Lockheed Martin to develop AI tools for DARPA
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $4.6 million contract by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop AI tools for “dynamic, airborne missions” as part of its Artificial Intelligence Reinforcements (AIR) programme.
During an 18 month period, Lockheed Martin will apply AI and machine learning techniques to create surrogate models of aircraft, sensors, electronic warfare and weapons within operationally representative environments. Lessons learned from the synthetic study are intended to improve government-provided baseline models’ speed and predictive performance, as well as enabling “significant cost savings opportunities”.
AI-integrated advanced modelling and simulation approaches will be studied across live, multi-ship, beyond visual range (BVR) missions, described by Lockheed Martin as a “critical step in prioritising and investing in breakthrough technologies for national security and to meet the evolving needs of customers”.
“In complex airborne missions, our customers need access to advanced technologies that connect critical systems quickly across all domains,” said Gaylia Campbell, vice president of engineering for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “The DARPA AIR program will use state-of-the-art scientific ML technology and Lockheed Martin’s ARISE infrastructure to deliver unprecedented amounts of data that service members can use to make faster and more informed decisions”.
In the last 60 years, DARPA has repeatedly sought to make what it terms “pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security;” with AI-supported concepts the latest in a long line in its work to transform “revolutionary concepts and even seeming impossibilities into practical capabilities”.
