengths.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the world was captivated by one common goal: winning the space race to dominate a new uncharted domain. Since then, the U.S. defense and aerospace industries have taken great strides to innovate and to create next-generation systems that help the U.S. maintain a competitive advantage in global defense from space.

The ongoing effects of COVID-19 have had a dampening effect on military R&D programs, indicating that 2022 will see more military and aerospace electronics spending earmarked for legacy defense programs and block upgrades rather than for new platform development.

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different charitable organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day.

The aerospace and defense sector has placed the greatest urgency on building the most complete intelligent systems now. CB Insights states, “In the aerospace and defense industry, supporting software has to make quick decisions in high-risk scenarios. Artificial intelligence [AI] is becoming integral to the $8.7 trillion space as companies and government agencies explore using technologies from robotics and autonomous systems to cybersecurity and telecommunication for national security.”

Draganfly, a drone solutions and systems developer, has created drone solutions, software, and artificial intelligence (AI) systems to transform how various industries can save time, money, and lives. The company’s commercial plug-and-play AI machine-vision system enables the delivery of goods and data and provides biometric information through its Vital Intelligence (VI) software platform. This tech has proven its mettle across a wide spectrum of use cases ranging from retail operations and drone racing to disaster management. It could also revolutionize the battlefield.

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG. In our previous adventure, I introduced the pyramid model to identify each service’s Kill Web program and their experimental activities. Sitting at the peak is the Pentagon’s JADC2 program (Joint All Domain Command and Control) and the GIDE-XX exercises. On one side is the Army's IBCS program (Integrated Battle Management System) and Project Convergence exercises. On the next side is the Navy’s CEC program (Cooperative Engagement Capability) and their highly classified Project Overmatch exercises. On the next side is the Air Force's ABMS program (Advanced Battle Management System) and Onramp exercises. Since the Space Force stills falls under the Air Force, we’ll call their program SF-ABMS. They  make up the final side of the pyramid. Space Force has been conducting a number of experiments under different names so we’ll decode those in the future.

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different charitable organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day.

WARFARE EVOLUTTION BLOG. There’s been a lot of activity going on in the past few months, testing different technologies and operational concepts. We need a model to organize those events to avoid confusion and reduce complexity. So, we’ll use the basic structure of the Kill Web to make sense of it all. The JADC2 (Joint All-Domain Command and Control) program sits at the top. That’s the Pentagon’s vision of how all ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) systems, weapons systems, satellites, logistics, and operations from all the different services are connected together and share data in realtime. Off to the side is the JAIC (Joint Artificial Intelligence Center), that develops and feeds different artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms into JADC2 and the different services’ activities.

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different charitable organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day.

By David Kiesling

Radio frequency (RF) technology for avionics applications, both military and commercial, prioritizes weight reduction to increase fuel efficiency while also meeting stringent electrical and mechanical requirements for safety. Low loss, phase stability, and high performance in a shock-and-vibration environment require a balancing act to reduce size with careful evaluation of materials, constructions, and maintenance.

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems highlights a different charitable organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day. 

At 40 years old this fall, the VMEbus standard’s longevity can be traced to its inventors, VME product designers, VITA Standards Organization members, military systems users, and also to the creativity and marketing acumen of a rock and roll aficionado named Marty Simon. Marty – founder of The Simon Group, member of the VITA Hall of Fame, early proponent of VME, my friend, and the most positive person I’ve ever come across – passed away in September at the age of 77 from complications from ALS.

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG. On 25 June 2021, the Director of National Intelligence (DDNI) released the much-anticipated UFO report. It’s only NINE pages long, and includes the status of 144 UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, the new and improved name for UFOs) collected by the AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) from 2004 through the first half of 2021. One of those UAPs was identified as a deflating weather balloon, and the remainder were designated as unknown. There is also a classified version of this report (17 pages long) submitted to congressional Intelligence and Armed Services Committees. I suspect those additional eight pages just contain secret sources and collection methods rather than additional facts. You can read the unclassified report on the web.

By Mike Epley, Red Hat

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) was already headed toward a completely perimeter-less security environment before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now, the agency has gone full-fledged into a virtually wide-open landscape where physical constraints that used to exist have been largely eradicated, and new types of threats against its workforce, tools, supply chains, and operations abound.