The defense industry stands at a critical juncture, tasked with confronting increased challenges in terms of sustaining operational efficiency and national security amid evolving threats and technological advancements. Central to these situations are supply-chain vulnerabilities and component obsolescence, both of which can undermine mission readiness. To counter these risks, advanced defense software solutions can offer innovative approaches to manage and mitigate supply-chain disruptions and ensure the longevity and effectiveness of defense systems.

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG. In my previous seven articles, we explored the worldwide markets for most military platforms. However, there are two platforms left to complete our study – satellites and helicopters. I saved these two segments for last since they share some common characteristics. Satellites expend their limited fuel struggling to stay in orbit (station keeping) while helicopters use their fuel thrashing the air furiously with rotor blades to stay aloft. Both fight a constant battle against gravity so that’s why I put them together for this essay. As they say in the aviation community: airplanes want to fly, but satellites and helicopters don’t.

When I said I wanted to be a journalist and a writer, my dad, John McHale, Jr., told my mother, “Oh no, he’ll never make any money and we’ll have to support him forever.” That was more than 30 years ago, and I ended up doing OK. The best accolade I ever got wasn’t an award or a grade – it was my father asking me for my skills, requesting that I write family obituaries and eulogies. Last month I wrote his. He passed away on August 11, aged 81, surrounded by me, Mom, my brother, and our wives.

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different 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 a time when digital superiority defines global security, the defense sector faces a critical challenge: that of deploying software updates swiftly without compromising safety or certification standards. There is a solution – modular, certifiable software architectures built on open standards. By fostering a collaborative ecosystem of innovation, this approach enables rapid deployment, seamless integration of third-party capabilities and streamlined certification processes.

In the ever-evolving landscape of modern warfare, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping the future of military operations cannot be underestimated. With the battlespace’s complexity escalating, the AI-accelerated battlespace’s emergence, enabled by advanced data-processing capabilities at the tactical edge, has become pivotal in assuring mission success. As the speed of warfare increases, we must recognize how edge-based compute technologies are crucial to increase the speed of decision-making.

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different 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 EVOLUTION BLOG: So far in this series, we have explored the worldwide markets for military platforms (tanks, ships, submarines, airplanes, and drones). These segments are interesting to the companies that bend metal, but for us, we want to know about the electronic systems inside those platforms. That insatiable yearning is the inspiration for this article. There’s a plethora of these systems, scattered around the services, so we can’t identify all of them here. I'll just mention the major programs and let you discover the rest on your own.

In October 2023, the Biden administration issued an Executive Order focused on ensuring that artificial intelligence (AI) – which has captured headlines of late largely due to the rise of ChatGPT – is developed safely and securely. In a military context, this move will include the drafting of a memorandum, produced by the National Security Council and the White House Chief of Staff, that details how the U.S. military can ethically and effectively use AI to carry out its missions while also countering its use by adversaries.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a real buzzword across all industries right now, but coverage across the media spectrum is not always helpful. We’re seeing mind-boggling new technical capabilities being demonstrated each week, but it’s often hard to tie these to real-world use-cases; this, coupled with hype-to-bust predictions and discussions about “artificial general intelligence” serve to further distort the narrative.

As I travel to various places around the world, I am surprised by the perception that different government and supplier organizations have of the modular open systems approach (MOSA). MOSA is designed to lower costs for global coalition forces while accelerating new, highly competitive capabilities for the Warfighter, but folks still do not understand these benefits and sometimes turn MOSA into something that should be feared.

The consolidation of federated systems into a modular open system approach (MOSA) changes the way helicopter avionics systems operate, interface, and communicate with one another. New capabilities can be quickly inserted, resilient technologies can be emphasized, and digital beamforming antennas expand applications.

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG. Previously, we studied the markets for fighter planes and bombers, ground combat vehicles and tanks, warships and submarines, and unmanned naval vessels (surface and underwater). Now, it’s time to explore the market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which is rapidly becoming the largest volume segment of the military platforms. First, the UAV designation is actually a misnomer.

While it was officially released in the famous Dept. of Defense Tri-Service Memo five years ago, the concept of a modular open systems approach (MOSA) has been around for some time and is not a new concept, said Jason Dirner, in his keynote address at the MOSA [Modular Open Systems Approach] Virtual Summit held February 22 and hosted by myself and Military Embedded Systems. What is new, however, Dirner said, is “common MOSA, [where] you have multiple programs and services conforming to the same standard,” which enables a greater level of reuse and portability across the community.

As we settle into 2024, emerging technologies continue to transform how we experience the digital world and beyond. The metaverse promises more immersive and interactive virtual environments through innovations in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and generative artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, AI and machine learning (ML) are proving invaluable in enhancing military operations and national security priorities like space defense.