USAF’s intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance boss, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, said Friday at a Washington seminar that he understands why an Army division commander would want to keep the benefits of some high-flying unmanned aerial vehicles all to himself, but he said that approach helps ensure that such assets will always be in short supply. (Some military officials believe some UAVs should be viewed as extensions of the ground force.) Making a ground force division the owner of its own higher flying UAVs is like having five fire trucks and assigning each to protect one block. “That way, you only cover five blocks,” he said. The Air Force’s executive agent plan, he argued, is more like “letting the mayor decide” where the five fire engines are most needed so that the whole city gets covered.
In AI Experiment, UK and US Simulate Adjacent Operations
Oct. 20, 2021
Held an ocean apart but simulating adjacent military forces, a virtual demonstration Oct. 18 gave the U.K. and U.S. militaries cause to project optimism over someday jointly adopting artificial intelligence “that can learn in the field.” The test represented “just the first step” on the way to an “experimental trial…